True Name

At first, after their journey continued, they called him Syaoran, the same as always. And this didn't bother him at all, because obviously, he'd been going by this name for quite some time, and was completely used to it. He hadn't expected them to start calling him Tsubasa, even if he had revealed it as his true name. He was fine with being called by his father's name.

Kurogane still called him, "Kid," or "Boy," and Mokona and Fai still called him Syaoran.

Then one day, he saw the blond, and white creature whispering together. He wouldn't have thought anything of it, if they hadn't looked in his direction. He cocked his head in a silent question, but instead of explain themselves, they turned back to each other and kept whispering.

He decided to ignore it.

Then there came a day when they were in the kitchen, of the house they were currently renting out. Fai was washing the dishes, as they'd all just finished eating. Kurogane was leaning against the counter, and Mokona was on Fai's shoulder, providing the mage entertainment while he worked.

"Syaoran-kun, would you hand me that glass?" Fai asked, referring to one that was next to the boy. The brunette did as asked, putting the glass into Fai's delicate looking hands. Fai smiled at him, and praised him for this easy task.

"Thank you, Syaoran-tsu!"

Syaoran cocked his head, and paused. He'd said it like it was a suffix to his name, like 'chan' or 'kun,' would be. And while this was normal for Fai to do to Kurogane, with a wide variety of suffix's, it was new to Syaoran.

'Yeah! Thanks Syaoran-tsu!" Mokona piped in now. Kurogane didn't look confused, but he didn't say anything either. Syaoran decided to brush it off.

"You're welcome."

At this, Fai smiled, looking pleased that Syaoran hadn't questioned him. Then he went back to washing dishes.

So, for the next couple days, he was referred to by Syaoran-tsu, by everyone but Kurogane, who simply stuck with the usual, kid, brat, and boy.

"Syaoran-tsu, come here!"

"Syaoran-tsu, look at this!"

And eventually, he forgot that he'd ever felt confused by this.

That was when it changed again.

He was sitting with Kurogane, in a different world now, and the two of them were just silently enjoying the view of the night sky they were looking at, standing on a hill. The silence was interrupted when Fai came out of nowhere, and leaped on Kurogane's back.

"Surprise!" he shouted, and Syaoran leaped back, indeed surprised. Usually he was pretty good at sensing when people were around, but Fai sometimes went out of his way to make sure they couldn't sense him, just for the fun of scaring them.

Whether he'd sensed him or not, Kurogane didn't look surprised, just a little annoyed at suddenly having an extra one hundred pounds climbing around on his back.

"Did I scare you?" Fai asked them, and Kurogane scoffed.

"If you'd scared me, I would have killed you." It wasn't so much a threat, as it simply was the truth. If Kurogane, a well trained ninja, was scared, it meant he wasn't expecting something, and if he wasn't expecting it, he'd be ready to attack. The fact that he hadn't attacked meant that he'd either known Fai was there, or that he'd known it was Fai the second Fai popped in.

Fai pouted, and let go of Kurogane, smiling at Syaoran.

"Well, I know I scared Syaotsu-kun."

Syaotsu? It was a combination of his name, and his father's name. That wasn't much farther off than Syaoran-tsu, so he didn't say anything, though he was confused. Why was Fai going out of his way to alter his name? For fun?

Probably just for fun.

So, Syaotsu he was, for the following two weeks. Even Watanuki called him this, while the two of them were chatting over the Mokona. When he did, the brunette questioned him.

"Fai told you to call me that, right? Do you know why?"

Watanuki smiled, in that way that meant he knew, but wasn't telling. He pushed his glasses up, and looked over his shoulder, briefly speaking to Doumeki, who was wandering around in the background during the whole call.

"Who knows? Maybe he'd just finally learned all the ways to change Kurogane-san's name, and needs a new target?"

Then, came the next name.

He was fast asleep, but then, suddenly, Fai was shaking him. "Mokona's earring is glowing. Time to go, Tsu-kun." He said it softly, but somehow, Syaoran still felt frightened all of a sudden. Once they'd settled down in the next world, which luckily, was Watanuki's shop, Syaoran found Kurogane, and confronted him.

"He's trying to segue into my real name, isn't he?" he asked. With each nickname, they got closer and closer to Tsubasa, a name that nobody had called him for a very long time. Kurogane, who was drinking a glass of sake, set it down next to him.

"Yeah."

Syaoran sat down next to the ninja, and was quiet for a minute. In the background, he could hear Doumeki, Fai, Watanuki, and the Mokona in the kitchen, cooking something up for them all to eat.

When their laughter died for a second, he asked, "Why?"

Kurogane took another sip of his sake, calmly looking out at the yard.

"He says he doesn't want you to feel like you're the other kid. He wants you to remember that you're your own person, who has your own name. Or something like that."

Syaoran thought hard about this. Had he felt like his was Syaoran? Well, of course he did. It was impossible not too. It was probably the same for the other Syaoran too, when he'd been around. Never could they be one without feeling like they were also the other.

But it didn't bother him, really. He didn't mind being called Syaoran. It was the only name he really remembered, after all.

He didn't know what to do. If he let Fai continue, eventually, the blonde would start calling him by his real name. By Tsubasa. Was he ready for that? Was he ready to go by a name that was his, and only his?

Tsubasa was his real name.

His true name.

Maybe a small part of him was scared by the thought.

But a larger part of him felt warmed inside, touched by what Fai was doing. Fai, more than anyone, must have known that it was tough, to go by a name that wasn't yours, and be reminded of someone else, someone special, each time your name, their name, was called.

So maybe he shouldn't stop him. Maybe he should let him continue this.

He was ready.

Which was why, a couple days later, as they were sitting down to eat, when Fai looked over at him, smiled, and said, "Come on, Tsubasa-kun. Time to eat," Syaoran only smiled and took the seat offered to him, taking the plate Fai passed him.

"Thank you, Fai-san." he said softly. To the others, it might just look like he meant for the food, but he knew Fai would understand.

Fai's eyes smiled along with his mouth, and he put a hand on Syaoran's head.

"You're welcome, Tsubasa-kun."

Aww, this went from what I had planned into an adorable Fai and Syaoran story! I hadn't expected that at all! But I like it this way. There aren't enough fanfictions out there that focus on these two. The fanfictions are either Syaoran and Sakura, or Kurogane and Fai.

We need some in between.

I hope you all liked it!