Chapter One-Hundred Fifty-Seven

They landed outside the city gates to find themselves surrounded by three medical tents and a crowd of onlookers. Ah, hell, Kurogane thought, drawing the kid closer to his chest. Syaoran's head lolled against his breastplate. I hate landing in crowds.

"Welcome home," said a blond man with round spectacles. He hurried over to their group, pausing to touch each of their hands in what Kurogane assumed to be some sort of welcoming gesture until he felt the chill of magic rippling through his body. He frowned, puzzled as much by the odd sentiment as he was by the vague sense of familiarity he felt.

"Is my sister hurt?" said a second man, his tone much harsher. This one had spiky black hair not unlike Kurogane's own, but his elaborate robes shouted nobleman so loudly that Kurogane reflexively tensed. The man pushed through the cluster of medics, walking toward the mage and the princess. Kurogane stepped between them, only distantly aware that he wouldn't be fighting anyone with the boy sleeping in his arms.

"Who the hell are you?" Kurogane demanded.

The other man didn't so much as flinch. "I'm Touya, king of Clow, and that's my sister behind you, so get out of my way."

Didn't I meet these guys in that first world we landed in? Kurogane wondered, the odd familiarity suddenly clicking together in his mind.

"Ah, Touya," said the bespectacled man, resting a gentle hand on Touya's shoulder. "We're supposed to be practicing diplomacy, remember?"

Touya scowled, but when he glanced back at Kurogane, his tone was marginally more civil. "I am Sakura's brother. It is of utmost importance that her injuries be examined and treated."

"Everyone's injuries," the other man corrected.

"Yukito," Touya hissed.

"These people have done a great service for our country. Indeed, for our entire world and, as I understand it, every other world. It would be in our best interests to treat them with respect, don't you agree?"

The king—he couldn't have been more than five years older than the princess, and for all that, he acted more like a child than she ever had—grit his teeth, fingers curling into fists at his side. But when his eyes flickered to the princess, his fists loosened. "All right." He jerked an arm in their direction, and a glut of healers rushed past, splitting them up and ushering them into the tents.

The next three hours passed in a flurry of activity. Several healers—Kurogane was somewhat surprised not to see Hinata Yamura among them—peppered him with questions about how he and the boy had been injured. They seemed more worried about the kid's condition than his, which was fine by him, since Syaoran hadn't regained consciousness, but a couple apprentice healers hovered around Kurogane, stitching up the deeper gashes and administering antiseptic and painkillers. He refused the sedatives they offered—this was a new world, and even if the kids trusted it, he wouldn't, not until he'd spent some time here. Besides, he couldn't shake the memory of what had happened in the piece of time that had been split off from this world—the time that had repeated over and over until everyone living within it had melted, their equilibrium destroyed by the presence of outsiders.

"Judging from the swelling, you've got at least two broken ribs," one of the apprentices told him.

"Three," the bespectacled girl corrected.

"Three broken ribs, and there's really not much we can do about that except give you time to rest. If it comes down to it, those may require surgery, but we don't think so. Right?"

"I'd give it even odds."

"Maddy, remember what Kasumi said about bedside manner."

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, Kasumi actually likes stitching people up. I don't."

"Anyway," said the sweeter girl, even as Kurogane wondered why someone would apprentice as a healer if they didn't like stitching people up, "you'll be in plenty of pain, even with the painkillers. Are you sure you don't want a sedative?"

Kurogane glanced at the boy, still unconscious as the healers poked and prodded at him. "I'll take a sedative when he wakes up," Kurogane said, pointing.

"What is with guys trying to act all macho all the time?" Maddy grumbled, setting several capsules on the table next to Kurogane. "You're taking the sedatives."

He felt a twinge of annoyance. "No."

"You're taking them, macho-man."

"Maddy . . ." the other girl said.

"I'm not taking any sedatives," Kurogane repeated.

"You . . . ugh. It's not even worth arguing about." She sighed. "Fine. What do I care? Men." She spun around, snatching a roll of thread and a needle from a transparent case.

"I'm going to go get more bandages from Kasumi," said the nice one. "You want to keep stitching?"

"Yeah, just hurry up."

It took just under a hundred stitches and an entire roll of gauze, but eventually, they finished taping him up, leaving a few more capsules and a glass of water on the table they'd set up next to him. Kurogane ignored the pills and drank the water, guessing that if this desert country was offering him fresh water, that probably meant he was welcome here. Which wasn't surprising, really, but it did ease some of his worry.

It took longer for the healers to deal with the kid, and gradually Kurogane's protectiveness turned to genuine worry. Why hadn't the boy woken up? What was taking so long? How badly had he been hurt? He asked the healers as they flitted about, but received only vague responses. Eventually, he forced himself to sit down and shut up.

The mage stopped by about an hour later, smiling. "They said Sakura-chan should be waking up soon. Her only real problem was some exhaustion and a few bruises."

Kurogane had a few bruises himself, but he nodded, glad to hear that one of them had escaped mostly unscathed. Or two of them, judging by Fai's perky smile and effortless grace. But then again, the mage healed faster than regular humans. Or does he? Kurogane wondered suddenly. "Hey mage, you got all your magic back, right?"

Fai's eyebrows shot up. "All of it and more. It grew stronger with so much use." A shadow fell across his face, then disappeared. "Why do you ask?"

"Are you still a vampire, or does having your magic back make you . . . not a vampire anymore?"

Fai blinked, then burst into laughter. The laughter died after a scant few seconds, the mage doubling over with a wince. "I will always be a vampire," the mage said, voice tight with pain. "But with my magic back, I should be able to suppress the thirst. Not to imply that your blood is unappealing, but I won't need it in the same way I used to."

Kurogane frowned. Something about that comment bothered him, but it took a moment to figure out what it was. "You say you won't need it, but will it still hurt not to have it?"

A brittle smile flickered across the wizard's face. "I don't know yet. I suppose we'll find out. Don't worry, Kuro-sama." The mage gently brushed his shoulder. "If it turns out that I still need your blood to stave off the hunger, I'll let you know. But let's not worry until we know whether it's going to be an issue or not."

Satisfied, Kurogane nodded. These past few months, he had focused the bulk of his attention on the kid's health, to the point where he'd ignored the mage and the princess. But if they were going to keep traveling—and they would, given the price the kid had chosen to pay to escape that place between dimensions—then they had to look out for each other.

"Something else is bothering you," Fai said, pulling him from his reverie.

"Yeah."

A pause. "And would you mind sharing your worries with the rest of the class?"

He grit his teeth, looking at the boy. "He's going to keep traveling. Between worlds, I mean. He has to. That's the price he paid to get us out of that place."

"Ah," Fai said, understanding. "I suspected as much. Not the price itself, but the fact that one would be required for you to escape. I'd thought the other Syaoran . . ."

Kurogane shook his head. "He broke apart, just like the princess did after we won. The kid has the memories he left behind, but . . ."

"But it took a greater price still to escape," the mage said.

"Yeah."

Silence. Slowly, the mage walked over to the boy's cot, and Kurogane followed, pain lancing through his wounds as he took the five steps between his bed and the boy's. The mage touched the kid's forehead, sweeping his hair back. "I expect you'll be traveling with him?"

"I don't have anything better to do. I still have to get home."

"And then? Syaoran-kun's price won't cease to matter once you're home. Will you stay there, or with him?"

"I have to think about it," Kurogane said, though it was only an excuse not to think about it just yet. He wanted to go home. He'd wanted that for months, and their recent trip to Nihon had been too brief. He already missed the palace, missed all the familiar faces. But if he had to choose between going home and traveling with the kid . . . It's not like it'll change anything between us. We just won't get to see each other as often.

"I have no home to return to," Fai said. "It's the easiest thing in the world for me to keep traveling, to never lay down roots. You're not like that."

Kurogane leaned against the cot, feeling a trembling weakness travel down his body. I shouldn't be walking around yet, he thought, all too aware of his injuries. He could barely stand. "No, I guess not," he said. "If it were up to me, I'd make a place for him next time we landed in my world, and we'd live out the rest of our lives there. But that's not up to me." Lifting a shaky hand to the boy's cheek, he wondered how far they would go, how long they would travel. It could be months. It could be years. How long has this journey gone on already? A year? Two? Dazed, he tried to do the math. The longest they'd spent in any world was half a year. That had happened twice for him—once while he and the mage had been stranded in Yama, and again in Infinity. I fell in love in less than six months. It was a strange thought.

It didn't change the fact that in the time he'd been on this journey, he'd been broken and reforged too many times to count. How many more years could he keep traveling before some threat came along and killed him or the kid? How long until experience reforged him again?

How long until things changed? And when they did, how certain was it that he and the kid would come out of it closer? How many changes until they changed too much, until they became people who could no longer love each other?

"Love changes," the mage said, and Kurogane jumped, startled that the mage's words so closely echoed his own thoughts. "But I don't think it ever goes away. Do you?"

He thought of the day the kid had chosen to stay with him over the princess. The kid still loved her; that was obvious. But who was to say that in a year, the boy would still choose Kurogane over the girl he'd fought so desperately to save? In five years? In ten?

Under his fingertips, the boy stirred.

"I'll give you two some time alone," Fai said, ghosting out of the room.

Kurogane sat on the edge of the boy's cot, fingertips skimming the smooth lines of the kid's neck, his collarbone. He watched Syaoran's eyelids flutter. "Where . . ."

"Clow Country," he answered before the kid could finish. "The real Clow Country."

Syaoran's eyes drifted, glazed over. "Kurogane-san . . ." The boy's eyes settled on his face, dull with exhaustion.

Gods, no wonder he slept so long. He still looks like he hasn't seen a bed in days. "Go back to sleep, kid. I'll still be here when you wake up."

"It's not . . . over . . . yet. I have to . . ."

"It can wait."

"My father . . . I need to find a way . . . to give him a new body."

Tenderly, Kurogane skimmed his fingertips along the boy's cheek. Syaoran fidgeted, struggling against the fatigue, the pain. He needed sleep, and not only because his body needed time to heal. A few more hours of sleep would give his mind time to retreat into a calmer place. It would give him some perspective. "Relax," Kurogane murmured, sweeping the kid's eyelids closed with his hand. "Sleep. Everything else can wait."

"Kurogane-san . . ."

Kurogane hushed him. "You're safe. The princess is safe. We're all okay. You don't need to worry about anything."

The boy's body relaxed, head lolling slightly as sleep reclaimed him. Kurogane watched over him for a time, then carefully returned to his own cot. He dozed, worries nipping at his mind each time he surfaced. Worries about the kid, about their future, about how much had changed. Eventually, though, his shallow sleep deepened, granting him the first solid hours of rest in too many days to count.

Author's Notes:

In the interest of being a not-terrible person, I will admit now that I have borrowed an OC from my fellow writer and friend, Obsidian Buterfly. This was more of a spur-of-the-moment addition than anything pre-planned, but I have discussed with Obsidian the possibility of future OC crossovers in my other stories. Anyway, this particular OC, Maddy (and Xahra, who acted as the other apprentice healer, though she was not actually named in this chapter) is featured prominently in Obsidian's Full Circle series, for which I am currently betareading. Maddy will also soon feature in one of Obsidian's more recent fics: Lillies Upon Our Graves. I consider Maddy to be one of Obsidian's best and most well-developed OCs, hence my decision to borrow her for a chapter or two, but I highly recommend catching up on some of Obsidian's fics if you haven't been keeping up lately. Anyway, I hope I've done Obsidian's OCs justice, and I owe her a big thanks for the privilege.