Sapphire and Crimson Forever

Souls know no boundaries. These two will find each other across space and time.

Yeah, I own Tsubasa. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Everyone knows that CLAMP owns Tsubasa, and all us who write fanfictions are just insane fangirls who can't stop staring at the hunky bishounen that they invented.

Asuka: That opening line and title both sound so KUROFAI!! WAAAAHH! I'm gonna go hide in a corner and cry.

Fai: That 'bishounen' comment refers to me, right?

Asuka: Erm… yeah. You and Kurogane, so, yeah.

"YOOOUUUUU-CHAAAAAAN!"

An earsplitting yell shook the forest. Or at least shook Kurogane's temper. "Who or what is YELLING!?" he demanded to know.

"You are," Fai pointed out. Kurogane rolled his eyes at the blond mage, who smiled perkily and looped his arm around that of their final companion, a young girl who was as blond-haired and blue-eyed as the wizard.

"Maybe we should figure out who it is," Asuka said. "They sound like they're in trouble."

"An excellent idea, Neko-tan!" Fai said jovially, taking gigantic, exaggerated steps forward with his long legs. Asuka matched his gait, and the two of them marched off like goose-stepping Germanic soldiers… except much more humorously. Kurogane followed, walking like a normal person, with his hands on his hips and a familiar scowl on his face.

Soon enough, Asuka and Fai came upon what they believed to be the source of the shouting. A young boy (or was it a girl?) was standing at the head of a path leading into the forest. His hair was blond and fell nearly to his shoulders, and he was wearing blue jeans and a white jacket that was stained with dirt in a few places. His hands were balled into fists, rubbing his tearful eyes. He was crying.

Fai unhooked his arm from Asuka's and approached the child. "Are you alright?" he asked. The boy shook his head and sniffed, not saying a word.

"What's wrong?" Asuka asked. Kurogane approached from behind Asuka, lingering in the background. He didn't like kids that much, especially not whiny, blubbering ones.

"M-m-my best friend You-chan, h-he went off into t-the forest after m-my cat, Sakura," the boy stammered.

"Your cat?" Asuka asked, surprised to hear the Princess of Clow's name used in such a context.

"Yeah," the boy said. "She's a really tiny cat, and doesn't mind if I take her outside, but she got scared today and ran off into the forest! You-chan said he would find her, but it's been a long, long time and he hasn't come back!"

Fai knelt next to the child, bringing himself to eye level with the boy. He took one of the boy's small, tear-stained hands in his own smooth, calming fingers and looked him in the eyes. "What's your name?" Fai asked.

The boy blinked in surprise. "Yuui," he said a moment later, his voice a little stronger. Fai's face broke into a smile.

"We'll go look for your little kitty, won't we, Kuro-puu?" he said, looking over his shoulder at his companion as he stood. Kurogane grunted in reply. Fai took that as a 'yes'. So, he grabbed the black-haired, stony-faced ninja's hand and skipped off into the forest, humming all the way, whilst Kurogane shouted a thousand curses from behind him.

When they finally couldn't hear Kurogane, Asuka took her hands off of Yuui's ears. "Sorry about him," she apologized for her bad-tempered companion.

"Huh? Oh, that's no big deal, You-chan is just as bad," he said. Asuka smirked. She had a slight feeling she knew exactly who this 'You-chan' was. It could only be short for one name: Youou. Which was the first name of a certain sullen ninja who was consistently reminding them all that 'MY NAME IS KUROGANE!'

!?!?!?

Speaking of Kurogane, he and Fai were meandering around the forest without sight of cats or children. "We haven't come across much, have we?" Fai said cheerfully.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," Kurogane said.

"I get the feeling we're looking for a kid who looks like a mini Kuro-puu and a cat with brown fur and green eyes," Fai said.

Kurogane stopped moving after Fai's first statement. "What gives you that idea?" he asked.

Fai's eyes twinkled mysteriously. "I've just got a feeling."

!?!?!?

Meanwhile, Asuka was becoming a bit uneasy as an awkward silence settled over her and Yuui. In fact, Yuui kept glancing up at her every so often like he was thinking of something. She knew not what, but it was unnerving regardless.

"Are you alright?" she asked, when he started staring at her for about the sixth time.

"Um, yeah," he replied. "It's just… you look a whole lot like my little sister. She and my twin brother are back at the park a little ways from here."

"Really? What are their names?" Asuka asked.

"Asuka and Fai. Asuka's my little sister, and Fai is my twin," he said. Asuka held back laughter as she heard the names. She was now certain that the little blonde twins were parallel versions of her own troublesome, nickname-loving wizard and his twin brother. And Asuka herself was in parallel form as their little sister! It wasn't quite an abnormal thought; she had been told a number of times that she favored her magic teacher to quite a degree.

Yuui rocked back onto his heels and then to his toes, with his arms folded behind his back. "I'm sure they'll be fine," he said, half to himself. "Tomoyo, You-chan's cousin, is with them. She'll watch over them." Another all-too-familiar name. But instead of being unrelated to Kurogane with the exception of her love for him, she was his cousin.

"YUUI!" Someone else shouted from the distance, and a person was seen running toward them. Yuui stared in the direction of the person, and upon recognizing them, ran to meet them. It was another young boy, wearing all-black, with dark hair and red eyes that were unmistakable. Asuka muttered the word 'squee' under her breath a number of times at the sight of a seven-year-old version of Kurogane. A tiny cat was walking next to him. Its fur was light brown and its eyes were bright green.

"Sakura! You found her!" Yuui squealed in delight, kneeling down to pet the cat. Then he leapt back up like a spring and flung himself at the black-haired boy, embracing him tightly. "Thank you so much, You-chan!"

"Stop hugging me, you idiot! My name is Youou!" the mini Kurogane shouted. Yuui did not obey Youou in the least, and only hugged him more tightly.

Asuka felt someone's hand on her back and looked up to see Kurogane and Fai standing on either side of her. "Told you," Fai said to Kurogane. "Mini Kuro-puu."

"Yeah, whatever," Kurogane said curtly, but the two wizards knew that he was a little entertained by the sight of a younger version of himself.

Three more children approached the two boys. One looked exactly like Yuui, even wearing the same clothes. The other was a little girl with long blonde hair who was holding the boy's hand. And the final girl had long black hair and violet eyes and was holding the leash of a small brown dog.

"Oh!" Yuui gasped, and released a very annoyed and very red-faced Youou. He walked over to where the three travelers were standing, and tugged on Asuka's hand. She followed him to the group of children. Kurogane and Fai followed close behind.

"This is my sister Asuka, who I told you about," he explained. "And this is Tomoyo and Fai and You-chan."

"Youou," Youou corrected. Yuui paid him to mind, and continued talking to the older version of Asuka.

"Thank you so much for helping me today," he said to the three travelers.

"No need to apologize," said Fai. "But we really should be going now, right, Kuro-wan?"

"Yeah, we do. And stop with the nicknames!" Kurogane shouted.

Fai tapped Asuka on the shoulder, who was sitting nearby and petting the little dog and the cat. She stood. They began walking away, so that they could find a peaceful, uninhabited area to warp out of.

"Wait! What are your names!?" Yuui called.

"This is Asuka, Kuro-chan, and I'm Fai," Fai replied.

"IT'S KUROGANE!" Kurogane shouted. "And your name… is Yuui." Fai nodded, and began to use magic to get them back to Asuka's dimension. The little dog began barking when the magic swirled up around their bodies.

"No, Syaoran!" Tomoyo scolded it. None of the children quite understood why the three travelers were laughing so hysterically.

The End

Haha, Syaoran is the Little Dog! When writing this fanfiction, I had a lot of trouble keeping the names straight, especially when there were two of Asuka and two of Fai in the same place! Luckily, I had the little Kurogane called by his first name, whereas the older Kurogane was just Kurogane. So those two couldn't be confused. And also the whole 'Fai's name is really Yuui' thing gave me a big problem. So please tell me if you were too confused and I'll try to make it easier to understand!