I finally did it. I am so very sorry that I took so long to get this up. But regardless, it was because I really wanted to get it done for you. Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited, and put this story on alert so far. You guys are awesome!

Pink. Kurogane hated pink. No, hated did not even cover the half of the feelings he had for this despicable color. In fact, he was positive that there was no word strong enough in his or in any language for that intense hatred of that unseemly color.

Which is why he was there, fists balled, teeth clenched, eyes squeezed shut, and blood pressure rising much higher than any doctor would recommend.

But he really could not help it. It was everywhere. On the walls, the floors, the beds, the pillows- everywhere in this blasted house. It even went so far as to coat its disgusting hue on the sky, trees, ground, and everywhere to be seen outside the apartment's small window.

No, hate was not the appropriate word here.

Although he figured it was useless, the ninja grumpily spent the next ten minutes trying to come up with an adequate adjective, expletive, or any other word, to describe his feelings.

Nothing worked. Nothing could possibly cover this.

Kurogane sighed and plopped down onto the frilly pink bed that was to be his and the mage's.

That was another thing that irritated him. Of all the apartments to pick, the stupid mage had gone and found the pinkest of them all in this blasted world of pink. But even that he could live with to some degree, but the fact that this apartment only had two bedrooms and two beds was exasperating.

If anyone had to share a bed it should be little Miss Sleeping Beauty and the dumb mage. He highly doubted that the wizard would do anything to her, not that the kid would either, at least not intentionally. But Kurogane knew men, he knew the feelings, and although he trusted the kid, he was still just that. A kid.

But the stupid mage had disagreed, stating that Sakura-chan would feel safer with Syaoran-kun and that then the kids could sleep without the adults worrying about waking them up.

And he had to agree with that. If he were to share with Syaoran, he would be worried about waking the kid up when he finally did slip into the bed.

So here he was glancing at the the hideous material covering what would be their bed. He did not need a mirror to sense the despicable color spreading warmly over his cheeks.

"Tch. No way." He cursed under his breath as he buried his face into the equally pink pillows. He had to admit, albeit the color, they felt soft, like the feel of soft hands caressing his cheek. Cool, thin, pale fingers lulling him into slumber. He obeyed their silent command.

"..pon!... Kuro-tan!"

Kurogane hissed and buried his face further into pillow. He did not want to wake up from his dream just yet.

"Is he awake yet, Fai-san?" The kid's worried voice broke through the last remnants of sleep.

"I think he's just about up!" Fai cooed happily, his hand sliding from the ninja's shoulder to his side, fingers beginning to tickle.

"I'm awake," The man in black hissed as he swiped at the magician's hand. "So knock it off already."

"Awww, Kuro-myu , you are soo mean!" Fai whined, pouting as he moved away. "Kuro-puppy, you slept for a long, long time!"

"Ah, yeah, I guess I did." The pink outside the room had dimmed as the sun had slipped down for the moon to make its ascent into the heavens. Stretching as he sat up, Kurogane glared at the magician.

"So, while you were taking a beauty nap, Syaoran-kun, Sakura-chan, Moko-chan, and I looked around the town. Everything was pink! It was so pretty that I wish we could stay here forever!"

Kurogane's eyebrow twitched. "You would like pink wouldn't you? It's just as annoying as you are."

"...Kuro-rin's in an even worse mood.." Fai's lower lip jutted out as he gave the ninja his best puppy-dog pout. "What can cheer you up, Kurger-burger?"

"Hmmm, aside from getting out of this horrible world, going back home, and never having to see you again? Nothing." The sharp crimson eyes caught a small flinch and watched as the smile faded for just a second before resuming its position.

"Ah... Kuro-wan's so mean!" The magician ran crying out of the room.

Kurogane grumbled as he stretched and sat up. Rubbing his eyes to clear the last remnants of sleep, he let his mind drift back to the dream he had been having.

It had been his sixth birthday. And due to the special occasion, not a person within the whole village was without the knowledge. It was impossible for them to be, seeing as how the now six year old was parading around, telling every person – and animal – the importance of today. It had been a happy day, with his father and mother both crowded around him, giving him extra attention.

A sudden thought broke Kurogane's reverie.

Wait! Isn't it my birthday?

He mentally counted the days – although dimension hopping did wonders to confuse time lines and people's natural inward calendars – somehow figuring it was pretty darn close.

He cursed. "Of all the stupid days to spend in this stupid world," A snarl escaped his firmly set lips and clenched jaw. "it had to be my birthday."

Unknown to the ninja, a certain magician's ears perked up right outside the door.

Sooo, it's Kuro-cutie's birthday, hmmm?

Trouble was bound to happen.

Yes, indeed it was.

There really was no stopping it, but Syaoran found it hard to just let it go.

It would get very nasty, very quickly. However, it really was not going to hurt anyone too badly.

So Syaoran stood there trembling as he glanced over the problem in the kitchen.

The first thing he noticed was the princess sleeping soundly with her head on the table. He had to admit she did look quite cute with pink frosting and pink flour smeared on her cheek.

Barely tearing his eyes away, he continued his examination of the room.

A pink bouncing object with long ears signified that Mokona had also been involved with this disaster.

But the real trouble was Fai. Or more precisely what the magician was holding tightly in his hands. Bright pink cupcakes with what Syaoran could only guess was lettering adorned the pink plate.

"F-Fai-san..." He started timidly, "wh-what is this?"

"Oh, Syaoran-kun! You missed all the fun!" Fai spun around merrily, setting the plate down onto the table. "Sakura-chan and Moko-chan helped me make these cupcakes to surprise Kuro-woof-woof with!"

"Mokona helped! Mokona helped!" The pink fluff ball hopped eagerly around the table, sending pink powder up into the air.

"Mmhmm! Moko-chan is quite good and baking cupcakes." Fai praised as he patted her. Again Syaoran watched as pink clouds rose from the creature. He also thought he perceived a blush, but that could have just been the flour.

Mokona giggled. "That's one of Mokona's 108 Hidden Secrets! Baking Cupcakes!"

"But what are they for?" Syaoran cut in, again trying to read the "letters" on the cupcakes.

"What else silly!" As if to answer the question, Fai pointed to some of the cupcakes. "His birthday!"

"By 'his' you mean.." Syaoran's voice trailed off as he sensed the ninja's presence behind him.

The ninja stood there mouthing words, but no sound came. (Syaoran could not help but think it was a good thing. The Princess really did not need to hear it.)

"Well, if it isn't Kuro-big-boy!" Fai cooed happily, prancing over and looping an arm around the ninja's neck while balancing the plate with the other.

"...Just what is going on here?" Kurogane growled, shoving the magician aside.

"Happy birthday, Kurga-lurga!" Unfazed, Fai waved the decorated cupcakes in the ninja's face.

"Happy birthday, Kurgi!" Pink Mokona chimed in, bouncing up and down on the counter which sent more pink flour into the air.

"..." Kurogane carefully took a step backwards, fight or flight instincts turning to flight.

"Ha-happy birthday, K-Kurogane-san..." Syaoran timidly spoke up.

"Not you too, kid!" The ninja looked appalled and started backing away again.

"Come now Kuro-pyuu. Don't be so cold." Fai swooped behind him, pushing the other man into the kitchen.

A mumbled sound came from the table, causing all heads to turn towards the sleepy princess.

"Happy... birthday.. Kurogane-san..." Sakura rubbed at her eyes sleepily.

"Well, Kuro-pyron?" Fai nudged him in the side. "Have a cupcake."

"You know I hate sweets." Red eyes glared down at the despicable pink lettering, on that despicable pink icing, on those despicably pink cupcakes. "And I hate pink."

"Aww, but won't you just have one?" The magician did his best pouty face.

"Not a chance." He growled.

Sakura gasped and bit back a small cry. "Y-you won't?"

"Now look, Kuro-puu, you're going to make Sakura-chan cry.. Such a bad Daddy."

"Tch. And why do you care if I eat them or not?"

"That's because Sakura-hime helped make them for you, Kurogane-san." Syaoran said as he walked over to the princess. Said princess looked as if she might cry, and Kurogane felt as if those eyes were stabbing him again and again in his heart.

The ninja growled and grabbed one of the cupcakes. "Fine. I'll eat it. Just.." He glanced at Sakura. "Just don't cry."

Sakura's face lit up as Kurogane swallowed it down in one gulp. "W-was it good?" She asked timidly.

He grumbled something that sounded like a strained yes and turned his back towards them.

"Aww, Kuro-cutie's pouting.." Fai snickered and began eating his own pink coated cupcake.

The party was a tense but happy one. Sakura seemed oblivious to the ninja's worsening mood. (Which was more than likely caused by her decreasing energy level and her lowering eyelids.) Syaoran was aware, but attempted to be oblivious for the princess's sake. Fai was his absolutely happy, nothing-can-get-me-down sort of person. Mokona was her ever wonderful bouncing off the walls (which only added to the contaminating amount of pink flour already in the air.). But Kurogane was grumpier then ever, spending each second he was not being pulled into some sort of "party game" sitting in the corner sulking with his bottle of sake.

When the cream-puff and princess finally fell asleep (after many drunken mishaps) Syaoran took the two of them up to their bedroom.

That left the mage alone with the ever grumpy ninja.

"Finally..." Kurogane grumbled and drank the rest of his fifteenth bottle. "Now some peace and quiet." He closed his eyes and settled back into his seat.

"..."

The ninja stopped. That stupid mage was never this quiet. Last time he was... Kurogane shuddered at the memory and peeked an eye open.

Fai was sitting there looking ahead, but not seeing the pink walls before him.

"Hey, Mage... You asleep?"

When he received no response, Kurogane shuffled warily over to the magician. "Mage."

He looked so thoughtful like that. His blue eyes were captivating – riveting. Kurogane could not help but find himself staring, getting lost in that expression, trying to read whatever it was supposed to mean. Without his knowledge his body moved forward, putting himself right between the magician and his vision. The ninja was caught, captivated, spell-bound by the look, by the deep emotions swirling just under the surface of those deep deep blue eyes. His body moved closer, closing the distance between them.

Feet shrank to inches, inches to centimeters.

When his body could go no closer, he leaned his head down – closer, closer, closer. His cheeks began to burn and he felt his body beginning to heat up. But he leaned closer and then-

SMOOSH!

Sweet pink lettering. Sweet pink icing. Sweet pink cupcake.

All that sweet and pink erupted into his mouth, erasing every previous thought from his mind.

The magician laughed and clapped happily. "Kuro-wanko fell for it!"

It being a plot to get another cupcake into the ninja's mouth.

"Mmhm gwoinmh tho kmilm woo!"

Fai just laughed again. "What was that Kuro-chuu~?"

After swallowing all of the sweet pink, the ninja tried again. "I'm going to kill you!"

He swiped and grabbed at the laughing magician. But the mage just ducked and dodged.

"Now now, Kuro-burro! You'll wake the kids." Fai smiled as Kurogane stopped. "See? You know I'm right."

"...Yeah, you are." He grumbled.

Fai stopped and blinked. "Come again?"

"You're right." It was barely audible, but the ninja admitted defeat, focusing his attention on righting a chair he had knocked over.

"Oh, well, I'm glad you see it that way." Fai stared, amazed. It was so unlike the grump to admit defeat so easily.

And how true that was, as Fai soon found out when the chair collided with the top of his head.

"Owww... Kuro-daddy hit me!"

Ohh! It's finally done. Please R&R if any of you are still interested. And sorry again!