Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa, neither do i own the starting of this story.

Warning: THIS ENTRIE STORY IS YAOI/ BxB. DO NOT PROCEED IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.

LOTS OF ANGST AND RAPE/ NON CON. BE-WARNED.

Chapter 3: The Three Tests

"Kuro-rin?" Fai called, peeking from behind a bush. The pair had hiked on for some time now. They were heading towards it but somehow, after a while they just couldn't get any nearer.

Kurogane paused in his step and eyed the surrounding in suspicion. Something about this place is not right.

Could it be that there is a barrier? Or maybe some sort of magic that cause them to walk round and round the area?

At that thought, he stopped short and shook his head. No.. that shouldn't be it..

He could not specifically point out what exactly was wrong but something has been ticking at the back of his head the moment they enter the denser part of these woods. Kuogane surveyed around once again, noting the trees, the leaves, the grass and even the soil..

"Kuro?" Fai called again, signalling for him to come. Raising an eye, Kurogane snapped out of his thoughts, brushing the eerie feeling upon the back of neck and followed behind him.

It seemed like the idiot have found something behind the bush.

Out of curiosity, Kurogane stepped into the bush with heightened awareness.

That was when loud gushing sounds of water filled the air replaced the silence and a river which cut through the woods came into view. Instantly the sky brightened up to reveal rolls of fluffy white clouds.

Kurogane stopped short in his track to absorb the view.

A vast forest stood in front of him some 300 meters away, to the right, a waterfall plummeted down 150 meters from above.

Kurogane watched as the water hurried down the waterfall, pounding down into a small lake before gushing passed him. The river before him was almost 100 meters wide and the smoke they had been tracking was just a distance away.

To get there, they'll have no choice but to cut directly across the river. They were blocked by the waterfall on the right and the river after it stretched far into the horizon. A sudden though flashed into his mind.. and for a moment, he wondered why a waterfall would appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the forest.

But before he could provide a logical reasoning, something about the falls took his attention and he found himself staring intently at it.

"Kuro-tan?"

Only when Fai's voice rang out with a tinge of urgency that he was snapped back into reality.

The tall man, turned sharply backwards to see a highly alert blonde staring into the distance, across the river. Just at the moment, his sense for danger tingled just so slightly. His senses immediately heightened but the gushing of the water had dulled his hearing ability.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a slight disturbance to a bush across.

That was when he realised what was wrong. Except for the gushing sound of water, nothing else could be heard. The air was still and the forest was in a taunting stand still. It was as though there was an absence of life. No birds chirp, no insect creaking.. A sense of foreboding danger lurked beyond those trees across.

Then the rustle became apparent.

All of a sudden, something flew out of nowhere.. Not one, not two but a dozen shot out.. All of them aiming at..

"ARROWS!" His ninja sense kicked in as he lunged to the side.

In that split second, both men dropped to the ground, rolling continuously attempting to keep out of the arrows' trajectory. Loud thuds reverberated, with the life-threatening sticks sinking into the mud behind.

As sudden as it began, the torrent of arrows ceased.

"What the fuck was that?" Picking himself up, Kurogane swore, drawing his sword. His eyes darted to the woods beyond, watchful for any other imminent danger lurking before them.

The red iris dilated at the sight of a row of men dressed in black. There wasn't too many of them, probably at most 10, but each of them had their bows drawn upon them. Kurogane watched as one of them gave out a command and out of nowhere, another row of soldiers march forth, each holding a sword, surrounding them.

They have been cornered.

Very swiftly, Kurogane drew out his sword. Without a word, Fai and Kurogane gave each other a look and both men made preparation to fight. At another sound of a command, the soldier charged forward. The fight has begun.

Even though the two of them put up a good fight, there were simply too many of them. As they knock out the men one by one, more just poured out from behind the trees. They did their best to fend off the army of soldiers but it still didn't take too long for them to capture them and bring them across the shore.

After killing and knocking out more than half the people sent to capture them, there were around twenty-four men escorting them now.

Kurogane trudged along as he evaluated his chance of escaping. The way they are being escorted seemed like their leader was not among them. And if they're heading to the smoke, it probably mean that they are going to bring them back to see their leader.. Which may or may not be a good thing.

The chances of them escaping once they reach their base would probably be alot more difficult. There are only 24 men. If the mage worked with him to take out half of them, there's a chance they could escape from their clutches. But the key was that it had to be done before they got to the camp. It was pretty obvious that an army camp resided somewhere near and the smoke they had been following originated from them. Very quickly, he formulated a plan in his mind.

Just as he was turning over to communicate his plans with Fai, a sudden soft whisper wriggled into his ears.

"Don't you think the guy over there.."

"Shh talk when we get back.."

Kurogane's eye leapt up in surprise at those words. Even though the way they spoke sounded different from his own, nevertheless he had understood them.

Did it mean that there was a chance that he could communicate with them? Maybe he could talk to them to let them go? At the thought, hope sprang up as he eyed the pair which had been whispering in interest, watching their movement.

A pebbled rolled into view, snapping Kurogane out of his thought.

Right. The blonde.

Kurogane quickly turned over, intending to passed on the decision he had made seconds ago to see Fai staring at him with a frown across his brows.

The mage rarely frowns.. Was he also worried about the situation?

He watched as the blonde cast him looks of concern, occasionally shaking his head and flicking his eyes to the far distance. When he sees no reaction form the tall man, Fai exaggerated his movement slightly, almost throwing his heart out in attempt to convey his message.

So the mage also have intention to escape. Despite his usual self, a small smile crept up his face. He had thought the blonde would be thoughtless and simply follow the flow. Guess he had more brains to him than he thought.

I can understand their language. We can consider that after we meet the leader.

Kurogane attempted to signal to Fai without attracting too much attention.

But a look of confusion simply spread across Fai's face as the ceramic face crumpled up into a frown just so slightly. Clearly some message are harder to convey than others and guess communication problem still exist.

Damn the blonde! Just when I need cooperation with him! That's why I always preferred solo missions.

After a few attempts, Kurogane simply gave up.

He simply let out a pent up sign of frustration, "HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE US WALK?" He yelled, to catch a disapproving look from the mage.

But his question was only met with silence and a harder nudge on his back to walk faster.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING US?" He tried again, this time he struggled slightly so as to catch the attention of his captor behind.

"Stop moving and just shut up! You'll know soon enough."

True enough, his captor replied him, this time giving a hard wack on his head, making him swing slightly to his right, bumping into Fai.

Using this opportunity, he made sure he caught the blonde's eyes and mouth gently, "Just trust me."

He wasn't quite sure if the blonde got it but Fai simply frowned slightly, shrugged and then gave a nod. Kurogane knew the mage would have got his hint that he could speak their language, as to his plans.. he just took his nod as him agreeing.

After travelling so long together, Fai probably have enough trust in him to know that he knows what he's doing.

Just when he was about to give a reassuring nod back to the blonde, a number of horses with their riders approaching them came into sight.

"Intruders, state your purpose! Are you spies of Ashura?" The man in armor demanded, halting his horse just before the pair and leaping down from it.

Once again, Kurogane understood every word the man just said despite their weird accent.

He did not know what but something about the man's words drew him turn to his side to see the blonde. He turned just in time to see the Fai feeze slightly in his tracks before he too turned and look at him. It was as though the blonde knew he was watching him and returned his with his usual reassuring grin that he hated so much. Immediately his temper flew but before he could react, the sound of galloping filled the air once again and another horse with a rider appeared into view.

It was a man in his thirties. His sharp contours shaping his cheekbones and chin as well as the almost perfect nose could hail him as attractive. But it was those black eyes.. those his battle-worn eyes, the tiredness that lingered within, weary and alert of every single moment that portrayed someone vastly older than his age. His entire being radiated the aura of position and power.

Surprise flashed momentarily into Kurogane upon recognising the familiar face.

"Yasha-Ou." At the sight of the man, all twenty-four soldiers bowed in unison, muttering their usual greeting.

It was the same face they saw back in the temple right before they were shipped into this place. Could it be that they have went back in time to the warring period?

Almost immediately, all eyes returned to the two of them, a foreboding silence hung in the air as they await Kurogane's answer.

"No. We come in peace!" Kurogane replied enunciating every word slowly and solemnly while taking a huge bow. "We're simply travelers who lost have our way while finding our companions. We saw the smoke from afar and we thought it was the fire our companion had set up. Hence we simply headed towards it until we were attacked by your people."

For the next 10 seconds, time seemed to have stood still.

"How can I be sure that you are not spies of Ashura?" The man on the horse spoke after what seems like an eon.

Kurogane could only open his mouth for a brief moment, wondering how he should reply him when the leader of the archer men walked forth, and whispered something into the man's ear.

"Is that so?" Amusement spread across Yasha's suave face. "I just heard from my men that you two knock down half the men I send to you capture you. Is that true?" The man's voice boomed with authority and amusement.

Silence greeted his question as Kurogane simply eyed him before bowing his head.

"In this country, you can only pledge your alliance with us or join Ashura. Any person with other allegiance or no allegiance will be executed immediately. If you can prove yourself worthy of my army, we will provide sovereignty for you and your companion while you wait for the arrival of your friends."

At those words, thoughts jostled in Kurogane's mind. He had wanted to negotiate terms with them to let them go.. but now they seemed to want them to stay. If what the man said was true, staying could mean protection from the other warring parties. They can then stay in a safe place and wait for Sakura and Syaoran to come..

With that, Kurogane made his decision.

"Yes. We would like to join your camp." Kurogane grunted as politely as he could.

A smile spread across the man's face.

Almost immediately, Kurogane felt the ropes around his body loosened and subsequently fell to the ground.

"How do we prove ourselves worthy of your camp?" He asked, half contemplating if he should make a run for it.

Kurogane casted his eyes sideways to catch the blonde's guard loosening the strings. He had wanted to signal to Fai that everything was well and there was no need for him to worry. But something about his expression that made frown slightly. Fai was staring intently at the man on the horse with a strange expression.. an expression that made him feel.. irritated?

But before he could figure out what was going on, the man in armor whom he had assumed to be the King's right hand man, boomed slightly.

"It's simple actually. There are a total of three tests."

"If you can passed them. You can stay in my camp." Yasha added.

As the man completed his sentence, two burly men walk forth from within the horse riding gang and stood in front of both Kurogane and Fai. And that was also when he suddenly realised how everyone had formed a circle around them and was watching the four of them as though anticipating some sort of show.

So.. the first test is a test of their combat skills?

Interesting.

"First test. Begin"

Well, not as though he would lose to anybody one-on-on. Kurogane shrugged slightly before lunging forward attacking the man head on.

It was as though there was a live wrestling match going as the crowd roared in applause and jeered at critical moments.

But the fight did not last long.

Within minutes, Kurogane's opponent was knocked out cold. Immediately a cheer sounded with loud clapping. While he clapped his hand off the imaginary dusts, satisfied at his own handiwork, very vaguely, he could feel looks of admiration and approval cast upon him.

That was when loud jeering noises sounded from the other end of the crowd, making Kurogane frowned slightly.

What did the stupid blonde do?

Quickly he turned his attention to the blonde who was still engaged in his fight..

Except he wasn't really fighting.

"COME ON! STOP RUNNING AND FIGHT HIM YOU LOSER!" Someone from within the crowd yelled as a stone flew out of nowhere, aimed at the blonde.

Very quickly, Fai evaded the stone, as well as the up coming punch his opponent threw, causing his opponent to crash into the ground.

Kurogane watched as he wiggled out of every attack his opponent threw, occasionally tripping the male and making him fall flat on his face.

All this time, his sheepish smile hung on his face as though he was enjoying teasing his opponent.

Even though he had grew to accept Fai's evasive style of fighting, judging from how they approved his swift attacking style, he could tell that the people here would not appreciate it.

As seconds flew by, the crowd become more and more demeaning of Fai's fighting style, and there was soon loud shouts of the insults thrown at the blonde.

When his last deliberate sweep of his leg made his opponent fall flat panting and unable to get up, Kurogane turned to look at the King to see a tinge of displeasure hung upon his face.

Even though Fai had taken only a slightly longer time, probably 30 seconds longer to defeat his opponent, instead of the the loud cheer Kurogane had gained from the crowd, loud boos echoed.

That's not good.. Kurogane secretly thought to himself. Technically, both of them had already passed the first test, he would need Fai to do better in the other two tests to put themselves in a better position to enter the camp.

Then somebody threw two swords at the both of them and both Kurogane and Fai caught the swords with ease.

Oh.. so the second test is a test of their sword fighting skills?

Kurogane smirked internally as he eyed the crowd. Compared to hands on combat, he had more confidence that he would definitely win with a sword.

Who would become the unlucky one to die in his hands? Of course not as though he would really kill him.

"The second test.."

Almost immediately, a total of approximately ten people formed a line in front of them and drew up their swords.

Interesting. So they intend to fight us all at the same time? Sounds like a fulfilling match's up ahead.

Kurogane could literally feel his hands tingle in excitement.

"Starts now."

Everyone lunged forward to attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fai retreating backward to find a good spot to watch the fight.

That lazy bum.. He must have concluded that he's not needed and was going to leave the up coming fight to him.

Well not that he mind.

Kurogane sighed internally before a smile crawled up his face as he too lunged forward to attack.

Before long all opponents were defeated and the crowd roared into a loud cheer and out of a sudden everyone simply squeezed forward to give a loud pat upon his shoulders telling him he did well.

Deja vu hit him as he recalled those days when he was serving the princess and everyone congratulated him when he accomplished striked the killing blow for their missions. Even though he had remained vigelant and skeptical of the situation, he could not help but endulge in the nostalgal.

It was as though suddenly everyone had accepted him as part of their gang.

"I'm impressed." These are some of my best sword fighters. Usually its 1 vs 5 for the second test and half the people cannot even defeat 2 of them."

"And you took down all ten of them." Yasha said, a look of impress and a smile spread across his face.

"So with this, you've automatically passed the test and is officially a part of us." The war master right hand man continued.

A loud grin almost flashed upon Kurogane's face at the news but he quickly suppressed it down.

A few thoughts flew straight into his brain and worry begun to plague him.

The fight just now.. he was the one who did all the fighting and all the mage did was to watch.

Did it mean that he had failed the test? Dang he should have held back a bit and made him fight with him.

"What about Fai?"

An obvious frown flashed upon the war master and at his facial expression, the right hand man replied, "As for your companion.. he have not defeated a single person in the fight and hence obviously have failed the second test."

"So.."

"It's ok. He will proceed with one more test and if he passed, he can join us." The war master suddenly interrupted.

At the sentence, Kurogane could not help but let out a momentarily sigh of relief. He was all ready to reject the admission if they were to fail Fai.

But the war master seemed to have noticed it.. Not bad.

"But since he failed the second test, in order to qualify, the test he must pass would not be the one we normally have."

"Why not.." A gentle smirk crawled up his face.

At the sentence, Kurogane frozed for a moment as he looked at the War Master, slightly puzzled.

The crowd had now surrounded him and Fai, watching, waiting for something to happen..

? Wait a minute..

He watched as the blonde eyed the sword in his hands, him then the war master in silence. A look of understanding flashed across his face.

Yes. He was supposed to fight the blonde.

That's totally not fair. Judging by his built one would already have known the mage is not one to use the sword.

"This is unfair for him."

"How is this unfair? You have defeated ten of my best men. If he is able to defeat you, he would considered to have passed the test."

Kurogane eyed Fai out of the corner of his eye and saw him glancing off in the far distance.

Urgh! Trust him to day dream at this kind of hour.

As though he knew he was looking at him, Fai turned his head back and the both of their eyes met. At that moment, Fai's grinned, the idiotic smile plastered upon his face.

"Well, if of course, there is another option.. but it'll probably not be as easy.."

The next thing he knew, three men were pulling on huge metal chains, dragging a huge crate out. The crate shook violently with each step they took and loud indistinguishable noises came from within.

Kurogane clenched his teeth as he watched the men remove the metal chains bounded around it before dispersing away.

"You'll have to fight that."

All of a sudden, the crate burst opened.

A/N:

I hope this chapter is not too draggy.. But its kinda crucial to establish Fai and Kuro's standing in the camp.. so.. bear with me k .

The good parts are at the back! :D