A/N: Well, finally, I come up with something new and improved. Truthfully, this wasn't supposed to come out until the sixth, but due to Hel-Goddess-of-the-Underworld's help, I can present to you: "Change" without a care in the world (except maybe the fact that everything can go to hell and I never finish the work, but that's a different story).

EDIT: Reuploaded and ready to go. :)

This is presented to you with BoyxBoy love, gore, insanity, a rating that might go up because of the GORE/INSANITY (ladies and gentlemen of the jury, since when did Ashura kill without gore?), heterosexual fluffy love, political undercurrents, and a university that may not quite cut it on the "real" scale. Forgive me for these offenses, and move on. :)

In any case, I would like to say that there will be fillers. There will be random crap throughout the story that makes you ask: "What is the significance of this?" I shall answer you: There is none. Things are as simple as you want or as significant as you want. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa. My thief hasn't exactly stolen CLAMP away--that'll come at a later date. ;)

Summary: AU. Fai runs away, no matter what universe it is. And, of course, in a university where Kurogane's forced to be his dorm partner and everyone else stands on the sidelines, it's a hectic ride. KuroFai with a side of SS. T for language. There are hints of KuroTomo, but it just doesn't WORK in this story. There are also hints of every other pairing in this story, but only to the extent that is imagined--like in CLAMP's original Tsubasa.

Four Years Ago, October

Maybe he should stop smoking.

Fai idly watched various people walk quickly by him and their attempts to not breathe in the cigarette smoke.

He supposed it was good for them--after all, now they wouldn't have to breathe the same air as him. "Good for them," he repeated aloud, a hand reaching up to let him drag in the cigarette fumes again. The barest hints of nicotine flooded his lungs before he blew out again.

It was a cold day, the grass in the park being covered with frost. His breath ghosted out with the pale white of condensed water, dirtied by the warm gray of smoke.

Fai leaned against the thick base of the tree, looking upon the scenery with dull aquamarine eyes. "Maybe I should quit," he said aloud, perhaps to fill the empty silence around him. "But…" he trailed off, spotting a rather obvious man trying to sneak up on him. "Hello Ashura," he smiled, looking over his shoulder.

The man looked slightly annoyed. "It's good that you can smile like that, considering what you just said."

Fai kept on smiling. "It's another anniversary. It's not like I can change the past." He bent down to the grass at his feet and swept a gloved hand through the frost. It was cold.

"You're still smoking. You're not over it, Yuui," Ashura said, a (too warm) hand descending on his shoulder. His mouth twitched at the name.

His brother died that day. The same frosted over day, on the other side of the Fence.

Until he was killed.

Fai cast another smile over his shoulder. "Who knows?" he fibbed, "I think I might actually be addicted."

"Don't lie to me, Yuui." Ashura's eyes were glowing with slight hurt and then, on the more prominent side, anger. Fai felt the familiar pang of guilt, and looked away.

"Sorry," he said, taking another drag from his cigarette. He blew out, watching the tarnished white vapor spiral in a frenzy before dying away and dissolving into nothing.

Right then, he wished he could do that.

Fai dragged his luggage up to the dorm, rolling it up the steep incline towards Tsubasa, the university he would be attending until he had to move away again--until that person found him again.

He already had the files down as "Fai", a name he could actually get used to having. He didn't know how many times he had to apologize to his acquaintances for not responding to "Zell" or "Cloud". At least, this time, he didn't need to focus on keeping his fake identity up. This time, it was one that he had used since his brother.

A rather loud voice woke him from his reverie. "Dammit! What the hell do you mean by that, Tomoyo?!" Fai looked up, to be appraised by the most ironic sight of a petite woman dragging a man that looked at least a foot taller than her.

Despite himself, Fai's curiosity was piqued. Unwittingly, his legs changed course to follow the bumbling pair. His mind dimly noted that they were headed towards the main office building. Good. He needed to check up with Yûko--the president of Tsubasa--as soon as possible, too.

The man was still yelling. "I thought you said that all I needed was five years and then I was done!" His short black hair was tugged down as the woman yanked on his ear. She was dressed in office attire, almost fitting the stereotypical image of an attorney except for the short stature.

The woman--Tomoyo, he had called her--, easily in her later twenties, twisted the ear she had a hold on and kept on walking. "You have no choice in this matter, Kurogane," Fai heard her say, a surprisingly soft voice for someone that was physically dragging a man uphill.

"Dammit! Youpromised!" The man, on the flipside, was rough all around, the loose T-shirt doing nothing to conceal his muscular build.

Fai thought it was amusing that--what was his name again? Kurogane, right?--he was letting the woman pull him by the ear. Endearing, almost, because there was no way that he couldn't free himself from her grip.

He entered the main office building, following them slowly to the receptionist before they were sent to the stairs. Remarkably enough, when he said that he had an appointment with the president (not that he did), the receptionist gave him the same directions.

Leaving his luggage at the desk, Fai walked up the stairs as he listened in to their conversation, the stairwell eerily empty--usually, people would be coming up and down here with schedule questions and things like that.

"The more you fight this, the more I'll have to check up on you during the year," the woman was saying calmly.

"Fuck that!" Kurogane's voice was outraged. "If I don't attend this place, you won't have to check up on me at all!"

"I will not let you go to the military." Fai raised his eyebrows slightly. There was another floor to go, and since he wasn't dragging anyone forcibly by the ear, he had caught up so that he was only a segment of the stairwell behind.

Usually, when someone would attend a university, they wouldn't just ditch it all and attend the military--even if they had education there. And, judging by the muscular tone of the man in front of him, and the lack of complaint about the pain that was probably in his ear, he wanted to be a soldier--which meant the probable death factor. Especially with the Endo war going on.

"Wh--Who said I was going to the military?"

"I saw your application papers."

"What? You went through my things?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"

"Dammit, Tomoyo--"

"You will not go there, Kurogane."

"Tomoyo--"

"No."

"Tomo--"

"No." Fai noticed the hand twist again, and the man bit out a hiss.

"What jurisdiction do you have over me? You can't make me stay," Kurogane growled next.

"I can bring this to court--no matter what the cost, Kurogane. I can set you under my custody without a problem. Though you are twenty three, it's still your childish attitude that'll let me win."

Fai nearly whistled. So she probably was an attorney, or at least someone well versed with law--not to mention the fact that the man was the same age as him.

At that moment, the woman looked over her shoulder and saw him a few steps down. Her stern complexion melted away to a friendly expression as she promptly turned around and smiled, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, but do you need something?"

She was pretty, Fai noted. And she had probably noticed him following them. "Not at all," he smiled back. It was easy enough, considering he had been doing it for the past few years. "I just have an appointment with the president."

"Oh? We do too," she remarked. "Shall we go together, then?"

"Sure," Fai replied. It wasn't as if he hadn't been doing that the whole time, in any case. No, not at all.

"My name is Tomoyo," she said, resuming the walk up the stairs. Fai gave a smile to her captive, getting a first good look at him as he quickened his pace to walk beside her.

The scowl that was sent his way didn't do anything to mar the set face. He was Japanese, a rare commodity in the people that Fai had met, excluding Ashura. But he didn't want to think about Ashura right then, so he continued to take in the red eyes (contacts maybe?) and tanned skin and short black hair.

The woman promptly let go of Kurogane's ear, before grabbing on to the other one as the larger man tried to make a break for it.

"This is my little brother. He's had a problem with registration," she said pleasantly as Fai fell into step beside her. His eyebrow quirked in amusement. Judging from their conversation, there was more of a problem with the little brother himself.

"Stop talking as if I'm not here," the man growled, finally taking it upon himself to pry the fingers off of his ear (with a bit of difficulty, Fai noted, amused) and rising to his full height. He was a clear two feet taller than his sister, topping at least six feet--Fai himself was an inch shy of it.

"Eh? And what's little brother's name?" he smiled, knowing full well he was playing with Kurogane's head. He was setting his fake identity firmly in place this time--most likely, this man was going to be attending this school, so setting a first impression was important. First impressions were never washed away.

The man grunted. "Kurogane." Tomoyo, at this point, had pulled open the door out of the stairwell and walked through; they followed suit.

Fai's mouth twitched in amusement. There were so many things to be done with that name, and to top it all off, Japanese had suffixes. "Ehh?" he exclaimed. "So I can call you Kuro-chan from now on! Or maybe Kuro-tan…no, Kuro-sama fits better--wait! Kuro-chama!" He gave a twirl and a swish for good measure, large hand movements encompassing the hallway.

Fai swore he could see the red flaring in Kurogane's face with each nickname, and then even more as he heard Tomoyo stifle a choked snicker.

"Don't call me those nicknames, you damn idiot!" The roar was impressive, but it was cut off by a "shh!" from a staff member.

Still, Fai smiled and pulled off the flair of his caricature as he always did--"Aww. Kuro-chama is such a cute name though!"

Kurogane crossed his arms, barking at him like a dog. "Dammit, we don't even know your name!"

Nor will you ever. "Oh! Kuro-chii's right," he exclaimed without hesitation--already another nickname added to his collection. "Excuse my rudeness. My name is Fai D. Fluorite." He swept a bow right there in the middle of the hall, and then popped up with an energetic smile. "Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

They had reached the president's office, and it smelled vaguely of expensive smoke--to Fai's nose, in any case. A scented candle or expensive tobacco--it was either or.

He, continuing with the bow with a smooth motion, clicked the door open for Tomoyo and Kurogane to enter. "After you," he smiled cheerfully.

"Oh?" a voice, most recognizably Yûko's, exclaimed lazily. "Tomoyo, you've brought him?"

"Of course, Yûko," Tomoyo said, smiling and entering. Kurogane looked as if he wanted to run again, but then Fai pushed him in.

"Oh? Fai as well, huh." Yûko thankfully used his registered name. She, out of all the people, was probably the only one besides Ashura that knew his real name. Or, perhaps, that other man that Ashura had--

No. It was too dangerous to think of that here.

"Of course, Yûko!" he said, without a noticeable lack of chipper attitude, he hoped. "But Tomoyo-chan and Kuro-chama should go first." He smiled, moving his thoughts back to the matter at hand.

Yûko smiled back, before bringing up a smoking pipe up to her mouth again and blowing it out the open window behind her. Fai twitched, his hand jerking involuntarily. "So. Tomoyo, what do you possibly need?" The president continued without apparent notice, but he was sure she knew.

"Well, it appears that I can't rent an apartment near here for my little brother to attend this university, and there isn't an available dorm room on the internet. I was hoping that perhaps you could make him room with someone?" Tomoyo said this in a slight rush, jumping over her words at some points before slowing down to reveal her nervousness.

"Of course. But can you pay the price?" Fai recognized the question. Yûko had posed the same question to him the first time he had stepped into the office, just a few months ago.

Tomoyo smiled prettily--uncertainly--before replying, "I have an Italian wine. Aged since 1983."

Fai gave a giggle as Kurogane twitched.

"Hm," Yûko said, considering this. Fai clapped a hand over his mouth as Kurogane's anger seemed almost palpable, trying to stifle a bout of laughter. "French, before 1990? And the normal amount of sake."

Tomoyo looked almost relieved. "Yes, that too."

"Hm," Yûko repeated, a slow smirk crawling across her face. "Fai, here's your new roommate."

…

"What?" Kurogane's reaction was an explosion in the room. "I don't want to attend this university in the first place, much less room with an idiot!"

"Oh. You already know each other. Fate works in amazing ways, wouldn't you think, Fai?" Yûko gave him a pointed look.

Of course, this was to be a part of his price--his privacy.

So he continued with his fake identity, chirping, "Kuro-chan-sama is rooming with me!" For good measure, he clapped his hands excitedly.

"Thank you, Yûko," Tomoyo said, voice laced with gratitude.

"We've known each other for years, Tomoyo. No need to be so polite," the president replied, a rare kind smile gracing her features before she drew out the pipe and inhaled.

Fai twitched at hersecond blatant provocation.

"Come on, Kuro-tan! Let's go unpack for our room!" he said, straining his smile a little bit as he grabbed Kurogane's arm.

"Wait, Fai," Yûko said, jingling going on behind his back. "Your room keys. Dorm M3. And don't drag away Tomoyo and her brother yet. I still have something to discuss with them."

He swung around, tiptoeing like a ballerina and taking it from Yûko daintily. "Thank you, Yûko-chan!" Then, turning to Kurogane, he smiled prettily and said, "Nice to meet you, again! I'll be unpacking, so I'll see you later!"

He walked calmly out of the room and closed the door behind him, taking a breath of fresh air before sprinting down the empty stairwell, a hand groping for a pack of cigarettes that weren't there and a lighter that didn't have any fluid.

Had he been anywhere but there, he would have cried as he felt his grip on his brother start to let go.

Excuse the tad OOCness of the characters--it's slightly necessary and slightly me just trying to get things right and missing.