Chapter 9: What Happens, Now?

Disclaimer – If you don't know that I don't own Tsubasa by now, you are CRAZY. And crazy people make me laugh, so we need to meet sometime. Maybe on Msn or Aim? Screennames for both should be in my profile.

Summary - Kurogane seems to have woken up in a world with Sakura, with doors that lead to places that they least expect, and other doors that lead to disappearing people. But how do you tell the difference between dreams and reality? KuroFai, SyaoSaku
Note: Man, I just got back from North Carolina yesterday, so here's the next chapter! Sorry I didn't update before I left, it's just that I was afraid that all the events would have been more rushed than otherwise.
Note: I still love all your reviews. They make me smile like a dork.
…I actually think there are no swears in this one. Wow.
Fai-san's point of view.

I gasp and wake up, trying to catch my breath before thinking about what happened.

Kurogane kissed the image of me…

But when I tried doing it back, he ran away.

He could start to hear Syaoran, which means that he's starting to-

I hear a voice and I lose my train of thought, and I can no longer remember what happened last night. "Fai-san, it's noon. Are you alright?" he's right outside my closed door. I was afraid I might say or do something in my dreams last night that might end up being voiced into words, so I made sure to close it before I fell asleep.

Although, I'm not quite sure if I did actually did or said anything while I was sleeping.

I blink, not quite sure what to do, and then hurriedly get out of bed. "Yup, I'm fine! Just a little more tired than usual, I guess!"

I rub my eyes again, and I bits and pieces of everything I've forgotten starts to float back into my head.

"Oh." His enthusiasm weakens a slight bit, showing that he knows I'm lying, but least he's not acting all embarrassed like I remember he was last night.

I smiled at the thought of last night. According to my memories, Kuro-chan cares for his 'son' enough to ask me why he was stuttering.

My mind seems to have suddenly woken up, and I can remember more about what happened from last night and yesterday.

I remember kisses, Kuro-pon looking weird at me, a temple, a book, the guy who told Syaoran what BL stands for, and Yuuko. I don't know how they're related.

I can't really recall what's in the book, and its sitting on a table near my bed, so I reached out and grabbed it, flipping it open to a random page.

Oh… right. This is the book Yuuko wanted. It made all the blood rush to Syaoran's face, but at least we got it.

I'm still not-completely awake yet, and so my eyes are staring at the pictures in the book, yet not really looking at it at all.

I blink and my mind focuses.

Oh my god.

I didn't know people could bend that way.

I close the book quickly before my inner self decides to try out that position on/with Kuro-puff.

"Fai-san?" Syaoran knocks on the door again.

I completely forgot about him, but I'm kind of glad he didn't open the door. It would be kind of hard to explain why I'm holding the book like I just had it open. I mean, telling him I forgot was in the book sounds like a horrible excuse, and everything else I can think of telling him either has to do with grossing out Kuro-ki, or ends up with me looking like a pervert.

"Coming, Syaoran-kun!" I yawn, and then get dressed quickly, before I grab the book and head out to the living room.

"Good morning, Fai." I glance at the wall, and realized that Mokona had already called Yuuko before I walked in the room. Syaoran was sitting on the couch, and Mokona was on the table in front of him, waving at me.

"Hi, Fai-san!" It enthusiastically said.

I sat down, clutching the book to me so that Syaoran wouldn't have to see the front of the book and start blushing furiously again, and waved back at Mokona. "Hi, Mokona!" I smile "Good morning. We bought the book you asked us to get." I glanced down to the book, and then at Syaoran.

He's blushing again.

..I hope Sakura's alright. I mean, when I saw the picture, the image of myself tried doing that to Kuro-chu, but what would happen between Sakura and Syaoran?

There's no way he would do what I did…right?

I see her sly smile sneak back onto her face. She knows how much discomfort this book brought to us. "Give it to Mokona, and I'll give you the potion you asked."

I put the book on the table next to Mokona, face down of course, but I'm slightly confused by this whole thing. "Why is the price so low?"

"I have easy access to more of the healing potion, and you have easy access to more of those books. I have barely any connection to the potion, and thus it's not a very prized possession, and you barely have any connection to the book, so it's a fair deal." She was eyeing the book with a personal interest.

Mokona swallowed the book, and in replacement of it, a small bottle with a clear pinkish liquid came out.

Yuuko picked up the book "Ohohohoh! I'll be making my leave now!" She waved us off with a smile. "Bye, Mokona!" The image disappeared.

I stare at the wall for a second, and decide its better to pay no mind to her reaction toward the book.

I stand up and walk toward the door to leave. "Shall we be off, Syaoran-kun?" He blinks a couple times before he actually hears me.

"Right." He stood up from the couch, grabs the potion, and soon, we're back at climbing up to the temple.

'You're awfully quiet, Kuro-chuu.' I state, figuring that talking to him will pass the time quicker, rather than imagining Syaoran as a puppy, like I did last time.

'Where are you two going?' He gruffly replies.

'Up to the temple, to get the feather! You DO want to come out of there, don't you?'

He grunts in response. 'And what book was the Dimension Bitch talking about?'

I'm not going to answer that… 'Being nosey, are we, Kuro-wanko?'

He sighs and I can hear how aggravated he is.

'I wouldn't doubt it if it was some perverted book.'

Eheheh... I'm not even going to say anything to that. Not that I really need to, seeing how he already figured out what the book practically was, and if I lie about it, he'll probably notice.

I climb the rest of the way up to the temple in silence.

I step on the top, shortly after Syaoran, and the people of the temple look weird at us.

What a horrible welcome party.

After a minute of just looking at each other, the eldest came over to us, a grim look on his face. "I told you already. Unless you have a way to heal the youth, we're not handing over the cursed feather!"

Syaoran pulled the potion out of a pocket in his coat. "Yes, we have a potion for just that."

The eldest stared at the liquid inside the small glass bottle. "Why should I trust something that YOU brought? It's probably some sort of poison."

I smiled. "How would we receive the feather if we poisoned people?"

The templist, for lack of any other word to call him, considered my words. "Fine, but give me the potion first."

I was sort of shocked. I didn't think he'd agree as fast as he did.

Syaoran gave him the potion, apparently as surprised as I am. "Follow me." He said, heading inside the temple. He headed up the spiral stairs in the center, with me close behind and Syaoran following in last. The temple around us quickly lost my interest, and I decided to count the steps as a way to waste time.

After one thousand, three hundred, forty two steps, and a beet-red faced Syaoran almost slipping back down the stairs, we reached the top.

There, we found a small alter, with the feather placed on top, inside a glass ball.

The templist turned to us. "You know what you are getting yourself into, by accepting this feather, right?"

I nodded, maybe a little too fast. He gave me a weird look, filled with mistrust, before handing Syaoran the glass ball that contained the feather and leading us back down the stairs.

Syaoran stopped suddenly, his eyes partially wide, with a confused thinking expression on his face, as if he just realized a problem. He starts walking again, but his eyes are almost glued looking down at the staircase as we continue walking.

I hope that whatever he just realized, it's not anything overly negative. Although, I doubt he'd start worrying about anything small, like 'I forgot my pocket-watch in the bookstore yesterday!'

Hmm… I wonder if he has a pocket-watch that I can purposely lose to see if he'll worry about it. Maybe I could give it to the employee to keep it safe.

The guy might get the wrong idea, though. I'm pretty sure he was flirting with me the first time we went in there, and giving him a random watch wouldn't really help me with his infatuation.

And I don't think that telling him that I'm currently having my own love issues with a much stronger, dark haired man that could easily kick his ass would do anything but make me seem insane.

…I'm glad that Kuro-poo can't hear my thoughts.

I glance over to Syaoran, about to ask him about a pocket-watch, anyway, but he apparently has finally decided to tell me what he just realized, and speaks before I can say anything. "How can Sakura-hime absorb the feather if she's in my mind?" He says it in a soft voice, probably meant so that the templist won't hear and become confused.

I glance down at the feather, smile, and shrug it off. "Let's figure that out when we get home."

"Okay." He sounds slightly worried, and I genuinely smile. Little Puppy is worried about Little Kitty getting her memories back.

I glance up, and wonder if Big Puppy worries-

"Fai-san!" Syaoran reaches out, but it's too late.

I miss-stepped and tripped down the stairs. Reaching out, something grabs a hold of my arm, and I open my eyes after a minute of expecting pain.

"…I don't believe it." The templist stared at me, astonished…

…or rather, he stared at the man holding on to my arm.

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Ending Notes: DUN DUN DUUUNN!!! I haad to put a cliffhanger, or else I would have to write another looong part of the story. Sorry bout that, guys! Oh well, that just means that I'll put up the next chapter sooner!