OK… Just a beginning note. I'm not going to go frame by frame through the manga. This would take FOREVER and a day to write if that were the case. So, I'm going to skip around a bit and just focus on the parts I feel are important. For instance, we all love a little Sorashi in our lives, but it's too tedious to mention every conversation between our group and their hosts, so a lot of it will be brushed by. Hopefully, everybody who is reading this has read the manga, so any holes can be filled in with pre-existing knowledge.
The sun shone down on the new world like a beacon of hope. Grumbling, Kurogane carefully tried to dry Fay, who was soaked to the bone and colder than nights in the desert. He ran the towel through Fay's hair, unnerved by his closed eyes. If it weren't for the slight purple tinge to his lips, Kurogane would have sworn that Fay was just taking a nap to avoid the heat of the day.
"Kuro-pon," the two of them were sitting atop one of the many colorful clay roofs that bordered the bazaar, munching on fresh yellow apples. Sticky juice dribbled down Fay's chin, and he wiped it away messily, licking the sour substance off his fingers. Kurogane had merely rolled his eyes and chomped down on his own crisp treat, swishing the sour flavor around in his mouth before swallowing.
They were ten years old, at that moment in life when each day stretched on into forever.
"What?" Kurogane grumbled around a mouthful of apple. His father had pushed him out the door that morning, and in to the arms of his annoying 'friend', the blond boy whose smiles just didn't seem quite right.
"What do you think being grown up feels like?" Fay had turned his face into the sun, and its gleaming light upon his hair made him radiant. Fay didn't seem to know that though, and Kurogane wasn't going to tell him.
"I dunno," Kurogane shrugged, tossing his apple core somewhere behind him. He thought he heard a few chickens squawk, but that was their problem. "We'll be bigger," he paused, eyeing his shorter companion doubtfully. "Well, I will be," he concluded.
Fay laughed, swinging his legs energetically over the edge of the roof. "Adults always look so content," he observed.
Kurogane didn't agree. Adults almost never smiled, and they were always worrying about taxes and clothing, and other grown-up stuff Kurogane didn't care about.
"Do you think, when people grow up, all the pain goes away?" Fay's voice was lilting and vulnerable. Kurogane had never heard it that way before, except during the one time when he and Fay had stumbled across the dead desert traveler.
Kurogane crossed his arms. He didn't like Fay's voice when it sounded like that. He sounded old and crotchety, like the wrinkly man at the edge of the bazaar who shook chicken feet at them and offered to give their fortunes. Well, maybe he didn't sound that old, but he definitely sounded as old as Kurogane's father, and from the white hairs Kurogane sometimes spotted in his hair, that was pretty old!
"I think when we grow up, you'll still be an idiot," he responded, sliding off the roof and hopping onto the sandy ground. The tiny pieces of evil puffed up around him, swirling like miniature tornadoes and gathering in his hair. He shook them out roughly.
"And where will you be, Kuro-sama?" Fay's voice was extremely small. Kurogane could barely hear him. His legs had stopped swinging and merely hung out over the roofs edge.
"Idiot, I'll be right here," Kurogane answered, pointing at the ground in front of him for emphasis. "Where else would I be?"
He caught Fay automatically when he swung himself off the roof, and pretended to not notice when Fay's arms lingered around his neck for a little longer than necessary.
Slowly, the sun started to sink behind the reddish-orange clay roof. That day's forever was coming to an end.
"Idiot, I'll be right here," Kurogane whispered, clutching Fay's thin hand.
It was then when he felt a low, pulsing warmth from his thick black travelling cloak. Gently Syaoran, who was clutching a towel in one hand, plucked a light blue feather from Kurogane's cloak. He spun it slowly between his thumb and forefinger delicately, as if it might shatter in an instant. The feather's ethereal glow made it glimmer.
"It must have stuck to you," Syaoran decided, in a low, reverent voice. "Of all the memories that scattered, this one stayed with you. For that, it must be a very important memory."
Kurogane felt two parts thankful and one part suspicious as he grabbed the feather from the other man's clutches. It was warm, as warm as Fay's hand had been the night before, when Kurogane had wrapped it in gauze and blushed at their closeness.
Cautiously, he placed the feather against Fay's chest, waiting for something to happen. The feather sank into his chest slowly, first the center, and then the outwards edges, until Kurogane could no longer see it.
Cautiously, Kurogane touched Fay's arm. It was warm.
"Thanks," Kurogane admitted gruffly.
Their hosts, a pale woman named Arashi and her goofy husband Sorata, seemed to have been awaiting their arrival. For some reason or another, they owed the Dimensional Witch—or Yuuko, as they had called her—quite a sum, and they'd agreed to give the travelers a place to stay and food to savor. And now they were sitting there rambling on about how great their country was, and how they were so awesome at baseball (a sport Kurogane found dreadfully boring), and blahblahblahblahblah.
"Pay attention kid!" Sorata screamed. Kurogane, caught unaware, suddenly found his head aching awfully, as if someone had just pounded him on the head with a mallet.
"What was that?" Kurogane asked angrily.
"It couldn't have been something that was thrown; the angle was wrong," Sakura's soft, light voice interceded.
"It was just my Kudan," Sorata interrupted, holding his hands in front of his face in an attempt to save himself from the alert and angry Sakura who had lowered her hand to her hip, searching for a weapon.
Rubbing his sore head, Kurogane went back to staring out the window as Sorata's puppet started to explain what a Kudan was. He glanced over at Fay. The quicker they found Fay's feather, the quicker they could leave.
It was nearly 10 p.m. when Sorata finished his little speech, and by then Kurogane had started to count the ceiling tiles, he was so bored. He imagined that if Fay were awake, he'd find the puppets clever and unbearably cute; he'd probably make one for himself, and use it to talk for him.
Kurogane snorted, his eyes darting over to the room where his friend was sleeping.
"Oi! Are you dozing again?" Sorata raised his hand menacingly, and Kurogane covered his head, waiting for the blow. None came. Instead, Sorata stared into the little room in which Fay slept, his face calm and serene.
"Sorry kid. I don't know what I'd do if my Honey was like that. We'll do anything we can to help."
Kurogane nearly blushed at the man's earnest offer, sincerely thinking it over. Despite what Fay liked to say, Kurogane was not a mindless brute with a head full of rocks (though sometime's he'd like to be; it'd make life much easier.) He could think about others once in a while too.
"Do you think you could make some puppets?" Kurogane asked gruffly, staring at the wood paneling lining the walls. It was very traditional.
Sorata opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of Sakura's quiet, polite voice.
"What will the sleeping arrangements be?" She asked cautiously, a faint blush on her cheeks when she caught Syaoran staring in her direction.
"I'm afraid you'll have to share a room with Syaoran," Sorata noted dolefully. "From what Yuuko told us, I had expected two older males, and didn't prepare a room suited for a young lady. I apologize."
Sakura nodded understandingly, smiling just slightly. "Thank you for the accommodations. I'm sure there will be no trouble."
Kurogane yawned and Sakura, still decked out in her silk attire, smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder. She was actually a couple of inches shorter than Kurogane, but she radiated an immense inner strength—a type of balanced spirit that Kurogane had only ever seen in the Priest of his world and a few of the more powerful visitors in other worlds. Kurogane would not like to meet her on the battle field.
"We should sleep," she said, turning to head up the stairs.
Syaoran held the door open for her, like a true gentleman Kurogane supposed, though he scoffed at the type. Women were just as capable as men and Sakura was obviously a powerful warrior; somehow Syaoran seemed to patronize her. Kurogane didn't like it.
Still, it was really none of his business. It wasn't like Kurogane actually knew the people, or anything.
As the dimension travelers wearily sought their rooms, Kurogane slipping soundlessly into a futon besides Fay; Syaoran sitting on his bed, resisting the urge to peek as Sakura slipped into nightwear provided by Arashi, he watched.
"I thought it would fail," Fei Wang Reed considered as he watched his four favorite people through the mirror. Xing Huo wordlessly nodded her agreement. "But it seems that hitsuzen is stronger than even Clow Reed's dying wish. Things shall still proceed accordingly. After all," Fei Wong smiled eerily, "all we need are the memories of the body. The means through which they come… Those can be stretched."
The next morning, Kurogane found himself standing next to his new companion's outside the couple's inn.
"I didn't ask for your help," Kurogane growled, glaring at the two adults.
Syaoran smiled. "What type of people would we be if we ignored a child in need? Besides, helping you doesn't distract from my wish."
Sakura nodded. "My master sent me on a mission; until I find the meaning of her words, returning home would be useless anyway."
Kurogane rolled his eyes. "What about you?" He asked the odd, white meat bun shaped creature resting on Sakura's shoulder.
"I'll help you find the feathers! When I sense one my eyes will go big and wide like this! Mekyo!" Kurogane jumped back in shock as the creature's eyes widened alarmingly. That thing was butt ugly! And its eyes! What kind of creature had eyes like those?
The City of Hanshin was huge, bigger than anything Kurogane had seen in his travels with his father. The tall buildings seemed to scrape the sky; some disappeared into clouds! The lights shined brightly from every storefront. People bustled around, far too close for Kurogane's liking. If anyone touched him he'd choke them to death.
The bustling town would appeal to Fay, no doubt. The idiot would probably rush into the masses and get lost. The thought reminded him of the weird dream he'd had last night. A gigantic dragon, made completely of water, had come to him and told him that he would be the calm in the chaos that surrounded them.
Kurogane had no idea what that meant. He vaguely realized that the creature was a Kudan, who wanted to bind to him, which meant he would gain more strength to help him save Fay.
"Apples, apples! Would anyone like some apples?" Curiously, Kurogane turned towards the vender, remembering the sticky, sweet-sour treats he and Fay used to devour.
"That's not an apple!" Kurogane insisted, staring at the blood red fruit. "Apples are yellow!"
Syaoran, his eyes wide with wonder, plucked the fruit out of the vendor's hand. "I must admit I've never seen a fruit like this…" He trailed off in wonder. "Shall we buy any?"
He looked towards Sakura, who seemed engrossed in studying the fruit—her eyes lit up in a childish curiosity that made her look years younger.
Syaoran blushed, averting his gaze and muttering under his breath. It wouldn't do to become too closely connected to someone else. He'd already decided that long ago, when he'd made his deal with—
"Buy!!" Mokona demanded, perched on Kurogane's shoulder.
Smiling at the magical creature, Syaoran reached into his pocket and handed the wallet to Kurogane, who begrudgingly picked out the proper amount of change. Gazing around at the foreign signs littering the bright city, Syaoran smiled. He couldn't understand a single word; he imagined it would be quite difficult for one such as himself to settle in a place like this… Even if it did offer more peace than any land before it had.
A light wind ruffled his hair, and he inhaled the air. It tasted different than the air back home did. It was thicker, heavier—a little clogged with dust and not as pleasant and sharp as the winter air of his homeland; however, the magic that flooded the air tasted the same and nearly overwhelmed him with its power.
"So, why is everyone here anyway?" Kurogane asked brusquely, sitting down on the side of a conveniently placed bridge.
"My Princess sent me away," Sakura answered lowly, gazing out at the buildings. She focused her open gaze onto Syaoran, who fidgeted slightly.
"How did you get here?"
"I sent myself," Syaoran responded calmly, willing his heart not to pound quite so heavily in his chest.
"Then you didn't need the witch… You could just travel on your own," Kurogane grumbled, watching the man curiously.
Syaoran smiled, his eyes becoming curiously blank when he spoke next. "The Dimensional Witch has a very special power. Even someone as magically powerful as me can only transport between dimensions once."
Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but a sudden explosion from one of the busier sectors of the city interrupted her.
"What the Hell was that?" Kurogane shouted over the screams of the residence.
The three—four if Mokona were to be included—of them scrambled through the crowd, Kurogane pushing people roughly out of the way as Syaoran and Sakura, slightly more politely weaved through the crowd of people.
Finally they reached what seemed to be the epicenter of the explosion. It looked like it had originally been a Kudan fight, but something had gone terribly wrong. In the middle of it all, two small children lay huddled together, terrified.
"Are you all right?" Sakura called out to them, her quick, nimble steps leading her closer to the two.
Just as she approached them, one of the children glowed eerily, and before Syaoran even had a chance to scream, the second child clapped its hands together, and a wave of heat raced towards Sakura.
"Damn Clow Reed," Fei Wang Reed muttered as his mirror showed him the devastation reaked upon Hanshin. This was supposed to be one of the safer worlds, but something had gone horribly, horribly wrong; something that not even he had foreseen.
It seemed Fai's memories were going to be a bit more… Volatile than anyone had predicted.