Chapter One

The Mage's Wish

Everything was both wonderful and horrible to him right now. Beautiful how- to his eyes-the stunning scenery glistened all around him. The cherry blossoms blooming high in the branches and the crystal-clear river singing quietly nearby. But it was still horrible. The deep red that stained that stained his light blue yukata, the infernal color that sprayed onto the ground. The blood seeping onto the cold unforgiving ground, and the crimson eyes that stared back up weakly at his own. Kurogane smiled softly, reaching up to touch his paling cheek. His fingers were fire to icy skin.

"I-Idiot…" Kurogane coughed harshly, trembling violently under Fai's grip.

"No! Yuuko-san!!"

Fai looked towards the pond nearby, Mokona fast asleep while Yuuko's image reflected in the wavering surface. The witch looked at the silver glowing ball in the palm of her hand before handing it to Watanuki. She motioned for him to leave the room before speaking to Fai.

"Help him-

"Stop…" Kurogane tugged harshly at Fai's robe's through clenched fingers. "Don't do it, it's alright..."

"What did you wish for?" Demanded Fai in fear, even though he already knew the answer. Kurogane was starting to lose the color of his face.

Kurogane grimaced and his grip slackened. "You should be a little happier now, so don't even try to fake it this time. "

"Kuro-rin, what did you wish for?" Panic was beginning to bite at his throat, and the lack of blood starting to make Kurogane awfully pale.

"If you keep on looking like that, I won't feel very good about this decision."

"What was your wish?" Fai's voice was getting more and more shrill with every time he asked the question over and over again.

"Your curse is gone now...You can live a good life now-"Kurogane cut off, falling into a violent fit of coughs. When he recovered, he was shaking. "I took a part of the curse as my price, that part that kills-"

"BUT WHY?!" Fai was almost in hysterics, Kurogane scowling softly as his eyes began closing. His breathing was becoming more heavy and shallow; it was only a matter of time….

"Idiot…"Repeated Kurogane gently, smiling at the end. "Why….do you…think…."

His eyes slowly closed, Fai going deathly pale as he turned to Yuuko again. "Yuuko-san stop it! Please!!"

"Make the wish then." Yuuko turned to Watanuki, telling him something before looking back at Fai. She held something out towards Mokana's face and a few seconds later, it had been shot out into Fai's palm. A bright blue light was levitating, glowing. Fai looked up at the witch curiously.

"What's the price?" Yuuko grinned, pointing back at Watanuki, whom was blushing furiously in the background. "Let's just say that this time that it's on the house."

Fai smiled lightly, but his smile faded at the sound of his companion's harsh breathing. "What do I do?"

"Eat it. Don't worry; Kurogane will be fine once you do. "

Fai nodded, hardly even listening to her instructions. He opened his mouth slowly….

WHATOHNOESITSACLIFFHANGERWHATSHALLWEEVERDOWHYMUSTTHEREALWAYSBEACLIFFHANGER

"Will Fai-san be alright?" Watanuki asked nervously as Yuuko held up a pearl white jar up to the light. She nodded slowly but froze. She knitted her eye brows tightly before frowning. "There's a leak in here. That shouldn't have happened. Something's wrong-"

She turned to face her assistant. "You said you made the spell yourself after I gave you the instructions. Did you add the water from the well AFTER or BEFORE you added the cherry blossoms from Doumeki's shrine?"

Immediately, Watanuki faced the ground, his face burning with shame. "After, but I forgot to add a piece of the dream balloons from the dream merchants strings…"

Yuuko grinned, starring at the bottle. "Well, it was a good mistake anyhow. But this is going to be a very interesting spell for a very long time…"

LATER ON (HOMGS IT'S ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER?!)

Kurogane awoke to the sound of crying and screams. He sat up tiredly, and starred at the door before deciding to make his way towards it. It was late afternoon, and the day was blazing hot, but he really didn't care about that. He just cared about what had woken him up, which by the sounds of it, was down the hall in the dining room. He pulled the door open, and his eyebrows flew up in surprise.

The room was destroyed, blankets and dishes thrown about the room and several broken ornaments lying discarded on the floor. Syaoran and Sakura looked over their shoulders at the tall ninja from where the hid behind the table, both of the teens eyes wide with panic.

"What's going on?!" He demanded but was cut of abruptly when Sakura pressed a finger over her lips.

"Shhh!" She whispered in fear, glancing over her shoulder every so often. "You'll scare-"

She screamed as another vase went flying in the air. Syaoran, being the hero he is, tacked the princess to the ground, and Kurogane simply dodged the attempted assault, looking wildly around the room. His 

eyes met a small bundle of blankets in the back of the room and a noise emitting from it that sounded suspiciously like sniffling.

He marched over towards the bundle angrily, beginning to pry off all of the blankets. "Alright, you can stop it now. I don't know what you have against the kids here, but that doesn't mean you have the right to-"

The blanket dropped to its death dramatically, and he started to lose color again. Syaoran had pinned himself to the wall, Kurogane joining him a few seconds after. Sakura was the only brave one as she walked to and past the oh-so-fearless-ninja carefully.

"I think he was looking for you Kurogane-san." She whispered gently as she bent down, but it went unheard because a little blue eyed toddler has attached himself to Kurogane's leg. He looked up at the princess with doubt sketched into his wide eyes.

"D-Do you mean that this is…." He couldn't even finish the sentence before the blonde decided to start climbing up his leg.

"Oh no-Fai-san, you shouldn't do that, it's not- oh…" Sakura paused at the sound of a sharp intake of air.

There was a large thump when Kurogane finally hit the ground.

A/N: …free cookies if review? :D It'll be shorter next chapter….i think..Anywho's enjoy!