So no one can say I don't have one: Disclaimer: I, galenhiril, do not own Tsubasa or the characters therein. This is strictly written for fun and the spread of said fun among the fandom. Thank you for your time. Please enjoy!
With that out of the way, I would like to say hello and welcome to this fanfic. The idea for this was inspired by a prompt at a fanfiction community on livejournal known as 30kisses. The theme of said inspiration was "Superstar," as this story progresses, hopefully you will be able to... see how I worked that in. ;) Other than that, I hope you enjoy!
"They're still out there," Sakura panted, leaning against the front door she had just practically slammed shut, her arms loaded with bags from the market and her bangs plastered to her forehead.
"Still?" a single black eyebrow arched in slight curiosity, but he did not so much as raise his eyes to look at her. He seemed to be rather content and comfortable there reading his book on the couch. "It's been four days. They have to leave sometime," he stated calmly, not even losing his place.
She could only smile at him and nod in eager agreement. Kurogane was right. They would have to leave sometime, and then Fai and Kurogane would be free to leave the house again like normal people. But she had a sinking feeling that there had been different people out there today than the usual ones, and that "sometime" might not really be any time soon.
People in this world seemed to be awfully persistent, but she didn't quite have the heart to tell him that just yet. She and Kurogane never talked about much, but she knew him well enough to know that being trapped in the house all the time was already making him a bit cranky. She didn't want to have to give him even more bad news today.
So instead, she smiled again and pushed herself away from the door before kicking off her shoes.
"Is Syaoran-kun home yet?" she gave a look back over her shoulder on her way into the kitchen, nearly tripping on the edge of the carpet.
"No," was all he answered, giving no shrug or shake of his head nor any further details on where he might be. She supposed it was because he was too busy reading.
The apartment was tiny. Only two bedrooms, a tiny living room and a room barely definable as a kitchen. But it was all that they could afford in this world. Especially with Sakura and Syaoran being the only two able to work.
Everything seemed to be painted in some atrocious yellow colour, and all the faucets had a drip. All the windows seemed to be coated in an immovable film of grease and dust, and the dull grey carpet was fraying and coming up in places. The floorboard in one of the bedrooms was loose and squeaked at the lightest touch and the light bulb in the bathroom flickered no matter how many times Kurogane tried to screw it in properly. The heater barely worked either, which was going to be a problem with all the news reports saying autumn was almost over.
She wouldn't say it, but she was hoping they would be out of this world by the time winter came.
With a tired sigh, she shoved her bags of groceries onto the tiny counter and began to put them away, humming bits of the song stuck in her head to herself. She only stopped her humming when Fai entered the small room to help her.
"Hi Fai-san!" she turned and greeted him happily although the melody of the song was still running through her head; low, smooth notes as the ghost of a melodic voice echoed through her mind.
She grinned wide once again and told him, "I heard another one of your songs today. I didn't know Fai-san had such a pretty voice."
To this, Fai could only offer a chuckle and a shake of his head as he placed a jar of blackberry jam and a bottle of milk into the refrigerator, but he did not press her for further information either. He'd like to just pretend he hadn't heard her, actually. But that was difficult when she was standing there smiling, looking at him with eyes that insisted they had more to say.
Fai again smiled, pausing to make sure the refrigerator door was going to stay shut. "I don't really sing, Sakura-chan. In fact, I've never been very good at singing at all…."
She too smiled and give a small shrug. "Well, you know what I mean…."
He nodded. He supposed he did know what she meant. But he didn't like to think about it. "Have you found out anything else about your feather?" he made his best attempt to change the subject.
"No. Nothing yet," she gave a disgruntled sigh and leaned against the counter, still clutching a loaf of bread. "Syaoran-kun and I were supposed to go to the library once he got off work to see if we could learn some things. But he isn't home yet. Wasn't he supposed to get off early?"
"No," Fai shook his head, "It's only Tuesday. Syaoran-kun only gets off early on Wednesdays."
"Oh," her green eyes fell to the peeling linoleum floor, "yeah…"
"Why don't you go and rest up a bit," he says with another smile, ruffling his long fingers through her strawberry blonde hair. "You've had a long day, Sakura-chan. I'll call you when dinner is ready."
Without argument, she disappeared gracefully into her own tiny room down the short hallway, the cheep wooden door clicking behind her only once she jiggled the handle just right.
He adored her, but he was glad for her not to be there right then. For her to be able to see the frustration on his face. For her to not continue regaling information to him about a life that he did not have and to be reminded that he couldn't even so much as look out the window these days. Not without a dozen flashes of cameras going off at the mere glimpse of his face.
Despite how he acted around them most of the time, Fai was not genuinely fond of being the center of public attention. It made it far too easy for people to blame things on him if they were made aware of his presence, and he was quite sure that he had far enough blame and attention shoved upon him to last him several lifetimes.
But what he liked even less was the feeling of being utterly trapped, with no where to escape.
With a long sigh, he set to work preparing their dinner. He would make enough for four, but Syaoran's portion would go directly into the refrigerator so he could heat it up when he got home. Thinking of this, Fai made sure to put a little extra portion in there for him as well as make sure it was prepared how he knew Syaoran liked it.
It couldn't be easy for someone so young to be working two jobs.
But Syaoran never complained about it. In fact, he insisted that he do so.
Chopping carrots, a sly grin spread across his face. The realization that it had been almost a whole afternoon since he had even seen Kurogane came to mind with the association of hard, pointy object in his hand.
Kurogane and weapons, that is.
Their apartment was tiny, certainly, but Fai had spent most of the day locked up in his room flipping though old, dusty newspapers for no other reason than to elevate boredom. Even Fai liked time to himself now and again.
"Kuro-non!?" he hollered over his shoulder.
Chop. Chop.
No answer.
"Oh Kuuuuuuuuuuro-non!?"
In the next room, Kurogane's eyebrow twitched once.
He should have known better than to be blessed with a day where Fai behaved himself for a full 24-hour period. Fai was still breathing after all. In fact, he realized he should be ecstatic for having been granted such a long period of peace and quiet. Undoubtedly, it was a new record.
Or perhaps, he should be concerned…
Maybe the mage wasn't feeling well.
Poke.
No. The mage was feeling just fine. Though he wouldn't once Kurogane smacked him upside the head a few times.
"Do you mind?" he growled, eyes narrowed on that cheesy grin.
"Can you open this?" Fai pressed a jar of some sort of red sauce under Kurogane's nose, blocking his view of the book he'd been reading.
"You're not a wimp. You open it."
"Pleeeeeease Kuro-mew. I can't get it."
Annoyed, but hopeful it would get him out of his hair faster, he swiped the jar from Fai's hand and untwisted the top effortlessly.
A typical, wide, cheesy Fai-grin spread across his face and he cooed, "Kuro-pon is always so strong!" before skipping back into the kitchen.
A rather "good riddance" humpf followed after the mage, and Kurogane turned back to his book, trying not to ponder over the ever-present question of whether Fai actually made an effort to drive him towards insanity, or if it just came naturally to him. He was quite sure he'd never know anyway, so it was just easier to leave it alone.
If any of you have read any of my previous works, you'll notice that this is a very short chapter for me! But don't you worry, there is still plenty to come.
P.S. I am a KuroFai fangirl for life. Please know that... I'm going there with this ;) Feel free to take that as either a warning or reassurance.
P.P.S I ;heart; reviews!!!!!!!!!!