medheemeheme. (falls over) instead of making sure i get into university, i give to you, dear readers, a homage to my favourite world.

disclaimer: ...

ps. what do people think: should i keep up with the story or stay pre-acid tokyo?

Play Clothes.

"My, they do take this game seriously, don't they?" Fai said from the doorway. Kurogane looked up from his seat on the low bench; taking in the slim silhouette of the magician. In a long dark coat he was a dark column except for a pale strip of his torso and abdomen that was hedged by the low rise of his black pants and the spiked black collar that encircled his thin neck. In his long fingers he loosely gripped a long steel pole capped with a semi-circle of polished, engraved, sharped steel. An equally elaborate and pointed plumb bob-esque slab of metal on a chain peeked out of his pocket. They had convinced him to tie his hair back which left the white heart of his face more exposed than usual. Although the eyepatch ruined the view he had grown so used to. Kurogane gave him a flat look that conveyed something like "This is serious idiot."

"Always so serious; Kuro-pa's has to loosen up a bit if he wants to be a good father," Fai teased with a mocking scold, "And don't call me an idiot." Kurogane didn't verbally answer, but raised his eyebrows until they brushed the thick band keeping his bangs off his face.

Somewhere distant, a gong rang and a crowd roared.

"We're starting soon," Syaoran commented, coming out of a backroom with the princess trailing behind with the "good luck stuffed animal". Kurogane stood up, raising his arms above his head in a full body stretch. His leather shirt, sleeveless and matte, sidled up, letting a cooling breeze slide across his mid-drift. A shifting eye as well. The assassin ignored the wandering eye as he pulled his shirt back down and slid a slab-like sword with a single, razored edge hilt first into a chain attached to his belt. He adjusted a thick armband with a metal plate stitched into it (a certain surprise for a body-slam victim) and sighed, settling into a proud stance with his hand anchored into his studded belt, making sure that he could easily reach the knives slipped into the white straps circling his thigh. A second gong sounded and the rabbit announcer called for them. Syaoran and Sakura quickly walked out, Mokona vanishing into the shadows. Kurogane paused slightly at the door beside Fai, calming himself for the fight ahead. Instead he tensed as he felt Fai lean against him.

"Aren't you scared?" Fai asked, Kurogane barely turned his head to glare at the magician out of the corner of his eye. Blond hair obstructed his view, but he didn't need his eyes to feel Fai press his lips against the bend in his jaw.

"We're going to win, aren't we Kuro-pi?" he chuckled, sauntering out. A feral grin spread across Kurogane's face as he strode confidently out and the ritualistic chains snaked around his body to signal the beginning of the game.