Summary: Fifteen vignettes. Kurogane & Fay in Yasha country told in three parts.

Author's Note:Spoilers for Shura/Shara arc. Conceptualized and completed before Celes arc ended.

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Days of Yamano

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(Part 1: Strangers)

It couldn't be helped, Yasha's camp needed men. But when the recruiters returned with those strange men in strange clothes, one with the coloring of Ashura's race no less, the soldiers wondered if they really werethatstrapped for resources or if the recruiters were just plain out of their minds.

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.misunderstanding.

Kurogane's head ached with every step.

It throbbed.

And he refused to be generous and attribute it to the rough landing a while back.

No, it was that damn, loud, inexhaustible mage.

We don't understand each other! You wouldthinkthat without that translating meat bun around he'd be quiet. At his limit, Kurogane whipped around and told the wizard exactly that. The irony of his actions didn't escape him and it only irritated him more.

Fay smiled up idiotically at him. Then, as if the ninja's response was an invitation, Fay launched into another monologue of gibberish.

Some things just don't change.

Keep moving, Kurogane grumbled to himself. Just keep moving.

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.choice.

'If you could have your wish granted, would you go back to your original world by yourself?' Fay had asked him once.

Kurogane thought over his answer.

'I'd go to a world that I know you guys would never come to. It'd be my chance to part ways with you,' he answered truthfully.

But something didn't settle well in his stomach when he found himself surrounded by a ring of dark-eyed soldiers on horseback, a stern commander grudgingly approving him but finding Fay wanting.

Even without a voice to defend himself, Fay stood proud, his eyes defiant despite his thin smile, not knowing it was his eyes that put him in danger.

It would be so easy...

"No," Kurogane replied, "he comes along."

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.black.

Fay could tell his surly traveling companion was irritated. Surprisingly, the irritation wasn't aimed at him.

Even without words it was clear that the soldiers didn't trust them; there was a war going on after all. And despite being the less imposing of the two, hostility was aimed more strongly towards Fay, who could only guess that it was due to his outlandishly foreign features. They couldn't possibly know I'm...Fay shook away the smoky tendrils of nostalgia threatening to choke him. So Fay played dumb to alleviate the tension, only to have the animosity deflected to his partner and proxy, Kurogane, who couldunderstand and who would rise to the bait.

Fay would watch from outside the crowd sometimes, Kurogane amongst the natives, thinking that the dark ninja really did fit right in if it weren't for him.

Kurogane didn't have to defend Fay.

Or maybe he did.

Maybe he was following some bizarre ninja code which demanded he protect the weak or protect his companions. Or protect those who wouldn't protect themselves, no matter how much he despised them.

Fay doesn't try or pretend to understand: there was a line he didn't want to cross.

But nevertheless Fay was grateful. He studied his traitorous eyes reflected in the water basin, thought of Kurogane's red ones, and wondered what he'd be willing to give to ease the man's burden.

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.wild.

Kurogane hadn't thought about Tomoyo's curse in a while, not since facing Seishirou in Outo. (His brows ticked and he wasn't sure if it was the thought of his miko or the vampire hunter. Most likely both, damn nuisances.) It had been kudan and demons and freakin' hurricanesthat fell to the singing of his sword throughout the journey. Nothing that put him in danger of activating the curse aside from his occasional urge to strangle the mage. But now training on the field, with humans sparring partners reminding him poignantly there were going to be humans on the other side attacking to kill, he felt a tingling in his forehead as if the curse was primed to activate at his first blunder.

His sparring partner sweated nervously as a wild grin spread across his face.

So I have to fight a war without killing anyone, right?

He could see Tomoyo smiling saccharinely at him.

A challenge. Like hell he's not going to fight with the intent to win.

This is going to be interesting.

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.weapon.

Fay had never held a bow before, but it felt familiar in his hands like his staff had.

An extension of himself.

A weapon.

Like the majority of the soldiers, Fay was first assigned a sword, but the thought of close-range combat made him blanch. So instead he hastily picked out the bow, miming his preference (hoping he didn't look too desperate), already mentally distancing himself from the inevitable bloodshed of war. Of misfortune.

His mind was far away when he took a few half-hearted shots at the straw human-shaped targets across the field. A gentle brush of wind tousling his hair with each draw of the bow and the dust glinted gold.

Murmurs of approval brought him back to the present: the straw-men were pierced through the heart with frightening accuracy.

Fay frowned.

I'll need to remember to concentrate, he thought.

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.dishonesty.

It didn't register at first what was off. Not until one of the younger soldiers randomly squinted up at Kurogane's face (it was uncomfortably awkward) and then turned to his comrades, puzzled. "No they aren't," he said. And then it was clear why the harassment over his lineage had eased. And now that Kurogane thought about it, it was Fay's fair head and complexion (and stupid antics, that undisciplined mage!) that drew whispers and attention, not his foreign eyes. Impossible, it doesn't make any biological sense!

He marched into his tent purposefully, the leather flap cracking loudly against the soft wall.

"Kuuro-wan-waah—!"

Fay's enthusiastic greeting was abruptly cut short when Kurogane yanked him over by the arm. The blond stumbled and winced audibly at the rough treatment and Kurogane would have felt marginally guilty if he wasn't so intent on studying Fay. He pulled his face close and noticed the mage seemed nervous about intimacy he didn't initiate. Or he was hiding something that was close to being discovered. Fay twisted his fingers together with an anxious energy and his eyes darted around. His eyes—

"Eeeh?"

Kurogane started when Fay cried out, suddenly focused back on his captor, captivated and surprised. He pointed at Kurogane's eyes. "Waaah! Kuropuu—" and the blond launched into a garble of sound that the ninja took to be the idiot's language. A smile slid on with ease, the gobbledygook now sounding amazed and amused. Kurogane's suspicions lifted slightly and he let go, allowing Fay to pull out a metallic plate from his satchel. Peering into it like a mirror, his voice bubbled with renewed amazement as he winked each eye in turn into his reflection. Then, before Kurogane could back away, the crazy mage bounded over, clung onto his arm, and thrust the plate close to his face, singing out what could only be "look! look!"

He did and his black eyes looked back.

Kurogane frowned, but (watching the mage now spinning around the tent and lilting in a sing-song voice), he let it go, and silently decided this turn of events was a blessing.

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Author's Note: 'choice' references season 1, episode 26.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your comments.