A/N: In case you're not familiar with Weiss Kreuz, I'm using the villains in that anime. They're a group of four psychics called Schwarz. When they refer to a Mundane, it means a non psychic. A Talent is anyone with psychic abilities. Keep in mind, not one of them has their head screwed on right. Assume the three adults came from a place like our modern world with cars, televisions, etc.

Also, not to throw my wonderful, sweet hubby under the bus, but the last chapter he changed my spelling of Ran's last name to something incorrect. From here on out it's correct.

Part Thirteen:

Edo was in sight. Fai gave a large sigh as they rested on the western hill. His nerves were on high tension as he gripped the reins of his horse tighter.

"Are you okay, Fai? You've kept to yourself over the last two days and haven't eaten much."

Fai looked over at Kurogane and forced a smile on his face. "I'm fine, Kurgs."

Kurogane glared at the lie, but Fai didn't back away from it. The ninja was about to confront him, but a man came riding up on a black horse. Kurogane gasped and mumbled a curse under his breath. The one-eyed man was wearing the same colors as Kurogane: black and red.

"Hello, Young Master. How was your trip?"

"Very well. Thank you, Kentaro. You're a long way from Suwa. Is my mother well?" Fai could tell this was why Kurogane was suddenly so tense, fear that his mother's illness had taken a turn for the worse.

"She and your father are well. I had to deliver a message to your Fujimiya cousin and your father wanted me to check on your welfare," the man said, his eye drifting over to Fai. He felt uncomfortable under the man's piercing gaze, so he brightened his fake smile. "Has the young master forgotten the manners his graceful, lady mother taught him?"

Kurogane's face flushed and his face adopted a disgruntled expression. "Kentaro Hamasaki, it's my honor to introduce you to Fai Fluorite, the mage of Celes."

"It's my honor to meet such a distinguished visitor to our land. May your visit be full of happiness," the man said to Fai. The greeting was formal, but the man had warmth in his tone that put Fai a little more at ease.

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you," Fai replied in his cheeriest manner.

"Kentaro is my father's chief retainer," Kurogane explained.

Fai felt a creeping suspicion. It was just too coincidental that Lord Suwa's retainer showed up when they arrived at Edo. He suddenly wished he had Yuui's empathy.

"I'm sure you'll be reporting to Princess Tomoyo, but I hope you both will join me for dinner," Kentaro said in a way that was more of an order, rather than a request.

"Yes, sir," Kurogane said. The man turned his horse around and headed back to Edo.

Kentaro seemed formal, but Fai was pretty certain he could find a way to charm him. He looked over and saw Kurogane was giving him a brooding look. Fai then worried again that Kurogane would feel pressure to renounce his affection with the Suwa retainer so close. His stomach started churning.

"The color drained from your face. Are you ill?" Kurogane asked.

"I'm fine. We should go see the princess."

Fai didn't enjoy the ride into the city. It felt as if an icy veil had slipped between him and Kurogane. Silence was the only thing they shared at the moment.


"Filthy beast!" Schuldig shouted in Japanese at a horse. It shied away with a soft whinny. Nagi shook his head as the redheaded man launched into his harsh mother language called German.

"I don't understand how you travel in your realm if not by horse," Nagi said.

Schuldig smirked and finished hitching the four horses to a tree limb. "You'll see once we get back home. It'll blow your mind. Speaking of which, when are we getting out of here, Brad? It's been a long, long time."

"Finding a way home maybe at hand," Brad Crawford said. He was sitting by the campfire he had made. Nagi couldn't see Crawford's eyes because of the reflection. He no longer thought of the things resting on Crawford's nose as odd. He called them glasses and the glass magnified things so the precog could use his weak eyesight properly. Indeed, his foreign companions had adopted Nihongo clothing for the most part, but small things still marked them as outsiders.

When Farfarello came from the woods with several dead rabbits, the other espers joined Crawford at the fire. Nagi looked away when Farfarello got out his long blade to prepare the rabbits for dinner. The man started mumbling something incoherent; his one, remaining amber eye narrowed. Mainly, Farfarello was silent, except when he flew into one of his maniacal rages.

He was initially surprised to discover that his three, adult companions came from different countries within the same world, but had formed a tight, unconventional family. Crawford came from a place called the United States with many countries inside its boarders. Farfarello came from a place known as Ireland that had a long, rich history. Germany, where Schuldig was from, seemed rather old, too, but it had something really neat called "technology" Nagi wanted to learn about. They all knew Japanese, because they'd been living in a version of Nihongo that some how mirrored the one he was born in.

"You mean that gossip about a magician that can travel between realms?" Schuldig asked, flopping on his side, his garish purple and orange kimono pooled around him. It clashed horribly with his bright red hair that spilled over his shoulders "He obviously didn't come from where we did if he's using magic like what was described. I've never heard of any of our kind doing things like that."

"Because there's no magic in the realm you're from?" Nagi asked.

Schuldig scowled. "Not a whisper of that sort of power except in fairytales and myths. We told you before what things are like for our kind. We're persecuted and used. The Mundanes that know about us use our kind; it's them that we are going to put under our heel once we get back."

"You understand that persecution. You were persecuted by your parents before going to that orphanage. The other children at the orphanage feared and envied you. Our lives are the same as yours, Nagi. That's why you share our same dream of creating a world where there is nothing but chaos among the Mundanes and only Talents, like us, can survive," Crawford explained patiently as Farfarello dangled the meat over the fire with whittled branches.

"I can read your line of thought, Brad. You want that magician; either as one of us or a tool," Schuldig said.

"Of course," Crawford answered the telepath as he accepted cooked rabbit from Farfarello.

Nagi took his portion from the madman and thanked him in traditional Nihongo style. Farfarello threw back his head and cackled. "Why thank me for doing something for ye, lad? You're of our kind. We do for each other without thought or question. You're Schwarz as surely as if ye had been born in the Japan we know."

"Really, Nagles, drop the formal shit. It makes you such a bore," Schuldig drawled, taking his own dinner from Farfarello.

"Let Nagi do as he pleases. He's still learning, but..." Crawford said, "...we are the only ones you have kinship with. Not these Mundanes in your world, they will always see you as something to hate. You need to understand, you are in our family, you are Schwarz."

They ate in silence for several long moments. His older companions' stray thoughts would trickle into his head, occasionally, via Schuldig's telepathic link he maintained. When they were almost finished with dinner, Crawford's mind felt suddenly empty. Behind his glasses, his eyes unfocused. Nagi knew Crawford was now having a vision.

His eyes refocused moments later and Crawford's background thoughts were once more present. Schuldig asked, "So what was that one about, Brad?"

"I had a vision that the magician would willingly come with us when we applied a bit of leverage."

"Leverage?" Schuldig asked.

"Yes. There seems to be a Nihongo ninja we will have to subdue several months from now, and the magician will be our willing tool. Nagi, what is Suwa?"

"It's a province to the south that grows rice. It has trouble with demons a fair bit, so the ninjas are rather strong and well trained there."

"Fine. We'll travel to Suwa because that's where we'll find the ninja we need to force the magician to capitulate. With the magician under our control, we'll be able to finally create the world wide chaos we crave in our realm. Now that I know about other realms, though, my plans have gotten much larger. Why stop at our own? We can convert any realm into chaos to suit Schwarz. But that's for later."

Schuldig smirked. "You're one ambitious son-of-a-bitch, Brad. That's why I like you."

Crawford gave Schuldig a smirk. "The magician will try to rebel, but you and Farfarello have ways of keeping him well behaved."

"What if he does refuse, Crawford?" Nagi asked. The three men chuckled and Crawford shook his head.

"If he doesn't obey, the ninja will loose his life," Crawford answered simply.

"And if he don't oblige after that, we start carving him up," Farfarello finished.

Schuldig sighed and smiled. "You see, Nagles, there can't be one thing you're not willing to do to be one of us."

Nagi felt desperate to leave Nihongo and start a new life with these three men that had taken him in and provided a home for him. They weren't the type of family he'd expected to have, but they understood his anger and pain unlike anyone else.

Even the boy at the orphanage, Ken, that tried to befriend him, feared his power. Were these men sane? Not at all, not one of them, but they knew what it was like to be him: feared and despised for something he was born with and couldn't control. He gravitated toward them for protection and comfort. In return, they nurtured and trained him. They promised him a new home in their realm, and they promised to created a world in that realm where he didn't have to cower.

If they wanted to catch this foreign mage and use him, then so be it. He'd do everything Crawford asked of him and catch this mage and force him to do as they asked. There wouldn't be one thing he wouldn't do for his family.


"And your mission went well except in Tsukiyono province?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yes, Highness, but I take the blame," Kurogane spoke quickly, afraid that Fai would take the responsibility for that fiasco. They were both kneeling in front of the dais in the throne room.

"It's unfortunate. We'll send a envoy to Mamuro Takatori with a message of our displeasure," Tomoyo said. The princess then adopted a bright smile. "I'm glad you both are back, safe and sound. There are already reports of few monsters, which is wonderful. But, Fai, the color in your face seems to have waned. Are you okay?"

"Of course, Princess. Thanks for your concern. I guess camping out for months on end took a toll. Maybe I'm as pampered as Kuro-pu always claims."

"If you say so," Princess Tomoyo said, still looking at Fai with concern. "Why don't you get cleaned up? I hear you have a dinner guest tonight. As a matter of fact, why don't you slip into the kitchen and do something to alleviate the stress of your travels? Isn't cooking a hobby of yours? A well prepared banquet might be the key to what you're searching for."

Fai grew baffled, but then smiled. "Yes, I do miss a proper kitchen. I think that'll be fun."

Fai bolted out of the throne room and left a baffled Kurogane kneeling before the princess. "What was that about?"

"He just needs some distraction, I think. But for now, since there is no one around, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"The relationship between you and Fai is radically different than when we were on Celes. Has something changed?"

Kurogane forced his emotions into neutrality. There was one thing he didn't want to do: embarrass the mage. However, there was one thing he was taught never to do: lie.

"Princess, there is something that has changed, but I prefer to not talk about it, for Fai's sake."

"Souma thought things would change by the time you came back, but that was just between me and her." Tomoyo smiled warmly. She understood everything that was going on between he and Fai, but she was going to give them respect and privacy.

Then she said, "He's very good for you. Work on making each other happy."

"How can I?" Kurogane finally let out the thing he'd been brooding over for months, since he'd first bedded Fai. "I have to go back to Suwa in a few weeks on my next birthday; not that I don't want to see my parents. Fai will be bound here. In six more more months, he'll be back in a whole different realm. I can't continue what I started with him. I have to be kind to him and break it off now, rather than draw it out."

"Do you? I sent him to go cook for you and Kentaro tonight. Why don't you ponder on that for a while? Know that I'm open to anything you may suggest, so long as Fai still works on his punishment."

"Thank you, Highness," Kurogane said before rising and leaving the throne room. He got to his own guest room and paced. It wasn't until the sun started setting that he sat beside the calligraphy table. He took up the brush and parchment even though it felt as if a stone where in his stomach.

'Honorable Father and Mother, greetings from your son. I am well and hope the same of you. I have a special request I humbly ask that you consider...'


"This is the most delicious meal I've ever had," Kentaro declared. It wasn't proper to over eat, but he couldn't help himself. The new cook at Shirosagi Castle was a genius. Now his stomach was stuffed. He flopped down on his pillow beside the low dinner table and smirked at his two dinner companions.

They both looked utterly depressed, but his awesome meal hadn't been dampened. He'd known Kurogane from the day he was born. Something had certainly unsettled the young man, but Kentaro held back and had watched the interactions between his young lord and the mage.

The verbal banter seemed full of biting remarks going both ways. They ruthlessly teased each other over everything from chopsticks to sake. Kentaro admitted it was a nightmare to watch a young man scoop food into his mouth like a four year old, and then turn around and gulp down sake like it was water. Kentaro realized that the teasing was just a cover for a very deep fondness and concern they had for each other.

During the dinner, Fai had smiled and made wonderful conversation about his travels around Nihongo. More importantly, Fai went out of his way to ask Kentaro about himself. The blond foreigner listen to him patiently and asked intelligent questions. Fai was very attentive to filling Kentaro's sake and offering more dessert. But now that the meal was finished, the young man fell into a sulk with Kurogane.

"This was the best meal I think I've ever had. I really need to thank the new cook and then find a way to convince her to move to Suwa. This karukan is the best."

"I've had better," Kurogane said with crossed arms and a scowl.

"Kuro-pu is too hard on the cook who slaved over a hot cauldron!"

"That slaving over a hot cauldron routine again? Tsk. Save your tears, mage."

"No, it was the best meal I've ever had, Kurogane," Kentaro insisted, wondering why Fai was suddenly trembling and wearing a pout.

"Don't compliment cooks, Kentaro! They get huge heads that takes days to shrink down," Kurogane snapped, with narrowed, crimson eyes cast at Fai.

Fai turned to Kentaro and flashed him the brightest smile. "I'm so please you enjoyed the meal. I've worked very hard at learning as many Nihongo recipes as I could while we were on the road."

Kentaro felt his jaw drop. "You cooked this?" He turned to Kurogane feeling scandalized. "Your parents would be appalled that you allowed your guest to do scullery work!"

"No, no, no, it's my pleasure to cook for you. King Ashura was reluctant to let me learn how to cook when I was a child, but I convinced him. I know it's an unusually hobby for someone like me, but it's not a drudgery in the least, especially, when the food was truly appreciated and enjoyed."

Kentaro was amazed at the sudden outburst, but what the young mage said was heartfelt. Normally, an emotional declaration like that would be frowned upon, but there was always something to be said for passion and a willingness to fight. The retainer's admiration for the young man rose a few notches.

"I did appreciate and enjoy my meal. Thank you kindly, mage of Celes," Kentaro said, with a bow of his head.

"Let me get you some tea," Fai said. He left quickly.

Kentaro looked over at Kurogane when they were alone. "Why were you so hard on him? I've watched you all night. He hangs on your every word."

"I have something I want you to ask my parents." Kurogane took a rolled-up parchment out of the inner pocket of his black haori. He handed it over to Kentaro. "I want to honor my vow to the ice king that I protect the mage with all my strength, however, I will not change my plans to leave for Suwa in a few weeks. Please send my parents' reply by passenger pigeon. I need to know how to prepare."

Kentaro took the scroll and tucked it away. "I have a feeling I know what the young master is requesting, and I will do what I can to persuade your parents. The mage is a very pleasing person."


After dinner and bidding good night to Kentaro, Kurogane and Fai walked down the hallway towards their own, respective rooms. They arrived at Fai's door first. Before he could go, Kurogane grabbed Fai's upper arm and pulled him close. He held Fai for a few minutes and buried his face in that silky, blond hair.

Fai finally asked the question hanging between them, the one Kurogane was dreading himself. "What's going to happen to us now?"

He took a deep breath and said, "I don't know."

Fai pulled away; for once, his emotional pain wasn't covered by veneer. "I need to get some rest. I'm so drained."

"Let me stay with you," Kurogane said, feeling horrible at the idea of Fai alone during the night; he could care less about propriety.

"I don't think that's a good idea any more, Kurogane."

The ninja flinched back when he heard his real, full name from the mage. Kurogane shook his head and glared. Fai was already putting up a barrier.

"I thought about doing what you're doing, calling an end to this right now. But I changed my mind. Not until the last day, the last minute, when things become impossible will I let go of you. Right now, we still have time. I refuse to relinquish one minute."

Fai's dour expression lightened. "You mean that?"

"You should know me by now. I don't say anything I don't mean. So, let me stay with you tonight."

Kurogane pushed the door open when Fai nodded, hesitation gone. The room was dark and chilly from a window open to the autumn air. Fai closed the window and lower the blind. They peeled off some outer layers of clothing and quickly snuggled under the cover on the futon.

Kurogane wasn't surprised to feel Fai's breathing even out the minute he rolled over on his stomach. It had been a long, hard day at the end of a several months long trip. He drew the mage into his arms and held him tight.

"Not until the very last minute, Fai. I swear that," Kurogane murmured before his own exhaustion got the better of him.

To be continued