Chapter Thirty

Kurogane knew something was wrong the moment he saw the princess's face. He set down the bag of flour the mage had thrust into his arms and went over to her, reacting the same way to her broken expression as he might've reacted to Tomoyo's. "What happened?"

She looked up at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "Syaoran-kun is gone."

He'd learned to not panic, even in dire situations, but the news sent a ripple of disquiet through him. "Did Seishirou take him?"

She shook her head, oddly quiet.

Fai walked in just then, almost dropping the bags of groceries he'd been cradling in his hands when he saw her face. With supernatural speed, he set them down on the counter and knelt down beside Sakura's chair, looking up at her with unconcealed concern. "Sakura-chan, what happened?"

"He left. Syaoran-kun left."

Left?

"What do you mean, he left?" Kurogane demanded.

She hiccupped, losing control of herself for a moment. "He just got up and left. He didn't even take any of his stuff with him."

"Did he say where he was going?"

"To Seishirou."

I'm going to beat the living shit out of that brat when I find him, Kurogane thought, fury rushing through his veins.

"Why?" Fai asked, too shocked to utter a longer sentence.

"He didn't say. I tried to f-f-follow him, b-but . . ." Sobs overtook her for a few minutes, while she unsuccessfully tried to explain. "He s-s-said he'd c-come back, but n-not right away. He going t-to be g-gone until he finishes what he s-set out to d-do."

"Easy, Sakura-chan. Just let it all out."

The princess sobbed into the sorcerer's shoulder, alternating between a birdlike warble and a shuddery wail. While all this happened, Kurogane picked Souhi up from his room and plucked the white pork bun off Fai's shoulder. "Are we going to go look for him, or not?" he demanded. The others looked up at him, startled by the furious edge to his voice.

"W-wait," the princess said, struggling to compose herself. "I don't think he w-wants us to f-follow."

"So fucking what?"

She was almost calm now. "Whatever he's doing . . . I trust him. He wouldn't have left if he hadn't thought it was the best thing to do."

"The brat's a fucking traitor," he snarled back.

"No, he's . . . He's not doing anything to hurt us."

"But he didn't give an explanation for why he was going, did he?" Fai said, all too ready to distrust the boy's motives.

And for once, Kurogane agreed with him. If the kid had just up and went like that, there was no predicting what he'd do. "Manju bun, is the feather still in this world?"

"Mokona senses a feather in that direction," the creature said, pointing far beyond their apartment building.

"I'm going. Anyone else who wants to go can follow."

There was a moment when neither of the others moved. Fai stood up first, head tilted down so his hair obscured his eyes. "We'd better hurry."

Sakura looked panicked. "No! We can't go after him. He said there was something he needed to do."

Kurogane knew he had a temper, knew that expressing his anger now was wasteful when he could use it to cut Seishirou in half, but he still slammed his fist down on the counter. "Do you have any idea what kind of man Seishirou is? What kind of danger he presents? I would rather . . ." He took a deep breath, struggling for words through his fury. "I would rather cut off my sword arm than leave that kid with him!"

Fai glanced at him with mild surprise. "I didn't know you hated Seishirou that much, Kurogane."

"He's an enemy, you moron. Of course I hate him." He could feel the blood vessels pulsing in his head. "And traitor or not, I won't let that brat go off with him."

"But you can't!" Sakura yelled.

Kurogane knew he would regret saying it, even before the words left his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "Look, I know the two of you are having issues, but I don't give a shit about what you want to do about it, because I am going to go fix this before it becomes a problem."

Leaving a stunned Sakura behind, he stalked out the door.

"How do you do that?" Syaoran asked, watching Seishirou take the feather inside his body again. The dark-haired man had been kneeling over his brother for almost half and hour now, letting the white feather rest over the dying man's heart. Seeing one of Sakura's feathers out in the open made it difficult for Syaoran to control his impulse to snatch it up and bring it back to her.

"It's not a difficult trick," Seishirou said. "I'm sure you've wondered the same thing about some of the enemies you've faced in your travels. How they can hold the feather inside them, drawing on its power, yet never actually consuming it the way your princess does . . ."

He nodded, though it hadn't been him that had wondered those things, it had been the Other. Up until now, there had never really been a good opportunity to ask that question.

"You'd probably be able to pick it up fairly quick," Seishirou said, bringing the feather out again. "Would you like to try?"

Syaoran recognized the offer as the man's attempt to gain his trust, but also knew that he would feel better holding onto the feather, even temporarily. And even if it is just an attempt to earn your trust, at least he's willing to make an effort.

The thought finished itself in his mind, but he chose to pretend he didn't think it. After all, no one else made an effort to talk to me. "I'd like to learn," he said.

Seishirou grinned and rose to his feet, his black cloak billowing out around him as he moved. The graceful motions made him a bit uneasy, though he couldn't think of why that was.

"It's not much different from absorbing a blow in a fight. Less painful, but you have to meet it head on, without hesitation. Given your affinity with the princess, you should be able to absorb it easily enough." He held the feather out. Syaoran took a deep breath, steeling his body. Seishirou moved the feather towards him, slowly, as if to avoid startling him. Syaoran focused, thinking about Sakura in the hopes that the feather would join more willingly with him if he acknowledged her existence.

It was almost too easy. A shiver rocked his spine as the tendrils of magic spread from his chest to the rest of his body. Shortly after, he felt a great rush of energy, as if the magic he had in his body had doubled in volume. It was at once an uncomfortable pressure and an empowering sensation. He drew in a deep breath. "Wow."

"You see why the feathers are so in demand."

The painful pressure faded as his body acclimated to the more powerful magic. "I feel so . . . It's like in the country with the Kudan, but even stronger."

Seishirou's eyebrows shot up into his hairline for a moment. "You've been to the Hanshin Republic?"

He nodded. "It was the first country I went you after I met Yuuko-san. I . . ." He trailed off.

"You what?"

"I . . . I guess I wasn't really there. I mean, that was back when the Other was traveling with Sakura."

For once, his old teacher wasn't grinning. "You mean your clone?"

He nodded.

A gentle hand came down on his head to tousle his hair. His eyes flashed up.

"You don't have to worry about differentiating between those memories with me," Seishirou told him. "That clone shared a soul with you. Whatever differences there are now, you have a right to those memories, just like he did."

It was strange how that handful of words shifted his perspective so drastically. Spending time with his old mentor was a prospect he had both looked forward to and dreaded. He'd been excited, just a little bit, at the thought of getting away from the others, but scared of the ramifications going with Seishirou would cause.

But it had been so long since anyone had spoken to him like he was a person. It had been so long since anyone had done something so obviously accepting as tousling his hair, or smiling at him like that. It should've felt strange that the affection was coming from someone he'd considered a villain for the past few months, but the gesture looked so easy coming from the older man, so unconditionally accepting, he couldn't even think of Seishirou as an enemy.

"I . . . Thank you." The words came out in a whisper, and he had to close his eyes to fight against the tears trying to break free.

Seishirou's head snapped up suddenly, his hand coming free from Syaoran's hair. "Your friends are here."

Syaoran glanced over to the elevator, knowing that was the only way to get up to this room. After a moment, he heard the faint groan of the cables as the metal box rose up to their level. "What should I do?" he asked.

"Hide with Fuuma. Now."

"The feather—"

"Now, Little Wolf."

He hesitated a moment longer, then ran into Fuuma's bedroom, locking the door behind him.