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Seven Ways to Kiss a Mage: #1- An Unintentional Kiss

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"Hyuu! Kuro-myu got a kiss!" Fai cheered as the two left the lair of Kiishimu.

The dark-haired ninja shrugged, "It wasn't a kiss."

"Ah? Then what do you call that, Kuro-run?"

"Her lips brushed my cheek. That's all."

"Ah!" Fai hit his hand into his palm," So that's what the people in your world call kissing."

Kurogane blinked, then frowned, "No! Kissing is when there's emotion behind it, you idiot! Sheesh. Don't act like my world's as crazy as the one you came from!"

"Shhh, Kuro-tan! The guards will hear us."

"Good! Let the bastards come! It'll give me something to do rather than waste my time talking to you."

Fai pouted, "Aww, Kuro-mun's mean!"

"Shut up!"

"Meanie!"

Kurogane perked up, sensing something nearby.

"I said, shut up! Someone's coming," He muttered, quickly grabbing Fai and pressing him against the wall.

The two waited in silence for the sound's echoes to ebb, but Fai found his current position was making the 'silence' part rather hard. Quirking his lips up into a smirk, he waited for Kurogane to notice.

Glancing around to make sure that his instincts were right and that the threat was gone, Kurogane let his gaze wander towards his companion. It took him about a millisecond to register the predicament and jerk away as if he'd touched a hot stove.

Fai just smiled, and that irritated him all the more. That meant the mage was probably about to say something that he would deem annoying, irritating, and anger-inducing.

"Aww, Kuro-pon gave me a kiss on the cheek!"

Kurogane cursed inwardly for having predicted the outcome. Opening his mouth to land-blast some sense into the blonde-haired fop; the ninja found that before much more than a muffled 'what in the hell' got out of his lips, a certain mage had reached out to cover his mouth with his hand.

"Ah ah ah. Quiet remember? Don't want all the guards in the building to come running just because you're having a temper tantrum, Kuro-pi."

Kurogane muttered, thinking that perhaps fighting off all the guards in the building might- just might- quell his current rage. Taking a deep breath, and visibly seething, he started to reach for Fai's arm. If the damned mage wouldn't remove his hand, then he would remove said hand himself.

But Fai shook his head, "Are we going to be nice and quiet?"

Kurogane glared.

"I'll take that deadly glare as a 'yes,'" The mage replied cheerfully, slowly removing his hand from where it blocked Kurogane's mouth.

"Listen you," He ranted quietly, "That was not a damned kiss! It didn't mean anything so it didn't happen!"

"So your lips just brushed my cheek?" Fai queried.

Crossing his arms as if to make a point, Kurogane muttered back, "Yes. So don't start thinking up weird stupid things or assuming I'm your friend or anything dumb like that!"

Nodding, Fai decided to play along, "All right, if you say so Kuro-rin."

"I do, so there!"

He'd started to stomp forward, venting his excess frustration into the poor floor. But his forward-movement halted as he felt a gentle touch on his arm.

"Kuro-mun?"

"What?" Kurogane managed through gritted teeth.

"Is the real reason you're mad because I didn't take your kiss seriously?"

Red eyes flared. He knew Fai was just doing this to push his buttons. He knew that it was the full intent of the mage to get him to go off in a tirade about this. And he knew the second he opened his mouth that he was playing right into the crafty wizard's hands. But at that moment, he didn't give a damn.

"What in all the hells gave you that dumbass idea--mph!"

Once again, he found his mouth covered and his rant muffled.

"You know, for a ninja you're terribly bad at this stealthy thing," Fai remarked, driving said ninja only madder.

Snatching Fai's wrist and forcibly yanking the hand away, Kurogane stared at the other man.

"Don't talk."

"So the guards won't hear us?"

"No! So I won't have to listen to your inane babble! Nothing happened, it's all a figment of your deluded imagination and we are now going to keep moving and forget this whole retarded conversation ever occurred. Got that?"

Fai nodded, but his smirk alluded that he wasn't about to follow those rules. Kurogane huffed and stormed off ahead, weakly kicking a wall as he went.

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They'd gone up at least one floor, Kurogane stomping up ahead; Fai swore that the ninja was bound to alert every guard in the building at this rate. Oddly though, after passing a room where the Ryanban's son lay beaten- a feat that they attributed to Syaoran- there didn't seem to be a single person around.

"Oi," Kurogane finally spoke up. Fai tilted his head, wondering if he'd noticed the absence of people as well.

"Yes?"

"Come here."

He waited for the mage to catch up to where he stood. Then, without a word, he reached and pulled Fai's arm up around his shoulders.

"Stop acting like nothing's wrong," He muttered, half-supporting Fai's weight. He'd grown tired of watching the wizard try and hide the way Kiishimu's attacks had injured him.

Fai's eyes widened, surprised that Kurogane could see through him like that.

"What?" Kurogane snapped, diverting his eyes from the blonde-haired man. He wasn't sure how to act when there wasn't an annoying quip back; it unnerved him somehow when Fai was quiet like this.

Finally, he noticed a soft smile creep onto the other man's face, "It's nothing."

"Hmph," He muttered, starting to walk forward, "Well, I'm only doing this because you were slowing me down. There's no way we're going to make it to the top of this damned place if you keep lagging behind like this. And if we don't get there, we can't get the blasted feather and I can't get home!"

Nodding, Fai decided to let the man rant; after all, his excuses were terribly transparent. And the mage wasn't the only one slowed by the injures they got while fighting Kiishimu. But there was no way Kurogane was going to admit i that /i , let alone admit that he was willing to help Fai. It was easier for both of them to let it fall under the radar as the excuse given.

"When there's emotion behind it..." Fai mused to himself and he silently wondered. Perhaps the group's "big tough ninja" wasn't quite as tough as he seemed...

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