Update (29 Oct 2015): The sequel has been posted under 'ink, fire and fiddle' - you can find it on my profile page. ;)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and its characters do not belong to me.
when flight falls short
(Part 7)
There was a slight static charge in the air when he breezed down into the food court at the basement of the mall, one that made the hair on his neck prickle and stand on end. Fai swallowed, darted his gaze around. The wait and kitchen staff seemed unaware of anything suspicious, if at all—they were moving about as usual, serving patrons and preparing food and managing the till.
This sensation was magic, an ominous presence, one that he'd felt before. Even if Outo had been a virtual reality, there was no mistaking that acrid bite of burnt incense, especially not when he'd died once being smothered by it. Fai winced.
If Seishirou was here, but not whoever he was looking for, then there was a very high chance that he would be after Sakura's feather, if just so his dimension crossing had not been an utter waste of effort. He knew the magic that feather possessed, after all—any power-hungry wizard would be an idiot to pass up on grabbing it. Fuck.
He shouldn't have let their travelling group linger for so long, not when they had already more than enough to pay for that feather.
With a bitten-down curse, Fai reached out with his senses— There.
Seishirou was heading upwards along the side of the building, instead of through the escalator stairwell. He had to have sensed Fai's appearance at this point, too, if Fai could trace him. Abruptly, the wizard turned on his heel and limped-sprinted up the escalator, for once glad that his long legs allowed him to skip a step on the moving stairs. Some of the food court staff called out to him in surprise; he ignored them, pressing his lips together as he kept track of the other wizard's location—Seishirou was still far ahead of him, and that was a man who would not falter at anything to retrieve what he wanted.
Collecting the memories was Syaoran's job, not Fai's. He almost wanted to stop and pretend he didn't know about any of this. There was no way he could stop Seishirou without using some sort of magic.
Yet, his gut twisted as he imagined the disappointment on the children's faces when they learnt that the feather had been snatched from beneath their very noses. And especially when he was in the very building it occurred. In that instant, Fai knew that he couldn't let them down, especially not when he was at fault for jeopardizing their mission like this.
He grit his teeth, pushed pulsing magic through his fingers, inscribed the rune for Jump on his thighs. It was but a mere fraction of his power, easily erased compared to the previous two instances, and gentle heat curled through his legs.
He leaped.
From the escalator onto the gleaming metal handrails around the central stairwell, then back on the escalator railings above and to the next floor, Fai made for the reflective marble tiles, throat working when he realized that he was on the same level as both the lingerie shop and Seishirou—just that the other man was on the far side of the mall, while he had the distinct advantage of distance.
His sprained ankle buckled beneath him; he swore, hauled himself up with the walking stick, and then ran flat out for the lingerie shop, pain spearing through his calf with each thud of his foot on hard tile. Magic pulsed from his opponent's direction; he grit his teeth, drew a weak barrier spell that would slow the other man down some. This was part of his mission too, wasn't it?
People were staring after him in shock—he ignored them all, pounded down the familiar, crammed corridors as the first blast of offensive magic shook the building.
Seishirou was closing in, fast.
Fai skidded the last stretches to the lingerie shop, could feel the warm glow of Sakura's feather within, almost in his grasp. He slammed the door open, searched out the sales assistant with his eyes. Shougo was not here today; in his place behind the cashier's counter was the Primera of this world, green hair coiffed prettily on her head. She jerked up from her seat when she saw him.
"I'm here for the feather," he panted, glancing straight at the curtain separating this side of the shop from the adult novelty products. "I promise I'll pay you back for it later—we made a reservation on it," he said in a rush, hurrying over to the curtains.
"Wait!" she yelped, scrambling to her feet. Her eyes flashed in outrage; Fai didn't care. "You can't just barge in like that—"
"There's a wizard out there after this," Fai interrupted without much grace. He swept the curtain aside, took a few steps into the narrow pink passageway, reaching up blindly and grabbing for the box with the feather. It glowed softly at him, white barbs so bright it was almost difficult to look directly at it. Fai tore the box open despite Primera's protests.
"I'll call the guards on you! This is theft!" she shrieked, blocking the little entryway with her slender form. "Shougo will come after you when—"
Fai grabbed the feather from its box and shoved it into his trouser pocket, then pulled an envelop from his other pocket, one that had all their earnings so far. "Take this," he said urgently, looking the woman hard in the eye to try and make her understand. "This is my down payment. I promise we'll be back with the balance."
"But—"
There was a crash just outside the shop. Magical energy thrummed; every nerve in his body was alight.
"Shh." He grabbed her arm, shoved the envelop in her hand, and threw her behind himself; she stumbled. "There's someone else after this feather," he continued lowly, speaking fast. "He's right outside. He'll kill you for it even if he doesn't have to. Lie low for a bit, please."
The shop door shattered in a cascade of glass and steel. Fai grit his teeth, fingers already scrawling another defensive spell to completion. This, he wrapped around the hidden room, before hurling himself out through the curtained doorway.
"Well, we meet again. Fai, wasn't it?"
The steady drawl sent a ripple of disgust down his spine; Fai rolled to his feet next to the cashier's counter, steadied himself with his walking cane.
Seishirou looked the same as he did since their last encounter, clothed in that ominous black coat with a long silver chain around his neck. His glasses were on; his right eye was dull, humming with traces of dimension-crossing magic. There was less energy in it now—an indication that he had spent some on traveling since they last met in Outo.
"It's an honor that you remember my name. I guess I ought to be glad that you didn't really kill me the last time," Fai said cheerfully, forced grin on his face. His heart pounded loudly in his chest. Despite how Outo wasn't part of reality, he still remembered, all too well, the agony of jarring claws burrowing into his throat, ripping his body apart. "That was a messy encounter, wasn't it, Seishirou-san?"
They were each powerful enough, confident enough that there was no need to begin the fight at once. The other man possessed less magic than him, however; Fai's curse had not activated yet. He took the opportunity to figure a way out.
"I see you're not above using your magic now," the other man returned, calm, dark eyes slowly gliding over his form and lingering at his feet. Fai suppressed a shudder. This man was nothing like Kurogane; his stare was slimy, and he smelled like incense Fai had encountered at a barren graveyard with Sakura and the rest. "Yet you still have the same injury—what a surprise."
"Well, I guess times have changed," he answered brightly, still watching Seishirou for any sign of movement. This shop was at the end of a corridor; the wall to his left was likely part of the building exterior. It would offer a safe passage out—
"If you don't mind, I'd like to have the feather," Seishirou said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes; his gaze trailed up to Fai's hips, where the feather glowed warm against his upper thigh. "It'll be such a waste of this trip if I left empty-handed. After all, you're aware that there are limits—"
"Neither of you is leaving with the feather!" Primera exclaimed shrilly from behind him. With a noisy clatter of metal links on rails, she ripped the curtain aside. Fai could have grimaced; his grin grew strained.
"Ah, what a delight." Seishirou's heavy scrutiny lit on the diminutive woman, and a low chill hummed through the air.
Primera stepped backwards, gulped noisily.
"I told you to stay back, Primera-san," Fai chided. If Kurogane were here, the merest glower would have kept her from making a squeak. "Kindly remain there, if you will."
The expression on Seishirou's face melted into one of smugness; he lifted his hand, and an ebony sword materialized within his palm. Its serpentine tail curled indolently around his arm. Primera gasped.
"A barrier to keep the girl safe," the other wizard began amiably, pleasant smile stretching across his face. "How very sweet of you. If you'd be so kind as to oblige me... I've been in such need of entertainment since that swordsman lost his killing intent."
"Haven't there been other worthier opponents?" Fai stepped forward to feint an interest in attacking. If his understanding of Syaoran's previous mentor held true, then Seishirou would not harm the shop owner as long as his desires were met.
Right now, those desires were a good fight—if Fai declined, the woman was at risk of being held hostage. If he lost...
Well, he would not lose. He couldn't die here.
"Unfortunately, there have not." Seishirou's smile grew wider. "I would be delighted to see what Syaoran's travelling companions are capable of, however. It would be so reassuring to see that he's in good hands."
Nauseousness murmured in Fai's gut.
"You really should have picked a better arena, Seishirou-san," he pointed out dryly. He raised his dominant hand, scrawled a single violet sigil that shot through the air and blasted an opening through the left wall. A shock wave surged through the shop and scattered neat stacks of lace undergarments, swiftly echoed by sunlit dust. Primera shrieked.
Fai squinted to see through fine debris; the black sword was headed for his throat in the next second. He kicked viciously at the ground to put distance between himself and the other man, barely avoiding each lethal swipe with a backward leap until he was teetering on the crumbling edge of concrete with a sharp fall down. (Cars streamed by mere stories below, and short high-rise buildings crowded around the mall.)
There was nowhere to go but backwards. He pushed magic into the fading jump spell in his thigh; it burned hot, and he kicked.
He felt himself soar through the crisp morning air over rush hour traffic; a warm breeze rushed through his hair and over his clothes. Seishirou appeared in the smoking hole amidst the dust and smoke, sword in hand.
Fai knew the exact moment his opponent caught sight of him, because the man sprang, ebony sword held sideways, and the sharp edge of the weapon melted into thin, streaming projectiles that hurtled towards Fai with devastating accuracy.
In midair, he had nothing to use to alter his trajectory.
He scrawled a flat barrier spell, stretched it wide in front of him, and the dark streams bounced uselessly off, before curving around his shield. Fai swore, landed hard on the rooftop of a building, bending his knees to absorb the impact. His ankle screamed in protest.
He ignored the injury (Kurogane was going to yell at him more), skipped further back just as the black missiles gouged ruts through the concrete rooftop, sending bits of grey material flying. Somehow those arrows reminded him of the projectiles he faced alongside the ninja in Nagare—was it a coincidence that Rondart and Seishirou were using the same sort of attacks?
(They really should have left here before today.)
Fai threw another barrier around himself, then flung a volley of charged lightning bolts towards Seishirou in a bid to send him away. Instead, all the other did was counter the attack with a swipe of his own sword and slip on his glasses, an amused smirk curving his lips.
Fai growled and cursed—this fight would draw the authorities in the next minute. It would require him expending unnecessary magic to lose his pursuer, and his car was on the other side of the building. If he could return the feather to Sakura, there would be little reason for Seishirou to remain. (It would be too much of a risk to fight the other man for the feather he currently possessed; besides, that was something Syaoran would want to reclaim with his own hands.)
Seishirou was relentless in his assault. He poured magic into the ebony sword; it glowed briefly for a second, and when he next struck, two of its missiles pierced Fai's shield with a shudder. One struck his shoulder; the other grazed his arm.
There was no time for surprise nor pain; with a shove on his walking cane, Fai twisted away from the arrows with a hiss, hot blood welling up from his injuries. He bit his lip hard, retraced the jump spell rune on his thigh, barely leaping clear of a flurry of arrows as they crashed into the patch of concrete where he stood a heartbeat ago. In the next moment, he was leaping towards the corner of the rooftop and clearing the low wall, pushing hard with his foot to cross the wide gap between buildings—only the tower block diagonally opposite was low enough to catch his descent.
Behind, Seishirou remarked placidly, his voice carrying over the distance, "I was expecting a decent fight, not some cat and mouse chase."
Slim black extensions of that sword followed him in close pursuit. Fai clenched his jaw, willing the momentum in his flight to carry him to his destination.
A sudden whirlwind of air came barreling down on him from up above; he hissed, felt the forward velocity of his leap dwindle to nothing as he was buffeted towards the ground below. He brought a surge of magic to his fingertips, ready to draw a summoning spell to pull himself away from the artificial wind—
There was a roar from underneath, vaguely familiar, and before he could really comprehend the situation, he crashed clumsily onto the bulbous hood of a black car, streaked with thick red stripes. Fai hissed, gasping for breath; inertia forced him against the acrylic windscreen.
"Get in, you idiot!" came a more recognizable shout.
He scrabbled at the smooth paint of the car for some sort of purchase as it flew forward. Red eyes glowered at him from within.
"Kuro-pon?" he spluttered, and just as soon grinned in relief. "You sure took your time!"
"Get the fuck in!" Kurogane was looking up through the windshield, and into his various mirrors. "I'm not catching you if you roll off, damn it!"
Fai had barely obeyed with fingers curling into the window frame when the vehicle lurched to the side, narrowly avoiding the same black sword-missiles that had chased Fai off the roof. He yelped, felt himself slither dangerously close to the edge. Sweat slicked his palms. "Kuro-rin, I can't get in when your driving is so awful!"
"Then do something about that bastard and get him off my back!" the ninja snapped. His voice was muffled in the wind whistling by Fai's ears.
He could see the dark shape of Seishirou following them from rooftops, though they were gaining ground. This would not stop a magical attack, however—and his wariness proved itself right when an ashen bolt of something came streaking at them. Fai gripped the window frame tight, flicked his fingers to release another string of violet runes—a different matrix this time, one that protected against the strongest magics he could think of, because this wasn't himself he was defending anymore, it was Kurogane.
Gleaming curlicues grew and closed themselves around the car, resonating with magic once the barrier was complete, much like the one he'd saved Sakura with in Nagare. Kurogane swore. The energy stream crashed into the shield in the next instant, sending a low reverberation through the barrier as it was deflected. In the distance, police sirens blared.
"Can't you make this invisible so I can see through it?" the ninja groused.
"Beggars can't be choosers, Kuro-sama!" he retorted, latched his free hand back onto the window frame.
The car rolled onto its side in a sudden sharp turn, leaving Fai hanging on by his fingertips for dear life. He screwed his eyes shut against the dizzying sense of vertigo, then snapped them open again, in case Seishirou was still behind them. The nauseating pulse of magic was steadily growing weaker now, and Fai exhaled in relief—as long as Kurogane was around, there wouldn't be any more need for him to dip into his magical reserves. Nonetheless, he kept some magic ready, just in case.
"I think we've lost him, Kuro-wan," he said weakly, air rushing into his mouth. "But you drive terribly."
Kurogane clicked his tongue; the black car gradually slowed, and Fai found that they were in a familiar part of the island. (There was the little grocery store they bought their breakfasts and dinners from, and the drab hotel they stayed at on their first night here.)
"Get us to the children, please," he said weakly, pulling a vague smile across his face.
"You're going to explain this," the ninja muttered, glowering at him through the windshield. "Seems you can't be left alone by yourself without trouble following."
"All I did was run into Seishirou-san," Fai protested. He turned his face away; the other man was exceedingly good at reading him despite his best efforts.
"The feather?" Kurogane pressed.
"Safe." He could still feel Seishirou's presence from across the island, and focused on it, allowing himself to relax a little when the signature did not seem to be growing stronger. "But we need to sell the cars soon—Sakura-chan will be upset enough as it is. I left our money at the shop."
Red eyes flickered over his prone body then, fixing on a spot at his hip, and Fai gulped. The feather was probably protruding out of his pocket. Kurogane growled. "You're an idiot."
"I believe we've already established that," he answered breathily, scanning the skies in case they were being pursued by the police or Seishirou. (Strangely enough, they weren't.) "Hyuu! Well done, Kuro-myu, you've even left the police behind."
Kurogane made a rude noise. "If you didn't get yourself into crap like that, then I wouldn't even have to rescue your sorry ass."
"How did you even know to come?" Fai frowned, looked back at his companion. If his riding on the hood of the car was strange, neither of them was saying a word about it. "You couldn't have known that anything was happening from the port."
"Overheard a couple of guys talking about an explosion. We can see the mall from the port."
"Surely it would have been a coincidence if I was involved."
Kurogane narrowed his eyes. "You heard the witch. There aren't coincidences. 'Sides, weird things happen because of the feather. Thought you weren't an idiot, mage."
He grinned wide at that. "Is Kuro-puu implying that I'm smart?" he crowed, and the wonder on his face grew when he realized that there wasn't any way Kurogane could've made it over to the mall without rushing at some point. "You ran for your car, didn't you. When you heard about the explosion."
The ninja wasn't looking at him. "I just happened to be nearby," he muttered.
"Kuro-daddy is a giant soft-hearted man!" Fai sang, all the better to leave their previous discussion behind. "He cares for all of us!"
"Shut up! I'll roll you off otherwise," the man threatened; red tinted the tips of his ears. They were close enough to the repair shop by now, however, and Fai grinned triumphantly at him, then pushed off from the car just as it pulled to a stop along the side of the building.
His walking stick had been lost somewhere during the fray, Fai realized belatedly, when he put weight on his injured ankle and it gave out beneath him once again. He flailed for a long moment, trying to retain his balance.
Kurogane snorted derisively, cut the engine and slammed the door, then hauled him up by the arm. "Can't leave you alone for a second. Idiot."
Fai's huff of laughter was self-deprecating (his stomach gave a little squeeze), and he patted Kurogane on the chest. "That's because I have you to depend on!"
Crimson eyes glanced sidelong at him; Kurogane did not speak, and Fai gulped.
"I think we shouldn't have Sakura-chan absorb the feather right away." He reached for the source of magic in his pocket, leaning heavily on Kurogane as the larger man dragged him over to the shop entrance. "I have a feeling she might want to be awake when we visit Primera-san."
"What do you suggest, then?"
By this point, they were in full view of the occupants in the repair shop garage, and Fai grinned dazzle-bright at the trio of people (and a Mokona) crowded over an open car hood in greasy overalls. "Sakura-chan!" Fai attempted to wave, but winced when his shoulder throbbed, blood seeping through the fresh wound there. "Kuro-tan and I have come for a visit!"
"Fai-san?" The princess looked up just as her companions did, surprise flickering through their features. "Your shoulder—"
"Mekyo!" Mokona chirped on Syaoran's shoulder, eyes snapping open. "Mokona senses the feather!"
Both Sakura and Syaoran gasped while Yukito stared at them all in vague bemusement; Fai smiled cheerily, tugged the glowing feather out of his pocket. "There was a bit of trouble at the mall, so I took the liberty of retrieving the feather first," he said quickly before the children could look too excited—he didn't want to disappoint them by hiding the inevitable truth.
"Unfortunately, I'd only managed to pay for it with the cash I had on hand. Kuro-rin and I will be going to sell the cars now and then head to the mall with the rest of the payment. Would you like to come along?"
"Of course we would!" Sakura told him earnestly. She glanced at Syaoran, shared a nod with him, then grimaced apologetically at Yukito. "I'm afraid that Syaoran-kun and I will have to leave so soon in the day, Yukito-san."
"That's all right," the mild-mannered mechanic answered. "I understand that this is something important you both have to see to."
"Thank you very much," Syaoran said gratefully, giving his employer a shallow bow. "We're sorry for the inconvenience caused, Yukito-san. Please convey our apologies to Touya-san too, if possible."
Yukito waved them along with a warm smile. Fai grinned, herded the children towards the car, inwardly cringing at the curiosity brimming on their faces. "It's a long story," he sang, "why don't I explain it all when we've got this settled?"
Kurogane was watching him as well, though with an expression that promised there was no way he'd get off the hook without sharing the details.
Fai sighed to himself. He wished he wouldn't have to—but when did things ever go his way?
In the end, they sold the cars after a couple of trips to the mall parking lot (one to deposit the kids by the powder-blue car, and one to fetch Fai, who dodged any attempt Kurogane made to interrogate him about Seishirou). The cars had gone for less than the quote Fai obtained the day after they arrived—there were visible, sullen dents in the hood of the black car from when he had fallen into it less than an hour prior. Fai reassured the boy and his princess that there was still enough cash remaining to pay for the feather.
The mage did not protest when Kurogane forced them all on a detour, first to purchase a new walking stick, then a hooded jacket not unlike his robe from Celes.
And just as he'd suspected, photos of Fai and Seishirou were plastered all over the mall's brightly-lit signage, screen captures from various security feeds. There were even short, soundless clips of Primera's dramatic recount of the attack, with a running line of text scrolling across the bottom of the videos.
"Looks like Fai-mommy's popular!" the blond exclaimed, falsely bright, head and hands tucked deep into his new jacket. Kurogane grit his teeth. Seishirou had not gone easy on him both today and in Outo—the fact that Fai carried two bloody injuries now more than spoke for itself. But Fai was still only giving them vague explanations about what had transpired, feeding the children just enough of Well, I saw that Seishirou-san was headed for the feather and I convinced Primera-san to part with it early to avoid being questioned further.
Kurogane wasn't buying it. Why would he risk his safety just for the feather, when he wouldn't before?
"Seishirou-san—is he still here?" Syaoran asked. Determination and concern ran in a low undercurrent beneath his words.
Fai paused for a moment as they rode the escalators up through the central well of the mall. (There had been fewer shoppers and more wary guards around, and the mage had to enter the building from a different floor altogether. How he slipped past the guards, Kurogane would never know.) "No, I don't believe he's here anymore, Syaoran-kun," he answered quietly. "He likely left when Mokona took the feather into storage."
The boy nodded, digesting the information; Fai turned to Sakura. "I'd like to see if we can spend some of that money in the shop on things you might need." When the princess flushed, Fai patted her lightly on the shoulder. "You know, on practical clothes, if possible."
Kurogane snorted. "That damn goggles guy was adamant that the feather only came free when we bought crap from the inner room."
Fai shrugged, grinned down at him. "We do have the feather in our hands now. Surely that gives us some bargaining power."
For all that the idiot was wily with his charms, he hadn't had much luck where it came to haggling in this world, so Kurogane wasn't waiting with bated breath to see how this would unfold.
The cramped, white-tiled corridor leading to Primera's Intimates was a mess in two different places. For the most part, the debris had been swept to the side or cleared, though there still was a thin layer of dust under their feet as they made their way to where the glass-and-metal door used to be.
Kurogane blinked at the interior of the shop; Sakura gasped. Where there used to be neat stacks of undergarments and mannequins arranged on pedestals, half the clothes on display was now strewn across the floor. Most things were covered in dust, and there was a gaping hole in the wall to the right, through which he could see the adjacent building and bright blue sky. Fai was hovering towards the back of their group, his expression shuttered.
"Excuse me," Sakura called hesitantly into the empty shop. "Is anyone here?"
A dark-haired head popped up from behind a table. Recognition flickered across Shougo's face; he frowned. "Ah, it's you guys."
From the corner of his eye, Kurogane watched as Fai drew a a deep breath, then pulled his hood back, face plastered with a grimace-tempered smile. He stepped through the door. "Ah, Shougo-san," the blond greeted with a small wave. "Is Primera-san around? I would like to apologize for the state of the shop—"
The sales assistant stood, stopped Fai's speech with a slight shake of his head. "She's downstairs with the reporters, but no, you don't have to apologize. She told me what happened."
"In that case—" Fai leaned heavily on his walking stick, tugged the envelope of cash from his pocket. "We'd just like to make sure that the promise is kept. I told her we'd return to pay the balance for the feather."
"We weren't certain if you'd be back," Shougo began, though he made no move to accept the envelope. Kurogane noted that he was covered with dust and looked a little worn, but still sharp-eyed and not at all hostile, considering how the shop looked as if a destructive gale had swept through. "But we did discuss the possibility that you would. On hindsight, she admitted that you did save her from the other guy.
"So, we agreed that if you were to return, we wouldn't press charges against you," the man continued. "But we'd have to revise the terms of the purchase to cover the damages we've incurred in the shop, you understand."
"His picture's still all over," Kurogane pointed out, jerking a thumb in Fai's direction.
Shougo looked faintly chagrined. "That's actually the doing of the mall administration—I'm sure you've seen the damage outside the shop."
Fai looked around at their traveling group, met Kurogane's eyes, before turning back to Shougo. "That's fine. We're prepared to accept just the feather for the original amount."
"Can't do that. We'd still have to sell you something," Shougo pointed out. He brushed himself off, walked over to take the envelope from Fai. "But I'm open to negotiations."
There was a brief round of discussion, which concluded as such: of the six thousand minbi's worth of goods they initially had to purchase, four thousand would go to the shop repairs, a thousand could come from the sale of clothes from the public-facing side of the shop, and the last thousand had to comprise of purchases from the adult section. On top of that, they had to help tidy the chaos of clothes that was still on the floor.
"Go on, Sakura-chan," Fai said softly to the princess, giving her a slight nudge. "Pick some things out. If you can't decide and Syaoran-kun isn't able to give you much of an input, I'm always happy to help!"
The girl flushed to the roots of her hair, and so did Syaoran. Fai merely gave her a catlike smile, and turned her towards the section of the shop that was relatively neater. "Kuro-rin, Syaoran-kun, why don't you help tidy the floor?" he chirped. "I'll just be over here with Sakura-chan!"
"So will Mokona!" the pork bun trilled on Fai's shoulder.
Kurogane glared at him. "Can't you do some actual work for once, instead of slacking off?"
The blond grinned slyly, stuck his injured leg out. "You can't possibly expect an invalid to keep bending over, can you?"
It probably wasn't what the idiot intended (or perhaps it was), but Kurogane whipped around to hide the heat prickling on his cheeks anyway. He stalked to the other end of the shop. "Whatever."
Fai snickered behind him.
Syaoran wasn't much better at keeping the flush off his face, Kurogane was gratified to note, when they began picking up lacy scraps of panties, shaking them out, and folding them into little rectangles. Shougo returned to the spot they'd found him, and the trio worked silently for the better part of twenty minutes, while Fai, Sakura and Mokona conversed in muted tones across the room.
The mess had almost been entirely cleared when Fai called, "Kuro-pon!"
"What?" he snapped, looking up with a glower.
"Do you think Fai-mommy will look good in this?" The blond was holding a white lace thong against his hips, his eyebrows waggling and an inane smile plastered across his face.
Kurogane exploded.
"That's women's underwear, you twit!" he snapped, heat surging into his face with indignation that the mage would ask this of him, that he would do so with every one of their companions within earshot. And also because he could very well imagine Fai in it, and that particular mental image was in no way revolting. He bristled at himself. "Of all the stupid things you can ask," Kurogane seethed, blinked rapidly to rid the picture that had somehow glued itself to the back of his eyelids. "That moron has no shame."
"I had shame once," Fai supplemented cheerily, despite how quietly he thought he'd spoken those words. Sakura was standing next to him, a bundle of garments in her hand and utter mortification on her face.
"I'll make sure both your legs are broken," Kurogane growled, making to stand. "You'll be stuck so long in a wheelchair you'll regret it—"
"Are you guys going to pick out what you're buying from the other room?" Shougo nodded towards the curtain next to the cashier's counter, effectively ending his tirade.
Kurogane remembered the rows and shelves of lewd products, and froze. He didn't want to look at Fai, all of a sudden. The lace thong had been one thing, but going into a room full of sexual aids with the sort of history between them?
"Nothing struck me in particular the last time," Fai said thoughtfully. He added the white thong to Sakura's pile of clothes, placed Mokona on her shoulder, before hobbling over to the curtain. "But I'll look again just to be sure."
Instinct told him that he'd regret allowing Fai to make that particular purchase alone. Kurogane swore under his breath, followed the blond down the narrow passageway into the adults-only segment of the store.
"Hyuu, I didn't think Kuro-wanwan was excited about this," Fai remarked as he paused at the end of the corridor, a little twitch tugging on his lips.
"I'm not," Kurogane snapped. "I'm just here to make sure you don't... get anything indecent."
"I'm the purest of the pure, Kuroi, you're hurting my feelings."
"Fuck you."
Fai coughed lightly, limped into the store to examine the products more closely. It was far neater here—none of the things on the wall had fallen off, and even the phallic products were sitting neatly on the shelves, as if there hadn't just been a hurricane ripping through the other half of the store.
"There was a barrier around here," he concluded aloud. "You did this?"
The mage hummed, but said nothing to provide any affirmation. "Look at those ropes, Kuro-pon! I think they might come in handy—don't you?"
Kurogane narrowed his eyes at the coils of smooth, satiny jute in a corner, turned away in annoyance. Trust Fai to shut up where it mattered. He left the idiot to wander through the cramped spaces, cast his attention over the shelves closest to himself. In one rattan basket next to a pile of clothes, there was a collection of small metal weapons. He picked a highly stylized dagger up, ran his thumb across the gleaming knife edge, and scoffed at its bluntness. These were mere toys, not anything useful that he could fight with. The dagger returned to nest with its counterparts.
A neat row of books on the bottommost shelf aroused his curiosity, however. He recognized the gleaming, colorful spines and ink-speckled tops of manga, crouched to pull a tome out. Instead of a scantily-clad woman on the cover, however, there was a bare-chested man, and the block-like characters on the edges of the cover tried to tempt him with announcements about the latest "boys-love" stories.
Kurogane dithered for a moment, then flipped the book open.
It was some sort of story about teachers in a school—there was a gym teacher, and a chemistry teacher who seemed far too cheerful for his liking. The chemistry teacher was conferring with the director of the school (a witch-like character if he ever saw one), and a few pages later, the gym and chemistry teachers had somehow ended up in an apartment together, and were quickly divesting each other of their clothes.
What followed was very explicit—imagery he did not need right now—and Kurogane snapped the book shut with a bitten-off curse. No, he didn't need anything from this place.
He eased the book back onto its shelf. Fai was still wandering around the room, coil of rope slung around one arm while he picked slender glass sculptures off their shelves and examined them against the light.
"I wonder what this is for," he purred in a tone that suggested he already knew. "What do you think, Kuro-rin?"
Kurogane glared at him and very deliberately focused on getting out of the room. "Don't care. I'm leaving."
That seemed to suit Fai just fine—the wizard spent another five minutes poking around the products, while Kurogane stalked out and glowered at everyone who dared look up at him (in particular, Mokona, who was experimenting with speaking in their different voices). When Fai eventually made his way out,he was dangling a set of gleaming, clinking handcuffs from a finger, on top of the rope he'd expressed interest in.
"Sorry," he told Shougo not-so-apologetically, "I couldn't find anything else we might need in there."
"What about I pick some things out for you?" The sales assistant glanced between them, and smirked. "Our customers say I have a knack for choosing the right things."
It was enough to set alarm bells screeching in Kurogane's head, but he'd had his gander in the room and found nothing of use. And the money had to be spent.
"Go ahead," Fai responded cheerily, setting his selection on the cashier's counter. "Sakura-chan, have you got everything you might need?"
"I'll be right back," Shougo announced when the princess hurried over.
"Do you think these are all right?" Sakura asked the wizard worriedly, when she gently placed her pile of garments on the counter. Kurogane mostly saw opaque pieces in the stack, sturdy material that should hold up to all the traveling they did. "I felt bad that these are all ladies' clothes..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "But I found some that don't look too girly, in your size and Kurogane-san's and Syaoran-kun's, so if there's ever an emergency, we'd have these, at least..."
A blinding grin erupted on the blond's visage; he reached up and ruffled the princess's hair. "You're so kind to think of us, Sakura-chan! I'm sure Kuro-sama and Syaoran-kun will appreciate it as well. Won't you, Kuro-chan?"
Kurogane harrumphed, looked away. It wasn't as if he'd need underwear so desperately that he'd settle for women's clothing, but he wasn't going to have the princess upset on his account. The kid was fidgeting awkwardly to the side. "Whatever."
Shougo emerged from the hidden room some time later with an armful of things, that he set on the counter next to Fai's. "Right," he began, sweeping an appraising eye over the various products they had amassed. "I'll have to total the clothes first, but these should bring you into the neighborhood of two thousand minbi, at any rate."
Mokona and the children crowded around the counter as Shougo began to quickly tally the items with a handheld scanner (Syaoran kept his gaze averted for the most part, while Fai lingered a few feet away from Kurogane, watching the proceedings with a vague smile). It hadn't occurred to Kurogane just how much clothing (underwear) exactly they could purchase with a thousand minbi—this had to be enough for the rest of the princess's lifetime, at least.
The sales assistant moved on to scan Fai's rope and handcuffs, and when that was done, he said brightly, "Now, you've got about twelve hundred minbi's worth of items here. I'll just run through the things I've picked out, so you know what you're getting with the rest of your money. Feel free to stop me if you have any objections."
Fai waved for him to go ahead, and Shougo began a running commentary, with every bit of a professional air that left Kurogane staring.
"I got you guys a few bottles of lubrication—some oil, some water-based. Be careful, though, the condoms only work with the water-based ones." He scanned these, and swept the things into a plastic bag. "Plus some condoms, of course. Can't be too safe, can we?"
Kurogane wasn't even going to respond to that. Would the kids need those? Maybe. It wasn't any of his business.
"Of course, I'm sure you know that oil-based lubrication works better where anal penetration is concerned," Shougo went on to say, and for a long moment, the words echoed in Kurogane's head, increasing in volume to the point where he wasn't sure if he was going to lose his temper at himself, or Shougo, or Fai for simply being around.
So he gaped, for an utter lack of words to say. (Fai's smile had grown brittle.)
(And no, they had not done any penetrating of that sort.)
(Not yet, his mind added.)
"I— I think Sakura-hime and I will wait outside," Syaoran stammered, looking for all the world like a tinder about to combust. "We'll wait for you until you're ready, Fai-san, Kurogane-san."
"Mokona will go too!" the white lump squealed, and she followed as the children hurried out of the shop.
Shougo smirked. "Well, that was for the best, I think. Back to your purchase—I noticed that you were interested in the manga we have in stock (you didn't replace them exactly right, mind) so I'm including a handful in case you happen to like them."
Kurogane only noticed the books hidden behind a set or two of clothing when the lanky salesman mentioned them, and he was sure he would incinerate from the humiliation running through his veins. Fai was giving him a pointed, questioning look; he didn't know what to say to hurry this situation along—no way was he leaving to let the idiot deal with this alone. Damn Tomoyo for sending him on this journey. Damn the feather for landing in this shop of all places.
"I've included some of the glass and silicone dildos as well," Shougo was saying. "Both of these can be cleaned in boiling water, and the glass ones are a specialty of our shop—they don't break easily, though you'd want to avoid chipping them all the same."
Kurogane wasn't sure what he missed as the cashier continued to shove various items into the bag, since all he could really comprehend was that those books he'd glanced at (and was very briefly interested in) were soon to be in his possession. He didn't want to read them, he really didn't. But there wasn't any harm in inspecting them, was there? To see if they contained captivating plot of some sort? What he was truly distracted by was that the stupid white thing would know when he asked to retrieve them—Mokona read his manga. Mokona wailed when his manga volumes were destroyed before she could look at them.
Oh, hell no.
"So that rounds out to two thousand and eight minbi for these products," Shougo concluded. "We can waive the eight minbi, considering that your grand total is six thousand anyway."
"We'd appreciate that! Kuro-rin? Is there something wrong?" Fai was frowning at him, almost shrewdly, and Kurogane turned his glower on the mage instead.
"That pork bun reads manga," he said shortly, if just to point out the severity of their situation. "If she gets her paws on those—"
The uncertain look that flitted across Fai's countenance was slightly gratifying. "Well, um," the mage dallied, glancing between Kurogane and the bags. "You seemed to be interested in those books—"
"I am not!" he snapped, heat crawling up his neck.
The blond sent him a considering glance then, shrugged. "I'm curious about them now," he said with a little, secretive smile that grated on Kurogane's nerves. "So I vote that we keep them, and tell Mokona that they're for adults only."
He swallowed hard. "Fine."
(No, it was not, because then Fai would see what had caught his attention (momentarily, for fuck's sake).)
They ended up paying and leaving the store, and the kids were blessedly well out of hearing, lingering at the railings around the central elevator well and talking. (Mokona was using their voices again, that little brat.)
All told, the visit could have gone a lot worse, Kurogane grudgingly acknowledged.
Their next stop was a little clinic some bit of a walk from the mall. Like in Outo, Kurogane hefted Fai over his shoulder so they wouldn't all be stuck walking at his pace, and ground his teeth while the mage joked with the kids about whatever it was in his fluff-filled head.
With the feather in their possession and the cars sold, Mokona had spit their travelling clothes out while they were waiting in the clinic for Fai's turn to see the doctor—they hadn't much else holding them back in this world, after all. The four of them had got dressed (the doctor frowned disapprovingly at "cosplayers who horsed around"), and Syaoran and the princess had disappeared for a bit to get some water from the steel fountain down the hall. At the moment, the doctor had left the room minutes ago to gather some paperwork.
"Mage," Kurogane muttered, painted white wall at his back as he looked down his nose at Fai. The other man was sitting in a chair, fur-trimmed robes pulled tight around himself, calf and ankle wrapped in some sort of a plastic splint. His arm and shoulder injuries had been patched up as well—Kurogane saw to that. "What went on with the kid's ex-mentor when you were at that shop?"
Fai shrugged, smiled blankly at him. "Not all that much, Kuro-tan. Why do you ask?"
It was annoying, that fake smile, and his fingers twitched in anticipation of wringing the idiot's neck. "It wasn't even the princess, and you drew a barrier to protect her anyway. Then you blew a hole in the wall and even got yourself hurt."
The blond winced a little; his grin faltered. "That's not something you should be concerned about, you know."
He bristled, took a step forward to close the distance around them, and curled his fingers around the man's collar. "It fucking concerns me and you know it," he said through gritted teeth. "You've made yourself a liability and damaged one of the cars. Even the kids are worried about you. We shouldn't have to go over this so many times."
"I—" Something in Fai's blue, blue eyes flickered, and he opened his mouth to speak. His Adam's apple bobbed.
A sudden exclamation seeped in through the walls. The door burst open. Kurogane tensed; Sakura and Syaoran were in the hallway, Mokona in the princess's arms and her gem glowing, thin wings spreading out of her back.
"Fai-san, Kurogane-san," Syaoran exclaimed, anxiety dark in his eyes. "Mokona—"
The magic circle stretched along the floor, wind gusting around it; Kurogane hauled Fai out of his chair and towards the children, and then the ground was falling away from under their feet.
It shouldn't matter that they were right on the edge of Mokona's circle, right?
A/N: Thank you all for reading/reviewing! This closes the flying rock island arc of this series. I'm sorry Seishirou's appearance was just as sudden and inexplicable as Rondart's in the sword to my shield - I hope to not pull weird stuff like that next arc (which is Yama!). All the same, it served its purpose: cause for a great amount of trolling in the lingerie shop. ;) LOL I'm such a troll.
To the one guest who left the lovely review: I'm so glad this series and its characterizations have made you speechless in a good way! Hope you enjoyed this last part. :) :) I had great fun writing it.
The Yama arc will be posted under a different title - not sure what it'll be yet. Before that happens, though, I will be posting a 4-5 part KuroFaiYuui fic set in Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen, tentatively titled "Ternary". Previews are already up on my tumblr. ;)
So amazed by the responses/faves/follows that when flight falls short has accumulated. :) Have a great weekend, you guys!
Edited 29 Oct 2015: Yama arc has been posted under the title 'ink, fire and fiddle'! To those of you who might be confused, here's the list of titles for this series in chronological order - check them out if you haven't yet ;) :
1. silly paintings and lava cakes - Outo
2. the sword to my shield - alternate world, Nagare
3. when flight falls short - alternate world, flying rock country
4. ink, fire and fiddle - Yama