A/N: Hum… What to say? I've got nothing. I guess we'll just get this show on the road, then.
Mischief
By the time Fujitaka returned that night, it was late. Fai hadn't been able to sleep, though, too excited about what tomorrow would bring, and was still awake to greet him. Fujitaka looked exhausted when he came in but he still managed to procure a smile for Fai.
"Welcome back, Fujitaka san!" Fai said brightly. "Have you been working until just now?"
"I'm afraid so," Fujitaka sighed, sitting down on his bed to remove his shoes. "The king received a treaty from the king of a nearby country this morning so he needs all his advisors to help him decide whether or not to sign it."
"Did you decide?" Fai asked.
"Not yet," the man admitted. "These kinds of things need to be thought out carefully so we don't end up in a situation that would hurt the kingdom. It looks like I might be working late for the next couple of nights."
Mokona, who had been lurking under Fai's bed, darted out and pounced playfully on Fujitaka's feet.
"Oh!" he gasped in surprise. Then he laughed. "And who do we have here? An intruder?"
"No, she's mine," Fai grinned. "Her name is Mokona."
"Where did she come from?" Fujitaka asked, picking the kitten up and scratching behind her ears.
"Kurosama and I went and walked around town yesterday and he bought her for me," the blond told him happily.
"Prince Kurogane bought her for you?" Fujitaka repeated in astonishment. "Goodness, you two sure are getting to be friends quickly! Usually Prince Kurogane doesn't seem to care much for the company of other people. I'm impressed! So is that what you've been up to recently? Spending time with the prince?"
"Yep! Today we made fondant au chocolat. There were some extras so I saved one for you, Fujitaka san!" Fai chattered excitedly, jumping up to get the treat for him. "I tried one earlier and I think they turned out really good!"
Fujitaka took a bite and his eyes grew wide with amazement. "This is delicious! You and Prince Kurogane made these?"
"Well, Kurosama did most of the work; I just told him what to do," Fai explained. "And that's not all! The queen stopped by earlier and invited me to have dinner with them and stay for a sleepover with Kurosama afterwards! I'm so excited that I couldn't sleep! That's why I'm still up right now."
Fujitaka listened to Fai talk, eating the dessert slowly. When Fai had finished, Fujitaka smiled warmly at him. "I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well. I've been hoping that Prince Kurogane would be able to find a friend; sometimes he just looks so lonely… You too, Fai kun."
"Eh? You think I seem lonely?" Fai asked, tilting his head.
"I don't mean to be rude," the advisor said quickly. "There's just something about your eyes that seems sad... Maybe you two will be able to cure each other's loneliness."
The blond lowered his eyes, considering Fujitaka's words. "That would be nice," he sighed, smiling sorrowfully to himself.
Fujitaka finished off the last of his fondant au chocolat and yawned. "I'd like to stay up and talk to you a little longer, Fai kun, but I think I'd better get some sleep. I have to be up early again tomorrow to continue the meeting about the treaty. You should try to sleep, too; I'm sure you and the prince will probably stay up pretty late tomorrow night at your sleepover."
"Ok, Fujitaka san," Fai agreed. "Goodnight, then."
Fujitaka turned off the light and Fai made kissy noises at Mokona to signal her back to his bed. He lied down and the kitten curled up under his chin, her wet little pink nose lightly touching his throat. Fai smiled softly as he stroked her and eventually he managed to fall asleep.
Kurogane hesitated outside Fujitaka's door the next morning, trying to gather the courage to knock. He wasn't sure why he should need courage to do something stupid like knock on the door, but for some reason every time he raised his fist to it his heart began to pound and his cheeks felt hot. The prince wondered if maybe he should just forget it. It wasn't like he especially wanted to teach Fai how to use a sword. No matter how firmly he told himself this, Kurogane couldn't seem to tear himself away from the door.
Finally he took a deep breath and forced himself to knock loudly. There was a painfully long pause, during which his heart thumped as noisily as he had just tapped on the door. Finally the door opened. Fai was standing there in his pajamas, holding Mokona in one arm. He appeared to have just woken up.
"Oh, it's Kuropipi," Fai said, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Hello, Kuropipi; what are you doing here?"
Kurogane cleared his throat and blushed. "You wanted me to teach you how to swordfight, didn't you?"
"Mm, that's right," Fai remembered. "Just a minute, then… I'll get my clothes on. Come in, Kurorun."
Kurogane followed the blond inside, shutting the door behind them. Fai pulled out a pair of Touya's old clothes and began to change right there in front of the prince.
"Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kurogane stammered, his face burning like the rising sun.
"Getting dressed, of course," Fai replied easily. "Would you like it better if I just went out to practice in my pajamas?"
"I don't care if you put your damn clothes on but don't do it right in front of me, dumbass!" Kurogane choked, trying not to look at him.
"Goodness, Kurokuro's really embarrassed, huh?" the other boy marveled. Then he grinned. "But why should you care? I'm not a girl."
"I know that, but…!"
"Then what's the problem? Unless of course Kurotan feels guilty for liking what he sees…" Fai suggested smugly.
"WH-WHY THE HELL WOULD I LIKE SOMETHING GROSS LIKE THAT?!!" Kurogane snapped.
Fai just laughed as he finished dressing. "I just have to feed Mokona and then we can go, ok?"
Kurogane folded his arms sullenly, watching as Fai poured a small amount of cat food into Mokona's bowl. Then the blond straightened up and gave him a sunny smile.
"Ok, I'm ready now, Daddy."
"I'm not you damn daddy," Kurogane grumbled, leading the way out of Fujitaka's room.
Fai held his hand on their way down to the practice field. When he noticed how Kurogane's trembled slightly as though he was nervous, Fai giggled.
"Your hand is shaking, Kuropii. Do I make you nervous?"
"I told you to quit being a dumbass!" Kurogane retaliated. "Why the hell would you make me nervous?!"
"Are you cold, then?" Fai asked sweetly. "I could give you a nice warm hug, if you'd like."
"Just shut up!" Kurogane snapped, blushing.
Fai smiled but obediently kept quiet until they were outside. The practice field was empty except for the pleasant flood of sunlight. Fai stretched his arms above his head luxuriously.
"Mm, isn't it beautiful out here?" he sighed, breathing deeply. "Maybe we could skip sword practice and just take a nap together out here in the sunshine. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Kurogane opened his mouth to agree with him but caught himself just in time.
"Tch! You were the one who came up with this idea!" he growled. "If you wanted to sleep you should have just kept your damn mouth shut!"
"What a strict teacher!" Fai pouted. Then he smiled again. "Alright, I'll let you teach me, but I expect to get a treat each time I do a new move right."
Kurogane snorted. "Yeah, well… we'll see about that when it actually happens."
He turned away quickly then, his cheeks reddening again as he bent down to pick up two wooden practice swords. Even though he knew it was stupid of him, Kurogane couldn't help wondering if Fai had noticed how he hadn't shot the idea down. Fai, it turned out, was completely aware of this and it made him so happy that he began to hum a little song. The prince handed him a wooden sword.
"It would be stupid to let you use a real sword on your first try, so we'll practice with these," he grunted. "I guess the first thing you should know is how to hold it. Spread your feet apart like this so you won't fall over when your enemy attacks you. Right, now hold the sword tightly with both hands. If you're right handed, your right hand should be on the bottom so that you get more power in your swing."
Kurogane talked him through the basics, pausing every now and then to demonstrate. The prince was pleased and surprised to see that Fai listened carefully to his every word and seemed to be doing his best to mimic the moves that Kurogane showed him. Once or twice, Kurogane even caught himself being momentarily distracted by the adorable look of concentration on Fai's face. When Kurogane was satisfied that Fai had gotten down each technique by itself, he proposed a sparring match. He and the blond both got into the ready position.
"Ready… go!" Kurogane shouted, lunging forward. Fai actually managed to block the first attack, and the second, but then Kurogane went in for a downward attack, tricking Fai into raising his sword high above his head to block it and thereby leaving his ribs and stomach unprotected. Kurogane let go of his sword with one hand and used his finger to poke Fai in the side. Fai let out a little shriek of laughter and dropped his sword to clutch his sides protectively.
"That's cheating, Kuropun!" Fai whined, though he was smiling. "No tickling allowed in a swordfight!"
"Everything's allowed in a swordfight," Kurogane growled. "It's your own fault for leaving yourself wide open like that. Anyway, it's like that saying 'everything's fair in war'."
"I'm pretty sure the saying is 'everything's fair in love and in war'," Fai corrected him.
"I know that but the other part's got nothing to do with sword practice so I left it out," Kurogane said impatiently. "So when you're fighting someone, you have to remember to keep your ribs and stomach guarded by your arms as much as possible. You're a lot less likely to die from a cut on your arm than from a cut in your stomach."
"So… like this, then?" Fai asked, letting go of his sword with one hand and crossing it over his chest.
"No, you've got to keep both hands on the sword," Kurogane said. "Do it like this."
The prince put his own sword down and went around behind Fai to position his arms correctly. He brought Fai's elbows in close to his sides and turned him slightly to the side to minimize the target space. But even when Fai was in the correct stance, Kurogane couldn't make himself take his hands away from the blond's slender waist. Fai felt warm and pleasantly soft in his grasp. And his delicate pale face was so breathtaking and so close to his that the prince found himself staring uncontrollably.
Fai apparently noticed Kurogane's unnaturally long pause because he looked over at him curiously. Oh god, Fai knew he was staring now. That was bad; look away, Kurogane ordered himself, look away. But he couldn't for some reason; it was as though he was frozen in place. Fai brought his face closer to the other boy's hesitantly, his lips parting hopefully. Kurogane was moving closer now, too, like he was being drawn forward by some kind of invisible magnet. The two of them were so close that their lips actually brushed. The contact brought Kurogane sharply back to his senses and he ripped himself away from Fai, blushing furiously.
"Th-that's enough sword practice for now," he mumbled, turning his back to his companion.
He felt dizzy all of a sudden, as though he had just released a breath that he had been holding for too long, and he was vaguely aware that he was trembling slightly from head to toe. Fai wasn't sure what to do; on one hand, he was disappointed and a bit hurt that Kurogane had jerked away from him like that. On the other hand, though, he realized that he had probably only pulled away because he was confused and maybe even a bit frightened by having these kinds of feelings toward another boy.
Fai shook himself and decided not to take it personally; getting all depressed over this would only waste time that he could be getting closer to the prince. He didn't know how that person was faring currently, but he was sure that he didn't have any extra time to be throwing around carelessly. So Fai hitched his smile back in place and approached Kurogane slowly from behind. Kurogane didn't move, even when Fai was mere inches away from him, but the blond was sure he knew he was there. He took that as an invitation to continue and wrapped his arms around the prince's waist affectionately, resting his cheek against his friend's back.
"Hold on a minute, Kurowanko," he said mischievously. "I seem to remember you agreeing to give me a reward for each sword move I did right. I did the work; now where's my prize?"
Kurogane snorted and folded his arms, though he was extremely glad that Fai didn't seem to be holding what had just happened against him. It wasn't until after he had already pulled away from him that it occurred to him that his refusal to kiss him might have really hurt the blond. "I never made any promises."
"Aw, don't be so stingy, Kurotan!" Fai complained. "Hey, I know! We can go look at the garden again! That's not too much to ask, is it?"
"Why the hell are you so interested in those damn flowers?" Kurogane asked as Fai pulled him toward the royal garden.
"Oh…" Fai stopped walking so that he could turn and face Kurogane, "speaking of flowers, was Kurochii the one who sent those lilies to my room last night?"
Kurogane blushed and looked down at the ground. "Well, my… my mother said those chocolate things you helped me make were good, so I thought…"
Fai smiled as the prince trailed off awkwardly. "So it really was you, then?" he asked quietly.
"You can always just throw them out if you don't like them!" Kurogane blurted.
The blond took the other boy's hands between both of his own. "No, I love them. Thank you."
Kurogane's blush deepened when he saw the genuine gratitude sparkling in Fai's lively blue eyes. He cleared his throat and tugged at his collar slightly, wondering why seeing Fai smile like that should suddenly make it seem so hard to breathe. "So… are we gonna go to the garden or what?" he growled.
Fai laughed and continued to lead Kurogane toward it. "Kuropii's so anxious all of a sudden!"
The blond boy pushed open the garden gate and sighed happily when he was greeted by the vast array of blooms. He tugged Kurogane inside and shut the gate behind them. The garden was enclosed by tall hedges so when he closed the gate, the two of them found themselves in a rather secluded place. Kurogane noticed this instantly, but Fai apparently was too absorbed in the flowers to notice or care. Fai sat down on the grass and eventually the prince followed suit. He still didn't understand why Fai liked these stupid flowers so much. It wasn't like they did anything interesting; they just stood there, looking lame and waiting for someone else to come along and tend to their needs.
Fai pushed Kurogane down on his back in the grass and laid his head on the prince's chest. "Isn't this perfect, Kurochan?" he breathed. "I love the smell of flowers in warm sunshine…"
Kurogane wasn't sure what to say. He supposed he could kind of see where Fai was coming from but if he agreed he'd sound like a pansy. Kurogane glanced down as Fai slid his slender arms around his shoulders, hugging him as he closed his eyes blissfully. They stayed like that for a long time, neither one saying anything. Fai didn't open his eyes, either, and his breathing had become deep and slow. Kurogane prodded him gently a few times but got no response and realized that Fai was asleep. The prince rolled his eyes, thinking that the blond reminded him of a cat, curling up to sleep in the sun like this.
He briefly considered pushing Fai off of him but for some strange reason, he found himself not wanting to wake him. It might have had something to do with the soft smile on the other boy's lips that made him feel this way. Kurogane sighed and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do while he was stuck here with Fai asleep on him. The prince tried to let his mind wander the way it often did on its own when he was trying to do his lessons. Somehow, though, it seemed to just keep coming back to Fai. Kurogane sighed, wondering why his mind was deciding to be so difficult right now.
Eventually, Fai's pleasantly warm weight began to make the prince feel sleepy. He thought about curling his arms around him and pulling him closer but he was afraid of what would happen if Fai awoke to find Kurogane cuddling him. Besides, Fai was already holding him and snuggling as close to him as he could. It wasn't like Kurogane would be able to pull him any closer even if he wanted to, which, by the way, he tried to tell himself sternly, he most certainly didn't. But he still couldn't help feeling a surge of oddly sweet affection toward the boy who was curled up against him. Irritated by the way his mind and heart were acting right now, Kurogane did his best to tune both of them out as he allowed his eyes to slide shut.
"Well, what do we have here?"
Kurogane slowly opened his eyes and blinked. It took him a moment to realize that the dark shadow over his face was produced by someone leaning over him, blocking out the sunlight. Then he remembered that he had fallen asleep in the garden with Fai and he sat up with a start. Fai, who hadn't been awake yet when Kurogane had decided to sit up, jumped at the disturbance and looked around bemusedly.
"It seems that the prince has found himself a special friend," the uninvited guest remarked, laughter barely concealed behind his voice.
Kurogane's eyes had to adjust to the sudden blaze of sunlight before he was able to make out the face of the royal gardener, Kakei. Kurogane had never actually spoken to Kakei before, but he recognized a threat to his pride when he saw one. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out that the gardener was making fun of him.
"H-Hey, shut up!" Kurogane snarled, blushing. "Who the hell do you think you are, you bastard?! You've got a lot of nerve to make fun of your prince like that!"
Kakei just laughed. "I guess flowers aren't the only thing blooming here; it appears that young gay love is in blossom now as well!"
Kurogane jumped to his feet, jerking Fai up with him. The poor blond was still in a daze and not quite sure what was going on.
"Just wait till my father hears about this, asshole!" Kurogane seethed, his face crimson as he made a mad dash for the garden gate, dragging Fai along.
Kakei watched the two of them leave, unaffected by the prince's threat, an amused smile still playing about his lips as he began to water the flowers.
Kyle was in heaven. He was lying stretched out on a long couch, munching the cookies he had received for the fake information on the other boy. Not only that, but he had also talked Fei Wong into making Xing Huo massage his feet as a reward for having successfully delivered the treaty to the palace in Suwa. Xing Huo, it seemed, was considerably less pleased about this.
"More lotion, please," Kyle requested smugly.
Xing Huo glared at him darkly, squeezing more lotion into her hand and pushing her thumbs harder into the soles of his feet.
"Oh dear, such hostility," the man sighed, dropping another cookie into his mouth. "Really, Xing Huo, being bitter never helped anyone. This could be happening the other way around, you know, if you would do the master's bidding once in a while. I certainly wouldn't mind massaging your feet; I've always thought you were a lovely girl."
Xing Huo said nothing, apparently trying to block him out.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is," he continued through a mouthful of cookie, "can't we just be friends?"
Kyle grinned at her, though pieces of chocolate chip from his treat were stuck to a few of his teeth, making it look as though he was missing them. Xing Huo threw the bottle of lotion at his face.
Fai returned to Fujitaka's living quarters with the intention of taking a bath before it was time for him to meet up with Kurogane and his parents for dinner. When he got to the highly polished crimson door to the advisor's room, he noticed a thick package wrapped in brown paper sitting outside it with his name on it. He picked it up curiously, waiting until he was inside to unwrap it. There was a beautiful new outfit inside: a white jacket with light blue trim on the lapels and the ends of the sleeves and shiny silver buttons and ornate silver designs that snaked their way gracefully up the arms and down the center of the back, a light blue dress shirt to go underneath it and a pair of long, slender black dress pants.
As Fai held up the jacket to admire it, a little piece of paper that had been folded up inside it somewhere came fluttering out. He bent down and picked it up. Fai kun, Good luck tonight at dinner and with your sleepover! Love Tomoyo. The blond smiled fondly. Tomoyo was too good to him; everyone in the palace was. He made a mental note to thank her later. Fai laid his new outfit out on his bed and skipped into the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a bath.
"Kurogane, come here," his mother requested. "I want to talk to you before Fai kun gets here."
Kurogane hesitated; his mother wanted to talk to him about Fai? He wasn't sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. Knowing her, it might be something really embarrassing. The queen signaled him over and he came obediently, albeit reluctantly.
"I know it's part of your nature to be a bit… blunt with people, Kurogane, but I just wanted to tell you to please be kind to Fai kun," she said seriously.
Kurogane stared at her. "Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?"
"Fai kun needs you as a friend," his mother continued. "He's been through a lot of terrible things, is still going through them even now. He needs someone to prove that the whole world hasn't turned against him."
"What do you mean?" Kurogane asked, frowning. "What kind of things? Did he tell you something last night when you talked to him?"
The queen shook her head, smiling slightly. "He didn't seem to want to talk about anything that had happened to him before he came to the palace, but I could tell that he was hurting badly even though he does his best to hide it."
She smiled at him softly and caressed his cheek. "You can help heal him, Kurogane. I know you can. He may not be willing to let you at first, but if you prove to him that he can trust you, that you'll listen if he needs someone to talk to, I know you'll be able to persuade him eventually. Please try your best, dear, for Fai kun's sake?"
Kurogane said nothing, but his mother knew him well enough to know that this was his gruff way of accepting the challenge.
"Thank you, Kurogane," she whispered, hugging him. "You're a good boy."
As soon as a servant appeared, leading Fai into the royal dining room with him, Kurogane stared determinedly down at his plate. He was still feeling awkward about what had happened that morning during their sword practice and when Kakei had found them together in the garden. Fai, it seemed, wasn't bothered by those things at all. He skipped over to the table, pulled out the chair next to Kurogane and sat down.
"Hello, Kuropon!" he said cheerfully. "My, don't you look nice!"
Kurogane blushed and said nothing, but he couldn't help thinking that Fai didn't look so bad either. Not that he would ever say that out loud, of course.
"Hello again, Fai kun," the queen smiled. "I'm glad you could make it."
"I wouldn't miss dinner with Kurochii and his family for the world, your majesty!" Fai chirped.
"Kurogane, dear," his mother piped. "Be polite and introduce Fai kun to your father."
Fai and the king glanced at each other and smiled before looking expectantly at Kurogane.
"Well obviously they can both guess who the other person is!" Kurogane growled, his blush deepening.
The king laughed. "He's a shy one, our boy. It's nice to finally meet you, Fai kun; Kurogane here refuses to give us very many details about his friends so we figured this was the only way we'd get a chance to learn more about you."
"I'm flattered that you'd want to know more about me, you majesty," Fai replied politely with a slight bow.
"You're much politer than I imagined you'd be, too!" the king marveled. "Since Kurogane likes you so much, I was afraid you'd be more like him!"
Fai giggled and looked over at Kurogane. The prince's face was scarlet. "Cut it out, Dad!"
"I'm glad you were willing to make friends with him, Fai kun," Kurogane's father continued, "though I can't imagine for the life of me what you see in this little rascal!"
"Dad!" the prince whined. "Leave me alone!"
Everyone but Kurogane laughed, but the prince was spared further humiliation for the moment by Touya appearing with their food.
"So Fai kun, tell us a little about yourself," the king said, picking up his chopsticks and taking some tempura. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from Celes, your majesty," Fai answered, picking up his spoon and leaving the chopsticks. He figured he'd have better luck with the spoon.
"Celes, huh?" Kurogane's father nodded slowly, swallowing a bite of his food. "I thought you might be from there. Your accent gave you away. But no more of this 'your majesty' business; we're all friends here so there's no need to be so formal! You can call us Mom and Dad."
Fai found this somewhat amusing; it made it sound as though he and Kurogane were married and that the king and queen were his in-laws. It seemed impolite to laugh, though, so Fai did his best to stifle it.
"Ok, Dad," he grinned.
"Don't make him call you guys Mom and Dad!" Kurogane interrupted indignantly. "You make it sound like we're married or something!"
"I wouldn't mind being married to Kuronpyu!" Fai giggled, causing the prince's face to turn scarlet again.
"Oh, look at him blush!" the king laughed. "Looks like he wouldn't mind being married to you either, Fai kun!"
"QUIT SCREWING AROUND!!" Kurogane snapped. "TWO GUYS CAN'T GET MARRIED!!"
The rest of them sniggered like a bunch of school girls with a secret. Kurogane buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment and made a mental note not to try and defend himself anymore; it only made things worse.
"Why are you using a spoon, Fai kun?" the queen asked curiously. "Did the servants forget to set chopsticks for you?"
Fai laughed awkwardly, a slight flush coming to his pale cheeks. "No, I have some, but… I'm afraid I don't know how to use them. We didn't use chopsticks in Celes. Sorry."
"Oh, that's perfectly alright," the queen reassured him. "I was just afraid that they'd accidentally skipped you. I could have one of the servants bring you a fork, if you'd like."
"Well, if it's not too much trouble…" Fai said sheepishly.
The queen motioned one of the servants over and asked her to get a fork of Fai.
"So how is it that you came to us?" the king asked while his wife was occupied. "I mean, what about your home?"
The sudden question about his home froze him in place, his spoon, which was raised half-way to his mouth, instantly forgotten. Fai couldn't say he hadn't been afraid that such a question would come up but he had hoped maybe he'd be able to avoid it. It didn't help that Kurogane was now staring intently at him, as though eagerly awaiting his answer.
When the queen realized what had happened, she immediately came to Fai's rescue. "This is Fai kun's home now, darling," she told her husband smoothly.
Fai felt a rush of gratitude toward her for saving him. Kurogane looked away again, disappointed. The king, thankfully, seemed to take his wife's hint that this topic was off limits and let it drop.
"So, er…" the king said uneasily, trying to change the subject. "I, uh… I don't believe I ever found out how you and Kurogane met. Why don't you tell us about that?"
Fai seized the opportunity to talk about something else and launched into the story. Kurogane wish he could just disappear as he listened to the blond's retelling; of course Fai exaggerated everything and described Kurogane's actions in a painfully detailed way, and naturally his parents found the whole thing to be hilarious. It didn't help when the queen happened to recall the conversation they had had at the breakfast table the morning after he had met Fai.
"So Fai kun was the one you were so busy thinking about that morning, Kurogane?" she asked, looking amused.
"This is stupid!" the prince howled. "Don't you people have anything better to talk about?!"
All of them laughed at him again. Even the servants who were standing around the perimeter of the room in case the royal family needed anything had to try hard to suppress their smiles.
"He's blushing again!" the king pointed out loudly. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was love at first sight! Isn't that right, dear?"
"We wouldn't blame you, of course, Kurogane," his mother giggled. "Fai kun is absolutely adorable, after all!"
Kurogane couldn't believe the crap that was spewing out of their mouths. It was insane!
"You really think so, Mom?" Fai asked, smiling shyly.
"Yes, you're beautiful, Fai kun!" the queen gushed. "And with Kurogane being so handsome like his father, the two of you would make a lovely pair."
Kurogane couldn't help looking over at Fai to see what his reaction to his mother's opinion would be. He was surprised to see that Fai wasn't laughing; the blond just lowered his eyes and smiled sadly.
"I've got another one…" the king gasped, trying to talk through his laughter. "I've got another one! The one where…Remember, dear, when Kurogane was three years old and he told you what he was going to do if an oni ever got inside the castle?!"
Kurogane's parents both burst out laughing at the memory. The prince wanted to die of embarrassment; why did his parents have to resort to ridiculous stories about him as a child for dinner conversation when Fai was here? Now the damn servants weren't bothering to conceal their laughter anymore and even Kurogane's frequent murderous glares at them could only shut them up for so long before they started up again. Of course, Fai was laughing his ass off, too. No one who had heard these stories was going to leave this room, Kurogane decided; he was going to have to kill every last one of them.
"You tell it," Kurogane's father told the queen, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "You do a much better job of it than I do."
"Alright," his mother agreed, taking a deep breath to compose herself before beginning the story. "Kurogane's father was leaving to help squash an oni uprising in the southern part of the kingdom, and Kurogane, of course, wants to go along and help, too. His father says 'I need you to stay here, son. You have to protect the palace in case any onis try to get inside while I'm gone.' Kurogane says 'but I wanna go with you!' But his father tells him 'why don't you go to your room and figure out what you would do if an oni got in? You need to have a plan, you know; those onis are tricky'.
"Kurogane wasn't very happy about having to stay behind, but he did as he was told and goes to his room to make his plan. After a long time, he comes out and runs up to me, all excited. 'I figured it out, Mama! Do you wanna know what I'm gonna do if I see a oni?!' he asks me."
Kurogane groaned and tried to merge his skull with the table so he wouldn't have to hear it.
"So I said 'ok, Kurogane, tell Mommy what you're going to do," the queen went on. "Kurogane says 'I'm gonna kick his ask!'"
Everyone roared with laughter. Kurogane covered his ears, trying to block it all out, blushing furiously. It wasn't working.
"Of course, I was surprised to hear him say that!" his mother continued, once her giggling had subsided enough. "Where would my three-year-old son have heard that word? I thought maybe I'd misunderstood him, so I said 'you're going to what?' Kurogane grins at me again and says 'I'm gonna kick his ask!' I realized I'd heard him correctly and I wasn't very happy with his choice of language, but it was just so funny! I tried not to laugh as I said 'that's not very nice'. And Kurogane goes all serious and says 'if he gonna come in here, he gonna kick my ask so I gotta kick his ask!'"
Really, Kurogane thought, the story wasn't all that funny. What was so hilarious about wanting to beat the shit out of an oni? Most people who had encountered an oni wanted to do that. Apparently, everyone else in the room disagreed; most of them were laughing so hard that they were nearly crying, including Fai. Kurogane was sick of these idiots. He'd like to kick all their "asks" now. Then they'd see who'd be laughing. It would be him.
The second dinner was over, Kurogane stomped back to his room, seething, while Fai trotted alongside him, still chuckling to himself as he recalled some of the highlights from the king and queen's stories. It took every ounce of Kurogane's power not to punch the stupid blond in the stomach. Fai leaned forward to get a closer look at his friend's face.
"Hmm? Are you mad, Kuropin?" he asked playfully.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?!" Kurogane snapped.
He ripped open his door, marched inside and slammed it shut again even though Fai was still right beside him. Without looking at him, the prince slid down against the wall, folding his arms and glared at the opposite wall, absolutely furious. Fai smiled apologetically, sitting down beside him. Kurogane's face was still bright red from the humiliation he had just suffered. Hesitantly, the blond put his arms around the other boy and pulled him into a hug. Kurogane was about to shove him away but for some reason when Fai began to stroke his hair he changed his mind.
"I'm sorry, Kurochuu," Fai said softly. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings when I laughed at those stories."
Kurogane couldn't see his face since his own was currently buried in Fai's chest but at least his voice sounded sincere. He was still angry, though.
"You didn't have to laugh so hard," he grumbled.
"I know, sorry," Fai repeated, though Kurogane could tell by his voice that he was grinning. "They were just so funny! It's hard to think of Kurosama as ever having been anything but the grumpy big doggy that I know and love."
"Hmph! I'm not a dog!" Kurogane groused.
"But you know, I… I really liked being able to see that side of you, even if it was only through stories," the blond admitted. Kurogane could hear a note of nostalgia in his voice now, and maybe just a hint of shyness. "Thank you for sharing it with me."
The prince was silent; now seemed like an appropriate time to try and keep the promise he had made to his mother before Fai had arrived for dinner that evening but he wasn't sure how he should phrase it. He didn't only want to know Fai's story because of his promise to his mother, though; he felt like there was another reason, even though he wasn't quite sure what that reason was. What he did know for sure was that Fai was keeping something big from him, and that knowledge hurt. Actually, it hurt quite badly. And it made him start to feel angry again.
"Feels pretty good when someone's willing to share with you, doesn't it?" Kurogane said finally, a definite bitter edge in his voice. Fai stopped stroking his hair then, as if surprised by what he had said.
"You're not the only one who feels that way, you know," the prince continued. "People don't like it when you refuse to give anything back when they keep sharing with you. Maybe if you'd quit being so damn selfish you'd notice that."
Fai was clutching the prince's shirt in his fingers tightly now, his forehead resting on Kurogane's shoulder. "I'm… I'm not doing it because I want to make you sad, Kurosama… I'm just… so afraid of what would happen if you knew… I like being able to hold you this way, so… I don't know what I would do if you started hating me…"
Kurogane had to admit that he was surprised; this wasn't the kind of response he had been expecting.
"That would be stupid," he snorted eventually. "Even if I know about something bad you've done, it wouldn't make you a different person. You've turned into who you are now even though you've done that bad thing, and who you are now… isn't that terrible, I guess."
Fai was so shocked to hear the other boy say that out loud that he had to pull away to make sure that this person he was talking to now really was Kurogane.
"You're still annoying as hell, though," Kurogane reminded him quickly. Damn it; he was starting to blush again! But Fai didn't laugh or tease him like he thought he would; he just gave him another one of those sad, sweet smiles and put his arms around him again, pulling him into another hug.
"I'm so glad to hear you say that, Kurotan. Thank you," Fai breathed. It's sweet, even if you are wrong.
"So, I'm still a little confused," Fai said, removing his shirt. "What do we do now?"
"Beats the hell out of me," Kurogane growled, pulling off his pants. "This is my first time doing this, too, you know."
"I think we have to be in bed," he volunteered.
"Not yet," the prince said. "It's too early for that."
"Why are we getting our pajamas on already, then?" the blond asked, sliding his arms into the sleeves of his pajama shirt.
"We're supposed to. It's some kind of rule or something," Kurogane replied, stepping into his pajama pants.
"Maybe we should go find Tomoyo chan," Fai suggested. "I'm sure she'd be able to tell us what you're supposed to do at a sleepover." (You can all get your minds out of the gutter now, by the way)
"We're not going to ask her for help," Kurogane said firmly. "She'll probably give us some kind of bullshit answer and try to get us to do something weird together."
"Well, if Kurosama won't let us ask for help, then I guess we'll just have to make something up," the other boy mused. "I know! Why don't we play with Kuropun's toys? You have like a million of them."
"I already told you, I'm too old for toys," the prince reminded him.
"Oh, don't be such a party-pooper, Kuromin!" Fai scolded lightly. "You're too young to be saying stuff like that! Anyway, it'll be fun; I promise."
Lightning flashed and a huge clap of thunder rattled the whole deck of the creaking wooden ship which was already being pelted relentlessly by the driving rain. Violent waves pitched it back and forth, threatening to capsize the boat and leave its crew to take their chances with the treacherous sea. The crew in question consisted of only two people, and neither of them seemed to even notice the danger posed to them by the storm; they had what they considered to be more pressing issues.
"I'll ask ye one more time, Cap'n Wanwan: where be the legendary treasure of Horitsuba?" the blond, one-eyed pirate demanded.
"…"
"Talk, ye miserable cur, or I'll see to it that ye walk the plank!" he shouted threateningly.
"…"
"Very well, I tried to be reasonable but ye've worn me patience thin," the blond pirate sighed, shaking his head. "Any last words before I toss yer useless hide into the sea and let ye be lost to Davy Jones's locker?!"
"…This is stupid," Captain Wanwan said stonily, folding his arms as the other man prodded him in the back with his sword.
"What?! What kind of last words be those?!" the blond roared.
"No, seriously; this is freaking stupid." Captain Wanwan turned smoothly back into Prince Kurogane and the perilous landscape became his bedroom. "Why would you kill the only person in the world who knows the location of this treasure? It doesn't make sense! If you keep them alive, at least there's still a chance that you could torture the information out of them!"
"It doesn't have to make sense, Kuromyuu," Fai explained patiently. "It's only a game."
"Well, it's a stupid game," the prince huffed. "Can't you think of anything better than this?"
Fai frowned slightly for a moment, thinking. Then he clapped his hands. "Ok, I've got it!"
Giant trees towered overhead, shading the jungle floor from the brilliant rays of tropical sun. Brightly colored flowers burst into bloom everywhere, along with bushes that bore strange, heart-shaped fruits and vines that may or may not actually be deadly snakes waiting to gobble up any unsuspecting monkey that tried to use it to swing from branch to branch. Above the perpetually damp forest floor, various exotic birds could be heard calling noisily to each other in the canopy, some in search of mates, some giving warnings to others to stay the hell away. They squawked indignantly and took flight in a flurry of feathers as a metallic swishing sound disturbed their songs. Two explorers, both dripping with sweat, sporting various cuts and scrapes and bruises battled their way determinedly through the underbrush.
"At last, there it is! The ancient temple of Yasha! And inside, the lost treasure! This is it, Mr. Wankosworth! This is the moment that we've been waiting for all our lives!" the blond explorer cried excitedly, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Doesn't it feel fabulous?!"
"…"
"I said 'doesn't it feel fabulous?!'" the blond explorer repeated, turning to face his companion eagerly. "Oh no! Mr. Wankosworth, you're wounded! It seems that you were hit by one of the poisonous darts from those mean, nasty bunny-natives we encountered! Why didn't you say anything earlier when I asked if you were alright?!"
"…"
"Unless…" The blond clapped his hands to his mouth as a horrible thought. "Unless the poison has already begun to take affect, making it so you can't speak! This… this is just awful! If I don't do something right away, poor Mr. Wankosworth will die!"
"…"
"I believe…Yes, it's the only way! I'll have to sacrifice myself to save him! Oh, how completely selfless of me!"
"…This is stupid," Mr. Wankosworth grumbled.
"What's this?! He can talk again?!" the blond explorer gasped. "Could it be that the poison is wearing off?!"
"…This game doesn't make sense either!" Mr. Wankosworth transformed back into Prince Kurogane and the towering trees of the jungle vanished and the scene went back to being a bedroom again. "How would sacrificing yourself help someone that's been poisoned? And who the hell's ever heard of bunny-natives?"
"I already told you Kuropon, games don't have to make sense!" Fai pouted. "They just have to be fun!"
"This isn't fun; it's lame," Kurogane declared. "I'm not playing anymore."
"You're the one who's being lame, Kurokuro," the boy complained. "I'm just trying to give us something to do and you keep shooting down all my ideas!"
"That's because they suck," the prince said. "Try again."
"Fine, just one more time," Fai agreed. He paused to think, then clapped his hands again. "Ah, this one will be great!"
It was dark, and the air was thick and musty. The stone walls bore crude pictures, the artwork of the long-dead people who had once inhabited these ruins. A long, narrow stone stairway wound its way down into the seemingly never-ending darkness and was covered with a fine layer of sand that had managed to work its way inside over the years. In the darkness, lingering just out of sight were a multitude of deadly scorpions and spiders, scaling the walls at leisure, their legs making grotesque sounds as they walked. A single flickering light from a tiny lantern bobbed up and down in its owner's hand as the two archaeologists made their way cautiously down the steps, taking care not to slip and go plummeting over the edge to their deaths.
"We've sure been climbing for a long time," the blond scientist commented in a whisper. "Already we've spent two hours on these stairs and there's still no end in sight. What do you make of this, Dr. Woofison? Don't you think this is strange?"
"…"
"You're right, we'd better keep quiet," the blond scientist agreed. "Who knows what kind of ancient monster might be sleeping down here. I wonder if it could be guarding the mythical treasure of King Clow?! Wouldn't that be exciting?!"
"…"
"But I think I'll leave the monster-slaying to you, Dr. Woofison; you're much more cut out for that kind of work than I am! I hope you don't mind."
"…"
"Oh, Dr. Woofison, you're such a joker!" the blond laughed, clapping his partner on the shoulder. Apparently he clapped him a little too hard for he caused himself to loose his balance. The blond scientist shrieked and waved his arms frantically, trying to steady himself but he was already falling. Luckily he managed to grab onto the edge of the stairs. "D-Dr. Woofison! Help!"
"…"
"Wait… Do you hear that?! I think the stairs are beginning to collapse! Quick, you must run, Dr. Woofison! Save yourself!"
"…This game is messed up, too!" Dr. Woofison morphed back into Prince Kurogane and the ruins returned to being a bedroom. "If we'd already been going on the steps for two hours, there's no way that you falling and grabbing onto the edge would make them start to collapse! And a person would have no chance of saving themselves from crumbling stairs if they had to run up that many of them to escape! And why the hell do you keep giving me these weird names?!"
"Kuropon, you messed it up again!" Fai whined. "Just when it was getting to the cool part!"
"And another thing!" Kurogane rambled on. "What the hell is up with your sudden obsession with treasure?! Every game we've played so far has been about treasure!"
"…Have they?" Fai asked, putting a finger to his lower lip as he went over the games they had played. "Hmm, that's funny; I wasn't even trying to do that…"
Actually, he had done it on purpose; Fai was rather preoccupied by his revived need for money. He felt too horrible using Kurogane to get what he wanted and figured it would be better to just go back to collecting coins again. The problem was where to get them; Fai didn't have anywhere near enough. And images of that person wasting away, dying a slow and painful death in utter darkness and filth had been haunting the back of his mind all day. What if those images he kept seeing were actually some sort of premonition? What if that person really was dying?
"Anyway, all your ideas are stupid. So what are we going to do now?" Kurogane demanded.
Fai shook himself out of his daze. "Now you're the one not making sense, Kurorinta! You just said all my ideas were stupid but you want me to come up with another one? I think it's Kuropuu's turn to think of something for us to do."
The prince thought. "Stories," he said finally. "We're going to tell stories."
"…Ok…" Fai said slowly. "What kind of stories should we tell?"
"Tell me one from your home country," Kurogane ordered. "Celes, or whatever it's called."
"A story from Celes?"
Fai had no idea what story to tell. It had been four years since he'd last seen Celes and those four years had been rough ones. There had never been much time for storytelling, so gradually the stories he'd been told as a small child had faded from his memory. Suddenly, Kurogane's voice echoed in the blond's head. People don't like it when you refuse to give anything back when they keep sharing with you. Maybe if you'd quit being so damn selfish you'd notice that.
Perhaps he could tell Kurogane a part of his story, only he wouldn't tell him that it was his story; he'd say it was a legend in his country or something. That way he wouldn't have to feel guilty about never sharing anything about himself with Kurogane. But Kurogane was sharp when it came to these kinds of things; he might guess that the story was about Fai. It was unlikely, but not impossible. Fai decided that he would have to leave certain bits out, just in case. He would get rid of the worst parts, the most loathsome parts, the parts that still made his own skin crawl. That way, even if Kurogane figured out that the story was about him, he still wouldn't know the things that Fai was sure would cause the prince to despise him.
"Ok…" Fai began. "I thought of one; it's an old legend in my country, one that every child knows."
That was partially true; every child did know part of the story. There was no way they couldn't know if they lived in Celes. It affected their lives every single day.
"Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen. They wanted to start a family very badly so they tried over and over again to have children but for some reason they kept failing. Finally, one day, to their delight, they found out that the queen was pregnant. The whole country was very happy and they all had a big party to celebrate.
"But when the baby was born, there turned out to be two babies; twin princes. The people of the country considered twin boys to be extremely unlucky and the king and queen were afraid of what might happen if everyone found out. See, even if the babies were unlucky, the king and queen decided that they would still love them both just as much as they would have if they hadn't been twin boys. They created a plan to always keep one boy hidden and since the two babies looked exactly alike, they could switch them off every few days. That way, they wouldn't have to keep one of the babies locked away forever.
"Their plan worked for a long time; for seven years, the twin princes were able to live in the palace with their parents and nothing really unlucky happened during that time. The king and queen began to think that maybe the twins weren't unlucky after all. One day, one of the twins got a cut on his face from falling down. It wasn't a bad cut, so none of them really thought about it much. But one of the king's advisors, a bad guy in disguise, noticed that the cut would disappear when the uninjured twin would come out and reappear again when the injured one was there. He began to wonder if there might be twin princes.
"The advisor did a lot of sneaking around and eventually, he was able to find out for sure that there really were two princes and he announced it to the whole country. People got angry and scared when they heard this and one night they decided to attack the palace to try and kill the twins. The advisor helped with the attack and in the confusion, he managed to kill the king and queen and make it look like an accident. The princes, though, were able to escape the palace and a witch, a good friend of the king and queen helped them to leave the country so that they wouldn't be found.
"No one knows what happened to the princes after that. The bad advisor ended up taking over the throne and being made the new king of the country. He probably searched for the princes for a long time, afraid that they would come back some day and try to take their rightful places and kings of the country. He never ended up finding them, though. No one did. Even today, nobody in that country has any idea where the princes went. The end."
"What? That's the end?!" Kurogane asked. "That's stupid! What kind of ending is that?!"
"Well I can't exactly tell you a better ending if no one knows what happened," Fai pointed out.
"Well, that was dumb," the prince huffed.
"It's your turn to tell a story now, Kuromu," Fai urged.
Kurogane snorted. "I don't feel like it."
"If you didn't feel like telling one, then why did you even suggest doing this?" the blond pouted.
The other boy shrugged. "I got to hear a story."
"You're such a jerk, Kuronpyu!" Fai whined, shoving Kurogane playfully. He was glad, though; Kurogane didn't seem to have any idea that the story he had just heard had any special significance. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"I thought of the story idea," the prince reminded him. "It's your turn to pick."
"Hmm… I feel like doing something naughty," Fai said, smiling mischievously.
Kurogane jumped, his face immediately going red. "H-hold on! I'm not gonna… You can't… We're only kids, dammit! It's too soon to be—"
Fai laughed. "Not that kind of thing, silly! I had something else in mind…"
Kurogane stared at him, looking completely lost. "Like what?"
"This palace has a treasury room, right?" Fai asked, his eyes gleaming hopefully.
"Yeah…" Kurogane replied. "But what's that got to do with—"
"Have you ever been inside?"
Kurogane tried to remember. "…No, I don't think so…"
"Why don't we sneak out of here and go see it?" Fai suggested eagerly. "That would be fun, wouldn't it?"
"Are you freaking serious?!" Kurogane snapped. "I told you before, right?! Nothing gets past my father! If we try to sneak down there, he'll catch us for sure!"
Fai shrugged. "Kurosama's dad is a nice guy; I don't think he'll punish us too badly."
"Maybe not you, but he sure as hell won't let me off the hook!" the prince said.
"Then I guess we'll just have to make sure we don't get caught, huh?" Fai grinned. "Come on, Kuropiko… You're not scared, are you?"
"O-of course not!" Kurogane insisted. "Do I freaking look scared? I'm not scared!"
"Ok, then," the blond said, taking his hand. "Let's go.
A/N: Ah ha! A cliff hanger! Maybe. Kind of… Anyway, on the topic of that story that was told about Kurogane's childhood; it's based on a video my uncle showed me on you tube. Yeah, sorry about being so uncreative with that but when I saw that video, I thought "Wow, that really sounds like something Kurogane might have said as a kid" and I just had to stick it in somewhere. If you don't know what video I'm talking about, just go to you tube and search "kick monsters ask". You really should watch it; it's pretty funny. Well, that's all I have for today. Ciao!
