Save Me

Chapter One

I do not own Tsubasa or any of its characters.

In a fancy apartment building in a fancy neighborhood with expensive shops and restaurants on Tsubasa Lane, Kurogane was studying. Yes, that's right, studying. How lame. Someone who lived in this kind of neighborhood would rarely be home. With all the places to see and the shops to explore, who would want to stay home in their apartment and study? Kurogane, of course. He was attending a very famous university in the Tsubasa area, Clow University which was said to have the most amazing teachers and difficult studies. He was a straight A student and all the professors, even Yuuko, the toughest one there had a high opinion of him. Even though Kurogane was smart, Clow had tested his abilities and knowledge. Every night, there was loads of homework, essays and huge projects. Of course, he always finished them, but the lack of sleep showed in his blank expression and the purple shadows beneath his eyes.

Sakura Clow was the great granddaughter of the founder of Clow University and attended the same school as Kurogane. Her father was Clow Reed (the third) and her mother was Yuuko Reed, who worked at the university. Unlike her friend, she was always sunny, but somehow she always got along with him. Over the years, they had developed a special friendship together and trusted each other with secrets they wouldn't even tell their parents. Sakura got into Kurogane's heart( just as a friend) and saw past the rough exterior, to the thoughtful sometimes sweet boy underneath. Kurogane was Sakura's confidence; he stood up for her and made sure her kindness didn't kill her.

This was another night of endless schoolwork and studying. The teachers were just relentless on giving homework, and this was Friday. Normally, Kurogane didn't do anything even on the weekends except work, but this weekend would be different. Sakura had decided this as she watched her best friend toil over yet another project. She had homework too, but her parents, well, they weren't Kurogane's parents.

"Kuro-kun," Sakura said hesitantly, opening the expensive glass door and walking in with a tray of food. Lately, he had been looking too tired.

"What? I'm studying?" he said, trying not to sound as annoyed or exhausted he was.

"I think you look tired. All that work is really going to take its toll on you," Sakura said, with noticeable concern in her voice.

"Whatever. It's their fault I have this shit to do. What kind of parent makes their child take all the damn hardest classes and all the extra classes, when they don't even need to?" he said bitterly, thinking of his stupid parents.

"They care…Besides, they want you to have experience for when you…," she trailed off.

"For when I what? When I take over the damn company, I suppose. I don't want to run a company and I most certainly don't want to stay in a stuffy office all day," he spat, thinking of his life ahead of him, all placed neatly by his parents. No fussing, no arguing. School. Work. Because they ,obviously, had never had a life.

Ever since the end of college had been approaching, life had sped up considerably for Kurogane and his future was fast approaching. He and Sakura had had this discussion many times and yet the topic never seemed to go away. The discussion about his free will with his parents, who had high hopes, too high hopes for him to continue running the company immediately when he graduated college. It usually ended in Sakura either convincing him everything was going to be okay or it ended in him cursing his parents loudly while she did something else in another room. This time the result was completely different.

"Well," Sakura said, wondering if her suggestion was a good idea, "if you want, we can definitely go somewhere fun. Besides, I've got no one to share this ticket with," she said waving a pink coloured slip of paper in the air, happily.

"I think I should finish this damn essay," Kurogane said, grumbling and reluctantly turning back to his schoolwork.

"You're too tired to think properly. You should just go to sleep," she said.

"I'm not tired at all. I could stay awake for hours. Now let me study, Sakura," he growled.

"If you're not tired," she paused before making her move, "Let's stay up all night!" Sakura grabbed his harm and held a firm grip, not loosening it until they were outside of the apartment and she had hid the key to get back in.

"Oi! What's your problem, Sakura?" he glared at her, fuming like a child until she replied.

"You're going to collapse of exhaustion or overworking and so before you do that you might as well have fun," she replied, smiling in a way that said "you can't say no because I specially did this for you".

He relented and they started towards "somewhere interesting". The ticket had read Piffle Arcade. So he hazarded a guess they were going to the new arcade downtown.

And he was right.

Piffle Arcade was a giant box of entertainment, complete with five flashing floors of all the kinds of games in the world. The bright lights shone everywhere, multicoloured, illuminating the beeping arcade games. At night, it shone on the midnight sky like a splatter of white on a black canvas. It was too easy to get lost in the crowd and soon Sakura had blended into the mass of people. Kurogane swore this whole place was based on the rainbow, because everywhere he looked there was a neon b yellow or shining orange. It hurt his eyes, but he had to admit that the arcade was one hell of a place to be. He tried every game and all he had to do was to swipe his card. Soon, he settled down on a ninja game.

"Having fun yet, Kuro?" Sakura giggled passing him while he was immersed in the fighting game, viciously hitting the buttons.

"Like hell I am," he said. Sakura laughed and skipped away to play Mokona berry.

Both Sakura and Kurogane quickly discovered that time was eternal in the Piffle Arcade. Suddenly, it was two AM and he wondered what he had been doing. Recounting the last hour, he realized he spent it all playing a Ninja I, Ninja II, Ninja III and Ninja IV. Desperately, he searched for his friend, but the floors were huge and had several rooms each. With five floors and huge crowds of people he decided he just had to try and get out. Unfortunately, Sakura had brought him here and she probably thought she would lead him out so he had no idea where the exits were. All the rooms seemed to lead back to one place and there was no door that didn't lead to another blinding room.

After pushing through a karaoke game, Kurogane spotted a door and ran towards it, stumbling outside. Now that the noise was gone, everything seemed still and quiet. There were no bright lights. In fact, there weren't really any lights at all. He eventually adjusted to the dark after sitting there for a while and thinking about what to do. He had to get home. So he had to get someone to ask help from. Normally, he hated asking help, but he'd never been downtown and if he could get lost in an arcade, he could get lost downtown.

Kurogane followed a crashing noise, hurridly and turned a dark corner to find a group of teens ganging up on a frail-looking man. They sneered and punched him in the stomach. As he fell down, they kicked him again and laughed.

"Heyy, if you don't have no money, we can still beat ya up, right boys?" slurred a drunken looking brunette from the gang.

"Stop…please," came the weak voice of the victim curled up on the ground, coughing violently.

"Begging won't do ya any good, will it, boys?" the same brunette coughed and then kicked him again.

"Well he looks like a pretty one, eh? So we could have some fun while he's still here, eh?" suggested a tall redhead from the group, licking his lips.

Kurogane had had enough of watching some drunken bastards hurting someone who couldn't stand up for himself. Sure he hated weakness but that was no reason for the strong to exploit the flaw.

"You guys, over there. You're pathetic. Too afraid to attack someone who's actually going to hurt you? So you gang up on someone helpless. I really hate punks like you and I think today I'll teach you a lesson," Kurogane said, annoyed when they laughed and the leader stepped forward, curling his fingers into a fist.

"You think ya can beat me?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," Kurogane said feeling a familiar rush of power coming to him, despite the hours spent looking at a screen.

From the beginning it was obvious the brunette had no chance against the skilled martial artist. When he tried to punch Kurogane, it was easily dodged and returned with a swift kick to the groin. All the other gang members backed off and quickly left, leaving their leader. Kurogane scoffed and turned to the injured victim.

The man on the ground started coughing again and began to stand, gingerly feeling his chest for injuries.

"You're an idiot," Kurogane stated, looking at the man.

"Pardon?" the man said, a slight smile in his words.

"For wandering around at night…Those guys could have easily…"

"Oh, I know. It's all fine. You musn't worry, sir," the man said, passing what had happened off as an everyday occurrence.

"I'm not worrying, I'm scolding you for not having more common sense. At least carry a weapon or something. Idiot. And don't call me sir. It's too formal. I'm Kurogane."

"Oh, I see, Kurogane. Well, I have to g-," the stranger stopped mid sentence and grimaced, "Go. I have to go. Good bye, Kuro-chan."

Annoyed by the use of "chan", Kurogane twitched. But he stared at the injured man before him and decided to help.

"You're going to get yourself killed like that. I'm not going be able to make sure you don't get assaulted again. And don't call me Kuro-chan. It's KURO-GANE," he emphasized loudly.

Chuckling, the man answered quickly,

"Okay Kuro-puu. Bye. I really have to go." Before he made it three steps, he doubled over in pain again and coughed up some blood. He attempted to move again but was stopped by Kurogane, who pulled him up roughly.

"KURO-GANE. And stop pretending you're okay. No one who is okay coughs up blood."

"Whaaa-? I really will be fine. I'm just a stranger. You don't have to help, you know. You don't have to care. Please, Kuro-puu? I really have to go," the stranger said, quickly getting up ignoring the pain.

"I'm not caring, I'm just making sure you don't do something idiotic. There's enough idiots in the world. Geez, I must be one of them trying to make you have common sense. Whatever, I'm not caring. Anyway, I really need help getting home and you look like you need medical attention, so I'll take care of your blood coughing problem and you lead me home. Kay? After that, your life's all in your hands."

The man considered it and then smirked.

"Ah, I might as well, then, Kuro…," thank god…thought Kurogane, "-tan."

"What?" he shouted, very annoyed and glaring at the grinning stranger.

"Kuro-tan. Kuro-chan. Kuro-puu," he recited, " you just can't make up your mind on which one you want, can you, Kuro-tan?"

"Just shut up already," Kurogane sighed.

"But then I can't lead you home," the man said, laughing childishly.

"UGH. Lead me home, but shut up about my name. What's your name, anyways? You never said."

There was a silence, and it seemed as though the stranger was wondering whether his name was too personal for him to tell a complete stranger.

"My name? My name is Fai," he said, smiling.

Kurogane looked at him, for the first time really. He had never paid much attention to what the guy had looked like, but now that he did…he realized that what the gang members had said was completely true. He really was beautiful, in that way of a china doll. Beautiful to look at, always smiling but too fragile. His thin form looked rather fragile and his blue eyes had an expression that Kurogane couldn't pinpoint. It was sad, but also happy and empty…in a way. Fai's blonde hair was pale and framed his pale face perfectly before falling lightly onto his shoulders. His beauty was wasted, though, because of the tattered shirt he wore and the dirty ripped up jeans. Of course, thinking him beautiful wasn't strange, it was really a fact.

"Fai…," Kurogane tried it out on his tongue, "you're an idiot."

Fai smiled.

That smile.

The one that wasn't quite real….

The one that was empty.

How odd.

Together, the strange pair walked down the street, talking quietly and every so often stopping to rest.

When they reached the address of Kurogane's request, Fai began to walk away, saying his house wasn't too far away. Kurogane started to walk up to his apartment door when he heard a soft thud on the ground outside his apartment. He turned to see a limp body and pale blonde hair spread out across his lawn. Sighing, he walked down the steps to pick the idiot up. Putting one hand on Fai's back and one behind his legs, he hoisted the blonde up bridal style. He took the spare key from the secret hiding place under the mat and entered his apartment quietly, wondering if Sakura made it back. Nope, he thought. Or she would have left a note.

He put Fai down delicately, as though he would break him, but as his hand pulled back, he saw small streaks of crimson. Cautiously, he flipped Fai over and saw vermillion splotches appearing on the back of his white t-shirt and starting to show on the front of the t-shirt.

Slowly, azure eyes showed themselves. Fai brushed his hair out of his eyes and blinked, then winced as he felt the cuts on his back and stomach being touched with water. Or acid. At least that's how it felt. A surge of panic and annoyance ran through him as he realized Kurogane must have seen the scars and cuts on his back and chest. Quickly he sat up, regretting the action immediately as he felt pain shoot through him. As he looked around, Fai saw Kurogane staring at him.

"What are those from?" asked Kurogane.

"Nothing. It's not something to worry about…Kuro-puu," Fai said, exerting his last amount of energy to put on another bright smile fortress.

"It's not nothing, Fai. You can't pass that off as nothing. Tell me," Kurogane was annoyed at how everything that happened to Fai was easily brushed off like it didn't matter at all.

"Really, you are too serious, Kuro-tan," Fai smiled and chuckled.

Then his bright smile was replaced by another less happy smile, with a more sinister aura.

"It's all normal to me now. Goodbye." Surprisingly agile, Fai ran to the door and pushed it open, running hurridly down the steps and through the dark streets of Tsubasa.

Kurogane just stared.