a/n: Hi everyone! So, I've been a fan of Tsubasa for years, and I've just been dying to write some fanfiction, so...here I go.
As a note, all of these are going to be sort of like one-shots, but put together under one theme, which is the title of this fic. All of the mini-stories I put up are based off of a "prompt" which is a word randomly selected out of the dictionary (I got the idea from Hikari Kaitou- you should read her KuroFai fanfiction, it's amazing!) Hopefully I'll get one done every other week (because I'm also planning on writing some OHSHC fics as well). So without further ado...
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The Problem with Mokona
[prompt: Indigestive]
They all fell out the sky and landed with the familiar THUMP, piled up on top of each other- the usual procedure when they entered a new world. Fai smiled to himself, realizing he had once again managed to land on the crimson-eyed ninja, who was already struggling wildly to get Fai off of him. Syaoran had landed on his stomach, and the princess had landed right on top of his back, looking slightly dazed. On her head was Mokona.
"We've made it to the next world!" Announced Mokona, who hopped up and down hyper-actively on Sakura's head.
"Why is it that every time we land, the stupid mage ends up falling on me?!" Kurogane yelled, shoving Fai off of him with some effort. Fai laughed.
"Doesn't Daddy want to make sure Mommy doesn't hurt himself from falling?" Fai replied, grinning at the ninja.
"Don't fool yourself mage; if I had things my way, I'd have the white manjuu drop you from a thousand feet up!" Despite him saying this with a tone of conviction, there was a faint blush under the ninja's red eyes. Fai tried to hold back a smirk.
"Now now Daddy, don't be giving the children bad ideas!" Kurogane quickly pulled out his sword, and his eyes gleaming madly, yelled,
"I'll show you giving them bad ideas!" Fai, laughing, began to sprint in order to keep out of range of Kurogane's strong and furious swipes of the sword. After watching this daily ritual between the two, Syaoran, who had picked himself up off the ground, shrugged, and smiling, turned to Mokona, who was being held by Sakura.
"Mokona, is there a feather in this world?" The rabbit-like creature hopped onto Sakura's head, both ears pointing straight up like antennas.
"Mokona will check!" After a minute of looking like the concentration was killing him, Mokona's ears fell down, and the small creature frowned.
"Sorry Syaoran, Mokona senses that there is no feather in this world." The spark in Syaoran's eyes dimmed a little, but he kept his smile on.
"It's okay Mokona." Fai and Kurogane had finally returned, Fai looking joyful and Kurogane seeming frustrated beyond words.
"Shall we head to a new world then?" The others nodded in agreement.
Mokona jumped into the air…and fell. Mokona, looking a little confused, opened his mouth…and closed it quickly, looking a little ill.
"Moko-chan, are you okay?" Sakura asked, concerned. Mokona sighed.
"Mokona cannot take us to another world, because something is wrong with Mokona." There was a moment of silence, then…
"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed in unison.
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Kurogane frowned, crossing his arms in contemplation. Around him, the others were all in similar positions, gazing at Mokona in confusion. Normally, Kurogane could have cared less if the white manjuu was feeling ill, but Mokona was currently their only way off of the world, and it was already sunset.
"Mokona…has this ever happened before?" Syaoran asked slowly. Mokona frowned.
"No…not that Mokona can remember." A thought floated across Kurogane's mind.
"Why don't we ask that time-space bitch?" Mokona's ears lifted up.
"Kurogane wants to ask Yuuko?" The ninja nodded but displayed his discontent about having to call on her. I swear, if she tries to charge us for this…!
Mokona raised his ears up, opened his eyes, and…nothing happened. Mokona frowned sadly. "Mokona cannot get the channel to open." They all sighed in defeat.
"Well, what do we do now?" Fai asked to no one in particular. Syaoran stood up, dusting himself off.
"Well, it's getting late…it will probably become dark in another hour or so. We should probably search for a nearby town…for all we know, there might be someone who knows how to figure out what's wrong with Mokona." They all nodded in joint agreement.
Mokona jumped onto Syaoran's shoulder and pointed to his right. "Mokona thinks we should head this way!" Shrugging, the others began to walk through the grassy fields, following Mokona's directions as the sun slowly lowered in the sky.
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They reached a town soon after night had fallen. Mokona was now riding in Fai's arms, and Sakura was being carried by Syaoran. The princess had fallen asleep from exhaustion a few minutes earlier. The town resembled that of Jade Country, but in the spring instead of winter. There were many gardens in front of the small homes, which included flowers that glowed brilliantly in the night. Kurogane inwardly sighed in frustration as he noticed his 'adopted son' perk up with interest. Shaking his head, Kurogane bent over and took the princess into his arms. Syaoran looked up at him in confusion.
"Kurogane-san?"
"You're interested in the flowers, right? We'll find the hotel, so you can look at them, for whatever it's worth. Don't be long- we've got to find out how to fix the manjuu tomorrow." Syaoran smiled as he watched his parent-like figures walk into the distance.
"Thank you Kurogane-san." Syaoran's gaze fell to the flowers in front of him, and he felt his heart ache as a memory came to mind…
Eight-year old Syaoran tried to keep up with the princess of Clow country as she ran up the cement steps leading up to a small shrine that had been built there far before he had found himself in Clow. Sakura turned around, smiling, and yelled,
"Hurry up Syaoran! You've got to see this!" Syaoran smiled and sped up his pace to catch up with her. Once they reached the top of the shrine, she took his hand in hers and pulled him over to the front, where he had planted some flowers a few months back.
"Look, look Syaoran!" Syaoran's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the large glowing flower in front of him. It was a light-blue with a yellow core that seemed to shed light. Sakura turned to smile at him.
"The seed you brought me from your last trip…I planted it, and it became a night flower! Isn't it beautiful?" Syaoran nodded, smiling back at Sakura.
"Yes, it is." She smiled up at him, her eyes glowing.
"No one else knows about it, so it will be our secret- okay Syaoran?"
"Yes…Sakura."
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Kurogane yawned and flopped down on his bed. Despite the fact that he was tired enough to fall asleep quite easily, he knew he wouldn't actually be able to until the kid returned safely. The door opened, and Fai slid in quietly, closing the door slowly behind him. The ninja figured that he must have tucked the princess into bed and said goodnight. The magician landed in his bed, across from Kurogane's, and turned to gaze at the ninja.
"That was a really nice thing you did back there Kuropii- you really do care about Syaoran like he's your son, don't you?" Kurogane frowned and turned his head away.
"Why think that? If I hadn't let the kid inspect them now he certainly would tomorrow night, and he'd be so busy thinking about the damn flowers that he'd be no help when searching for the cure for the pork bun. I was just getting his distraction out of the way, that's all."
Fai chuckled lightly. "That all may be true, Kurorin, but never-the-less I still believe you did it out of consideration of Syaoran's feelings." Sighing in frustration, Kurogane threw a pillow at Fai, hitting him in the center of his face.
"Damn mage…talking nonsense. Get some sleep." Fai yawned, and after stretching his arms, lay down, pulling his thick blanket over him.
"Alright Kuropon; goodnight." Kurogane shut off the light.
"…night."
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Kurogane was woken up by a strange noise that sounded almost like a small child sobbing. Quietly walking across the room in order not to awaken the mage, he opened the door and silently followed the strange sound, wondering what it could be. He found the source of the noise in the windowsill down the hall; Mokona.
Though Mokona (like Fai) used lots of crocodile tears when he didn't get something he wanted, Kurogane was positive that the manjuu was honestly crying. The ninja sighed mentally. I'm really not good at this kind of thing… Sighing, he took a seat next to Mokona who didn't seem surprised to see him there. Maybe it's one of his 108 secret techniques…
"Hey…squirt…um, if you, uh, need someone to talk to…I'm here." Mokona turned from the window to gaze up at the ninja, tear stains streaked down his white fur. Kurogane felt a twitch of guilt in his heart.
"Mokona…Mokona is always connected to Mokona bro…" Kurogane blinked.
"That black manjuu the dimensional witch kept?" Mokona nodded sullenly.
"Mokona and Mokona bro are always connected…Mokona can meet with Mokona bro in his dreams and talk…so Mokona is never lonely." The white rabbit creature sniffled. "But now Mokona can't connect to Mokona bro…can't reach him…Mokona feels alone…" There was a minute of silence, then
"You know, at times I feel lonely…remembering that I can't see my parents ever again, but…even if I feel lonely, I'm not. You know why?" Mokona tilted his head. "It's because I have people with me whom I care about, like you, the kids, and even that damn mage." Mokona giggled a little. "I do feel alone when I remember my family and Tomoyo hime, but at the same time, I'm reminded about those that travel with me, and I realize I'm never alone." A small smile appeared on Mokona's face. "So, manjuu, don't think you're alone…because you have us."
Tears of happiness trickled down Mokona's face.
"Thank you Kuro-daddy…Mokona feels better now." Kurogane nodded and stood up.
"Get some sleep now; we're going to be busy tomorrow." Mokona nodded and turned back to the window. Kurogane headed back to his room, and after checking to make sure the mage was asleep and hadn't followed him, Kurogane lay back down and drifted into sleep.
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Fai yawned and stretched his arms out above his head. Beside him, Kurogane stood still, looking slightly bored, and Sakura hummed quietly, holding onto a somewhat cheerful Mokona.
"So…what should we be searching for?" Fai asked Syaoran, who was standing at the head of the group with a map in hand. Syaoran turned around to face them.
"Well, in a few of the countries I visited with my father, there were people called 'animal doctors' who could figure out what was wrong with various kinds of animals. We should see if there's someone like that in this town." The others nodded and followed Syaoran, wondering what would happen if they didn't find an animal doctor.
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Syaoran sighed as he gazed down at his plate of food. Their search had been unsuccessful, and now they were in a café, about to eat lunch. Everyone seemed melancholy about Mokona's situation- even Kurogane. None of them seemed to have an appetite for their food…except Mokona.
"Hey, why isn't anyone eating?" Mokona asked, looking confused. Syaoran did his best to smile.
"You should be first to eat Mokona." Mokona smiled enthusiastically.
"Mokona feels very honored, so Mokona will eat!"
Mokona cheerfully took a bite of the food in front of him. Right after swallowing, Mokona began to choke, coughing madly.
"Moko-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, reaching over to help him. Before she could reach him however, Mokona, from coughing so much , spat up not only his food, but something light and shiny covered in clear slime…one of Sakura's feathers.
There was a minute of silence in which everyone just sat still, staring. Then,
"What the hell just happened?!" Exclaimed Kurogane. Mokona began to jump up and down on the table, trying to grab their attention.
"Mokona understands now! Mokona must have accidentally swallowed one of Sakura's feathers! Sakura's feather was the reason Mokona couldn't swallow you guys or contact Yuuko! Mokona couldn't digest Sakura's feather!"
"…that is the weirdest thing I've heard come out of your mouth yet manjuu…"Started Kurogane.
"…but strangely, it makes sense." Finished Fai.
Sakura still looked confused. "So Mokona was just suffering from indigestion?" Syaoran laughed.
"I guess so."
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They were all standing in the field they had landed in. Syaoran quickly wiped off the slime on the feather, and he gently returned it to Sakura, who, closing her eyes, seemed to fall asleep. Syaoran scooped her up and turned to Kurogane and Fai.
"Ready to go to the next world, Syaoran-kun?" Fai asked, smiling. Syaoran nodded. Mokona cheerfully grew his wings, and opening his mouth widely, sucked everyone inside. And thus they headed off to a new world, unaware of what would be waiting for them.
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a/n: Hope you all liked it- I wasn't really planning on doing a chapter on Mokona, but the idea was too good to resist. I laughed a lot when I imagined it out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and please review! Next prompt is "sick" and will focus on KuroFai :)