Author's Notes: Written for reshki for the 2014 KuroFai Gift Exchange at the KuroFai community on Dreamwidth. This is for wish #2: "Yama: The Untold and Preferably Non-Angsty Story". The entire story is already complete (posted in one big smush on my Dreamwidth site) since the deadline for delivering the gift is tomorrow (MADE IT, *phew*), but I'm going to post it in bits here so that I can edit a bit as I go if need be. ^^

He fell through fifteen feet of cold dry air and landed solidly on his feet, folding down into a crouch to lessen the impact shuddering up through the flesh and bone of him. Kurogane touched one hand down upon the ground as if to steady himself and dragged shallow scuffs through the dust mantling the rocky surface. Rubbing the gritty soil almost absently between his fingers, he stood up and took in his surroundings.

Tall spires and jagged mounds of rock cut the horizon all about him, looking more like debris piled together than naturally formed hills and mountains. A glaring white moon dominated the sky, impossibly large, intimidatingly close, burning the air with its brilliance and throwing pitch black shadows wherever its light could not reach. It was a harsh landscape, made all the more so by the battle raging in all the nooks and crannies of it. Soldiers in white and red, soldiers in black and blue, some mounted on beasts that seemed a cross between horse and lizard, and everywhere the flash of steel.

No wizard, no kids, no dumpling.

The air was heavy with shouts and screams, the thudding strike of hooves against rock and the familiar clash when weapons met; thousands of sharp sounds massing together into a dull roar. It was a sound he knew well and Kurogane felt it seep into him, letting him begin to know the breath and beat of the place. He was somewhat apart from the thick of battle though still surrounded by soldiers, but his happening to be standing in shadows and clothed in black helped to hide him from immediate notice. All eyes were currently on more interesting targets, and he took the opportunity to search the sky from which he'd fallen.

Fortuitous, for just at that moment Fai appeared high above him, looking like a great pale bird that had been shot out of the air and was now fluttering fast to an ignominious end. For a moment Kurogane simply watched and waited, but then cursed under his breath and darted forward a few feet. Fai was falling sideway to the ground and though awake and alert, was making no effort to right himself.

In another split second, the mage finally seemed to come to a realization of his predicament and twisted slightly in the air, but by then Kurogane was directly under him, arms out and eyes fixed. There was no time left for Fai to take any action but to still himself against instinct and throw his arms out as well, and then they crashed, first together and then into the ground.

"The hell was that?!" snapped Kurogane as soon as he could gather up the breath that had been knocked out of him, honestly surprised that the man should make such a hash of what was by now habit. The wizard was agile and acrobatic, and if they ever landed all in a clumsy tangle of limbs because the bun had dropped them too close to the ground for any maneuvers, still he always walked away from it without so much as a bruise or cricked hip. This time, however, he'd had plenty of time to stick his landing and yet had come close to breaking himself.

The blond was distracted yet, staring now at the sky then casting all around him and even stopping once to stare at nothing at all as if searching for some thought within himself. At Kurogane's snarl he blinked and finally looked dead-on at the ninja, eyes wide and strangely dark in the shadows of a great boulder. Thin lips parted but Kurogane only caught a fragment of the few syllables that were spoken, words quickly muffled and swept away by the cacophony of battle.

Other voices came through clearer than Fai's in the thin, sharp air and Kurogane gritted his teeth as he looked over the mage's shoulder. Two soldiers in black and blue uniforms were pointing for the benefit of a third mounted on one of those dragonish beasts, and others were shouting about strangers, causing yet more heads to turn their way.

"Bun's got to be nearby at least, even if they're not in sight yet," he noted upon realizing that the shouts were intelligible, then grabbed at the blond's elbow to urge him to his feet. "Come on, get up; we've been spotted."

His companion complied but was sluggish about it, too preoccupied to move quickly enough for the ninja's satisfaction, and Kurogane was soon glancing down impatiently.

"What's got into you?"

Fai shook his head, gave a soft huff of a laugh and spoke again, louder this time, and then it was Kurogane's turn to stare as a string of incomprehensible babble spilled forth.

He knew the wizard's voice but was only used to hearing it woven into the measured beat of his native language. Now it came out in a tumble of slippery syllables, consonants melting together in ways he knew his own tongue could never match. A quick glance at the wizard's mouth showed him those lips moving in time with the sounds flowing forth, confirming what he'd already guessed, while Fai gave a shrug and rubbed at the back of his own head to complete the impression of helpless, humorous resignation.

"Separated from that useless dumpling again, aren't we?" he groused, but frowned in puzzlement even as he said it. There was no time for a thoughtful drawing of conclusions, unfortunately; the soldiers were almost upon them and Kurogane had barely two seconds to spare for a quick gut-jump. He cautioned the wizard to silence with a suppressing gesture over the other man's mouth and then stepped forward to meet the mounted soldier who was in the lead. The ninja's left thumb loosened Souhi in its scabbard but his right hand was open and down by his side; a gesture of cautious peace made into a subtle threat by the way he confidently strode forward to meet a superior force.

He was ignored.

The officer seemed to only look at him by accident, as if his gaze had inadvertently bumped into the ninja in its haste to land upon the wizard just behind him. The stranger stopped a respectful distance away and everyone following on foot halted three paces even further back. More soldiers were joining the spectacle, gathered about them now in every direction as if to block escape, and yet their manner was not threatening nor even fearful. If anything it seemed deferential, with some few shallow nods accompanying lowered swords and spears.

"Captain Inoue, Third Company of the Moon Battalion under His Majesty Yasha, who rules Yama," the officer said with a formal nod. "We would move you somewhere safer, if you are willing. The king is engaged in battle but will gladly give you a meeting as soon as all is over for the night."

Though the man had spoken to Fai, Kurogane put himself forward to respond.

"We're willing," he agreed, and had to hold himself back from sighing and rolling his eyes as the officer frowned at his apparent presumption.

"Who are you?" the mounted man challenged, looking hard at Kurogane for the first time. The clothes the ninja was wearing were given a good looking-over, and Fai was glanced back at as if for comparison once and again. Of the two, the ninja more closely resembled the soldiers in blue and black, for he shared the black hair and dusky skin tone that looked to be common among them, and yet it was the wizard who had been marked as one to approach in friendly manner.

"I speak for him," Kurogane said, hoping it was vague enough to suit whatever assumptions the people of this new world had brought to the table, whether they thought Fai to be an enemy officer come to treat with them in secret or some other such thing. However it was, they seemed to accord him automatic respect despite not knowing anything about him, and Kurogane saw no gain in revealing that the blond knew no more of their language than a child new born.

It seemed to work, for Captain Inoue frowned thoughtfully and then addressed Fai once more.

"Is it true?" He jabbed a finger at Kurogane and then gestured more respectfully with an open hand toward Fai. "This one is with you?"

The ninja had to bite back a growl explaining that the situation was more aptly described as that this silly, smiling, thousand-faced fool was with him. Instead he looked at the wizard too, trying to convey with the barest nod of his head that Fai should make some gesture or noise of agreement.

Whether the wizard caught the hint or made an educated guess Kurogane did not know, but he put a strangely neutral smile on his face and took a step nearer to the ninja so that he could lay one hand lightly upon the other man's arm as if to reassure or restrain him. He looked to Kurogane and gave him a smile that would look more natural, more warm to anyone who did not know him, and then dropped it away entirely to give a look of mere cool civility and a short nod to the officer.

The wizard was out of place with his fair looks and dressed not at all impressively in a plain white robe, yet his bearing was confident. More than that in fact. He stood unusually tall and still, no trace now of his usual flapping and flamboyance, and somehow gave the impression of looking down at the man on horseback from under half-dropped lids. This was not the silly, smiling wizard nor yet the nebulous fugitive hidden underneath the fluff. This was a man of good blood and breeding, superior and standing in full assurance of it.

Kurogane tried not to be impressed.