It began. The white pieced darted forward followed by the black pieces. Weapons clashed and blows were thrown as the battle went on.
Kurogane felt good, so far nothing bad had happened and they seemed to be winning. The white team faltered more and more as time went on.
Then it happened. Out of the corner of his eye Kurogane saw Fai get hit and the blond dropped to his knees.
A small growl escaped Kurogane's lips as he fought his way to Fai's side. Stupid Mage! What was he thinking? Letting himself be open enough to get that way?
As he finally got close enough to see him clearly he saw Fai was bleeding from his side as he both tried to get up and fight off his opponent at the same time.
Reaching his side Kurogane knocked the person away from his teammate and bluntly told him, "Stay down."
Fai shook his head, slowly rising to his feet. "I may be down Kurogane, but I am not out." After a second's pause Fai swung out and blocked an attack from someone on the white team.
"Don't worry about me Kurogane. Worry about yourself."
Despite this request from Fai Kurogane would not leave his side until the long battle was over.
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"Fai-san." The other Syaoran came into the room where Fai sat, bandaging his wound before going off to bed. "Are you all right?"
Slowly the mage rose to his feet, not wincing in the slightest, if he was in pain, he didn't show it. "No. Thank you. Princess Sakura is in her room isn't she?" A slow nod from Syaoran sent Fai walking out of the room to where Sakura's room was.
Kurogane stood by the door after the mage entered it, listening for anything important that might be of importance.
Within the room Sakura's voice could be heard as she seemed to speak to Fai. The tone was too soft to be understood outside of the room. All Kurogane could get out of it was that she was slowing falling asleep as she spoke.
It stopped. Sakura stopped speaking. Movement could be heard within the room and finally Fai's voice whispered something that the ninja couldn't make out. His footsteps became louder as he came closer to the door and then the knob turned, the door opening as the mage went to leave the room.
The mage quietly closed the door behind him before speaking. "What are you doing here?" he asked as if Kurogane didn't live within the house and should thus leave.
"Have you drank today?" a needless question to ask seeing as Kurogane would know if Fai had.
"You know if I have or not…and don't answer a question with a question." Fai didn't even so much as look at Kurogane as he began to walk down the hall, knowing Kurogane followed him.
"How's your side?"
"Fine. Just fine." Kurogane reached out gently prodding the injured side waiting a mere moment before Fai simply collapsed to the floor.
"Fine huh?"
Fai huffed and pulled himself to his feet again. "Yes. Fine. I'll survive." The mage brushed off his clothes and walked forward away from the man again, and again Kurogane followed him.
The mage opened the door to his room and finally looked to the ninja giving him such a glare it made the other stop. "What do you want?"
"The same thing I wanted before." Kurogane took another step towards Fai, "To help you." he reached out as if to touch the magician in some way, but Fai slapped his hand away harshly.
"Stay away from me. I don't need help. I don't want help."
"I can't stay away forever Mage. You need my blood."
"I can try." With that said the blond opened the door and went inside, leaning against it from within knowing the black haired man was still outside the door waiting for him to fall asleep or to open the door again begging for forgiveness or whatever. It would never happen. Fai would never turn to anyone for help.
A sigh was heard as Fai pushed himself off the door again, pulling the black coat off his body, it needed to be repaired as did the shirt underneath it. They were black so the blood did not show up, but Fai could smell it, and there were holes in the garments where the blade had cut.
Grabbing another shirt from the dresser Fai pulled the old shirt off and the new one on. The bandages that had been put on the wound were already bloodstained and by morning they would need to be changed.
Long fingers reached up to the blond hair that now reached the mage's shoulders pulling a rubber band from the locks, setting it atop the dresser before the comb was taken in it's place.
Fai ran the comb through his hair repeatedly as he walked over to the small, gold mirror that was propped on one wall. Quickly the comb went, through the hair again and again. It ripped through any tangles that were there mercilessly as Fai watched himself do this in the mirror.
The combing slowed to a stop as Fai seemed to get pulled in deeper and deeper by his own reflection. His face softened at the sight and looked sad. His hand reached up and his fingertips pressed against the reflective glass. "You should be here…" the outspoken thought was said very softly, Fai himself didn't seem to realize he'd even said anything.
For what seemed to be a long time Fai stood like that, looking into the mirror, fingers pressed to it as if he wanted to enter the world beyond it. Then finally his eye looked to the floor and his arm dropped.
The mage pulled away from the mirror reluctantly, going and placing the comb on the dresser next to the rubber band. A pause ensued this action before he finally walked slowly to his bed laying down on it, placing his hands behind his head.
Rain began to fall again, softly sounding on the roof and making the one eye Fai had left droop until it closed.
At least a half hour passed before Fai's body relaxed and his hands moved from their position behind his head. More time passed before his breathing evened out, and at last the man turned over onto his stomach, face head down on the pillow. Fai was asleep.
The door clicked as it closed. Kurogane frowned, placing his fists on his hips as he thought. What had Fai meant by 'You should be here'? Who had he been talking to? Himself? That seemed to be the most likely answer especially since he'd been looking at himself in the mirror, and yet it couldn't be right. It made no sense to tell yourself that you should be here. You are there, where else would you be other than where you are?
The ninja pressed two fingers to his lips as he walked off to his own room now, it was pointless to stay now that the Idiot Mage was asleep. He would return to pestering him about his needing help in the morning, after they all had a good sleep. They needed to rest before the next chess match.
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"Come in." the doorknob turned and Kurogane entered the room to see Fai trying to bandage the wound Fai had received yesterday during the chess match.
"What do you want?" Fai said yawning a bit, he didn't look like he'd slept very well the night before.
The ninja did not speak a word, instead came over and took the bandages from Fai starting to do it himself.
Fai winced, "Kurogane, that's too tight, you'll reopen the wound." He didn't seem to pay the blonds words any mind as he continued to wrap the bandages just as tightly until a whimper escaped from him.
"Does it really hurt that much?" red eyes glanced up at the blue one.
Fai nodded. "It's too tight. I can feel the clot cracking." Kurogane let his hands fall from the bandages.
"Well I can't do it too lightly, how else am I supposed to it?" Fai frowned for a bit before taking a small bit of cloth and wrapping it around the other's arm, tying it at about the tightness that it should be.
After a minute of no movement Kurogane gave a small nod and then rewrapped the bandages around Fai's stomach more gingerly and loosely. "Better?"
"Yes." the mage seemed to let out a sigh of relief before standing up and pulling his shirt on, "Although I could have done it myself."
"Yes, you could have." the ninja stood to his feet putting his hands to Fai's face and making the man look at him. "But you don't have to. Just because you can doesn't mean you have no other choice. No one has to go through life alone."
There was a silent moment before Kurogane let go of Fai's face and left the room, leaving the blond alone within the room to ponder those words.
Okay so I finally got another chapter up. I finally got the basic idea of how the story is going to go now. I thank myself for the title of the fic, it helped a lot. I'm still open to suggestions though.
Needless to say it's going to go a bit slower now that school has started again, also I need to write it down normally before I type it up so that takes a while, but I am working on this story.
Please Read and Review.