Date Written: September 5, 2007

Flo: And now for the idea that first came to me and evolved into this entire story! Woot!

WARNINGS! Here's where we get some shonen-ai… though, I don't think that there's much of anything to worry about since the majority of people reading this are, I assume, shonen-ai fans for the most part… wow, another short author's note! I must be talking too much at my job and running out of things to say in these things! Unlikely, though.

Hope you enjoy!

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It was probably around the eighth time the kid fell down a few steps from the mountain that Sir Kurogane realized he wasn't properly prepared to fight a dragon. True, he had his "armor" and crap, but as for it providing actual protection… let's just say that he would be able to defeat a bunny rabbit in it. And no, that did not include their rabbit, who was currently taunting Sir Kurogane at the top of the steps. He decided he was the bigger man in this and ignored it since it was only natural that the rabbit should arrive first. I mean, it could hop ten steps at a time. Divide that by over five hundred steps, and we got ourselves arriving at the top in about one hundred hops, give or take a few steps. However, such mathematics are beside the plot of what is happening.

Our hero had taken on the challenge of the mountain, and the castle, and the dragon in order to rescue the supposed princess, who he was informed was most likely in the highest tower, if she should so be there at all which she damn well should be or else Sir Kurogane would be super pissed and she'd pay for it. And yes, he was well aware that that threat did not make any sense, so back off!

Anyway, it was obvious that the kid wanted to protect his new found love, but when he had only gotten his sword half an hour ago and with his armor causing him to fall so much, the girl was actually protecting him from tumbling to his doom. Sir Kurogane felt a bit sorry for the boy.

Therefore, he told them to go back down the mountain where it was safe. When the two protested, he resisted glaring and threatening and opted for… logic.

"Look, it's obvious that you're not yet prepared to fight with your sword, kid, and the gypsy girl is just barely aware of her surroundings," he said. "I don't want to have to rescue more than the supposed princess, ya' got that?"

The two looked down, disappointed that they couldn't join him to somehow help, but then the rabbit came back down and shouted, "And Syaoran can have some love love time alone with Sakura!"

Sir Kurogane took advantage of their embarrassed teenage paralysis to continue up the mountain alone. Which was the biggest bitch. He could not figure out why anybody would want to build a huge castle on the top of an even more huge mountain. How do they get food up there? Even more curious, what does a dragon need a castle for, anyway? Same thing goes with why do they guard treasures? They certainly weren't going to buy anything with the gold and jewels. Maybe it was to buy the castle. Or perhaps a shiny quality that attracted them. That made sense. But that leads us back to why they needed castles. Castles weren't normally shiny, though if Princess Tomoyo had her way, she would probably border her castle in sequins.

Before he knew it, Sir Kurogane was standing at the gates of the castle (it's amazing how time flies when you're mentally ranting). Lucky for him, this wasn't a volcano so there wasn't some rickety bridge he had to cross. If so, then he would have been royally pissed off faster than you can say, "Where the hell is the dragon?!"

Which was what he said.

You would think that once you have entered the main territory that a dragon was occupying, it would immediately sense you and swoop down to either barbeque you or at least swallow you whole. But nay. No dragon appeared as Sir Kurogane made his way into the castle and up the first flight of steps he saw. Nor when he kicked down a few doors causing some weird domino type reaction and the noise echoed through the entire place. Not even when he purposely squashed a lizard in hopes it was the thing's kid. Okay, he felt slightly bad about that one, but it was actually a total accident.

"I should have brought that rabbit for bate," he muttered as he reached the top of the tallest tower in record time (it's amazing how fast things go when you have nothing to kill that takes actual effort).

Noting that there was light coming from under the door, Sir Kurogane safely assumed that this was the place where the princess was being held. It was a strange phenomenon that Tomoyo had once mentioned. Something about their beauty radiating light. He really didn't care, though.

He swiftly kicked down the door and was relieved to see someone inside. Completely alone and not a rival in sight. The only problem was that they were lying motionless on the bed complete with a bouquet of flowers to compliment her beauty… Which Sir Kurogane certainly did not notice at all for he was all business. Yup.

Sir Kurogane punched the wall at this. Most likely scenario was that the bitch was asleep and he had to wake her up with a kiss. He ran the idea of simply carrying her around, still asleep, on the way back to the castle and letting some other guy do it. Hell, Tomoyo could do it, she was the one who wanted a princess after all! But what a pain in the ass would that be?

No, Sir Kurogane would have to do the honors. With a curse and an irritated sigh, he made his way over to where the fair maiden was sleeping on the bed without anyone around to guard her. Why, who knew? Certainly not Sir Kurogane seeing how he didn't give a rat's ass aside from that meaning he didn't have anyone to fight which seriously sucked. He needed to relieve some stress!

That thought lead back to the discussion Tomoyo had had with him before sending him away. You know, the one about sexual frustration? The knight quickly shook away that memory and ignored his blush that did not exist in the slightest bit.

Turning to her face, Sir Kurogane had to admit that this princess was, in fact, very beautiful. Her skin was pale and perfect, her hair was a striking blonde, even if it was a bit short, and with her lips slightly parted like that, he had to admit that the thought of kissing her wasn't too bad. Ignoring all of this and the excitement building in his stomach, he bent down by the bedside and leaned over, pausing once, before brushing his lips over hers.

They were warm and inviting, making him realize that the kiss was already lasting too long. A simple peck was fine from what he understood, but it had already lasted a few seconds. Before he was about to pull away, however, he suddenly felt arms snake around his neck and pull him closer, crushing his and the princess' lips together in a more passion filled kiss. Sir Kurogane's eyes snapped open, and he quickly pushed himself up, only to have the princess come with him, mouths still somehow connected like some sort of magnet.

He growled and took the girl's shoulders, yanking her away before that tongue could go any further. He was just about to yell something at her, but he immediately forgot what once he was met with a pair of beautiful, ice blue eyes. They were hypnotic and had him completely lost for words. That is, until the princess laughed in his face. Probably at the dumbfounded expression he had on.

"What?!" Sir Kurogane roared, his voice echoing throughout the castle. Again, where was that dragon?

The girl continued to laugh, until she wiped a few tears from her eyes. "Your face, Mr. Knight, is quite funny," she said.

"There is nothing funny about my face, damnit!"

"Yes there is! It's so mean and scary looking. I take it you are not able to rescue many damsels in distress?"

"I can, but I don't like it! They're usually clingy afterward and their helplessness annoys the hell out of me. Although, I like that a lot better than having a princess who won't stop laughing at me!"

That got her to shut up. In fact, it wiped the smile clear off of her face. Sadly, it was only replaced by a huge grin that practically screamed no good was going to come from what she was about to say. "Did you just say I'm a princess?" she asked, eyes gleaming with mischief.

Sir Kurogane hesitated for a while before saying, "Yeah?"

The girl looked to be trying desperately to hold back her laughter as she turned her eyes to her legs. Sir Kurogane looked down as well, wondering what the hell was going on, when she kicked away part of her dress to reveal she was wearing pants.

Time seemed to stop there.

She wasn't wearing a dress…

She was wearing a long robe with pants…

Which girls don't wear…

Which meant…

The guy suddenly fell back onto the bed, laughing hysterically, legs kicking up as he held his stomach and tears flowed from his eyes.

"It's not funny, damn you!" Sir Kurogane shouted. He only got more laughter in response.

Furious, he got off of the bed and headed for the door, ready to leave the idiot behind with the dragon or, more preferably, to laugh himself to death. He was stopped however, by two arms snaking around his waist.

"Wait!" the guy said as he slithered around to the front of Sir Kurogane. He wasn't laughing, which was an improvement, but still. "I need to repay you!"

"What for?" Sir Kurogane asked, trying to pry the arms off. If only he had known to get a crowbar at that black smith's.

"You woke me up! You see, those flowers were what I was coming here for. I was told to get them and bring them to the swamp witch in exchange for my wish, but I didn't realize that their pollen put you to sleep. Obviously, that was what happened and you were the one who came and rescued me from an eternity of slumber!" The arms tightened around his waist, coming very close to cutting off his oxygen supply. "So now I must repay you for your bravery, Sir Knight! Is there any kind of favor you want of me?"

The coy way the man was looking up at him with those big blue eyes half lidded made Sir Kurogane's mind go whirling into a place he only dreamed off. And those times were on accident! Before he knew it, his cheeks were burning up with merely the idea of thinking such things. Besides, he only thought the guy was a girl so that didn't mean that the guy swung that way! Though, there was that kiss…

"Whoo hoo," he was saying while waving a hand in from of Sir Kurogane's face. "What are you thinking, you naughty knight?"

Sir Kurogane jumped and shoved him away. "I wasn't thinking what you were thinking, that's for sure!"

"Hm, that depends. What do you think I was thinking?"

"Perverted things!"

"I wasn't, actually. I was wondering how long I've been asleep and if my apprentice was okay."

Sir Kurogane's eyes widened and all he could think was, Change the freakin' subject, quick! "Um, a-apprentice?"

"Yes! I'm a wizard, ya' know! Oh, I just realized we haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Fay D. Flourite. And you?"

"Kurogane."

"It's very nice to meet you, then. And thank you for rescuing me. For your brave task, I present you with this humble offering." Fay reached in his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief with blue embroidering and held it out to Sir Kurogane. When he didn't take it and only stared at it, Fay waved it around a bit, as if trying to get a dog's attention. He even began to add little, "come on, you can get it!" comments to annoy him further. He was successful, as Sir Kurogane furiously grabbed it and stuffed it into… well, he realized there wasn't much of anywhere to put something in a suit of armor and instead tied it to his arm.

Fay, meanwhile, chuckled.

"What?" Sir Kurogane asked again.

"Nothing," Fay said. "So… where are you going to whisk me away to?"

"Who said anything about that?!"

"Well, it only makes sense. I was going to the swamp witch, but it's nothing terribly important."

It was easy. Too easy. Unbelievably easy! All Sir Kurogane had to do was run as far away from this guy as possible and not mention at all that he was also going to the swamp witch. However, something told him that that wasn't what he should do. It appeared that he was stuck with him, just like he had somehow stuck himself to the kid, the girl, and that rabbit.

He didn't like it, but a voice in the back of his head was nearly screaming to not let this Fay guy go. It sounded suspiciously like Tomoyo's voice.

So with a sigh, Sir Kurogane said, "Me and some others are going to the swamp witch's place, too… Don't just stand there! Come on!"

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Sir Kurogane grabbed Fay's arm and pulled him down the steps, trying to ignore the chuckling.

"You seem rather upset about something," Fay said.

"Of course I am! I was this close to getting a damn princess but instead got some mage!"

"So Sir Kuro-tan's on a quest to get a princess?"

"Yeah, I… WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

As the two frolicked throughout the castle joyously, Sir Kurogane could only pray that his journey would somehow end soon and without any more additions to this band of travelers. With a mage now joining them, shall their journey be one of joy or sorrow?

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A/N: What I like about this is that I am somehow able to write a good chapter in one sitting. Strange. And I usually end up not liking it, waiting more than a month (as one can see in the above "Date Written" note), coming back and going, "okay, this is good!" I'm quite pleased with it. And once my art skills improve, I shall draw it into a doujinshi! XD

Oh, and I have indeed gotten a live journal. It's under the same name as this. Not much there as of now, but I am part of the KuroFai community and have a few one shots there, plus a new story. I'd post them on here, but I hate posting one shots here for some reason. I'm weird, I know.