This takes place after Piffle. (yes yes I know I haven't posted Piffle yet - still in progress: 29k words, 4 chapters complete so far)

Inspired by an anon who asked on my tumblr, How would Fai react to a world in which he cannot lie?

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and its characters do not belong to me.

speak your desperate lie

"Who was it?" Kurogane asked even before he'd skidded to a halt in the dank, dark alley, one hand on Souhi's handle. Behind him, Syaoran's footsteps thundered, echoing up greasy cobblestone walls into the green-purple sky.

Fai turned slowly. He looked at Sakura first, holding her gaze when he asked, "are you all right, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded. Kurogane could tell that she was fine. Her eyes were wide, her skin was losing its pallor, and her forehead wasn't crinkled like the times she'd been in pain. Fai was a different story altogether. He hid his hurts when he could, just like Kurogane did himself, and Kurogane spent longer examining him, looking at the way he held his limbs and the way sweat gleamed on his throat.

"Are you hurt?" he asked instead, stepping closer to usher them further into the alley, away from the curious stares of the people on the street. This landing had not been good, either. They'd been separated, Kurogane with Syaoran, Fai with Sakura and Mokona. Their clothes from Piffle were far too sleek and clean, unlike the threadbare rags of this world, and Kurogane had hoped Fai would not sacrifice himself to protect the princess, if it came to that.

He scented the slightest hint of cinnamon, too subtle to have been a powerful spell, but not faint enough to have been an involuntary release.

Fai glanced up at him when he crowded close, mouth open, eyebrows raised—

And he could not speak.

Rather, his thin lips trembled, and lines creased between his brows. That blue gaze dropped, suddenly uncertain. Fai closed his mouth, opened it, and his throat worked.

Kurogane knew he could talk. Fai had spoken to Sakura not moments ago, but he seemed to have trouble with it now. Still too tight on adrenaline, he changed the subject. "We need to get out of this place."

"Yes," Fai said. He blinked in surprise, glanced to the kids, and tried a smile. "Come on, we need to get ourselves some clothes! This place doesn't look very friendly, does it?"

"We might have some old clothes in storage," Syaoran said, turning to Mokona. "Mokona-chan, could we have some clothes?"

Fai didn't meet Kurogane's gaze. His pasted-on smile wasn't as bright as it could've been, and Kurogane followed when he guided the kids behind a dumpster reeking of rotten meat. In silence, Kurogane watched as Fai went through the clothes they'd collected over the different worlds, returning one set to Mokona and asking for another. A time or two, his forehead furrowed and he couldn't talk, and Kurogane saw the way he tried until his words came through, strained for the trouble it took him.

When they'd finally got into clothes that suited this world, unwashed, tattered things from their time in the desert, Kurogane caught Fai by the elbow, hauled him aside.

"There's something wrong with you," he muttered, watching the kids from the corner of his eye. Syaoran fussed over the princess, and Mokona hopped between them. "Is it magic?"

"What?" Fai blinked rapidly. He tugged lightly on his arm to free himself, but gave up when Kurogane would not release him. "Come on, Kuro-tan. We have to leave. This is not a safe place."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Which question?" Fai's eyes narrowed, wary.

"Is it magic?"

Kurogane saw the telling twitch of his eyelid, the way Fai couldn't meet his eyes. Fai drew a deep breath, and said, "no."

"Are you hurt?" He'd seen the way the wizard's gait favored one foot above the other, so he had his suspicions.

Fai opened his mouth, couldn't speak, and sighed his frustration. "It doesn't concern you."

"You're hurt," he said. Fai didn't look up.

There were things between them that had changed, since Yama. Six months of watching that face, learning all his tells and his reactions and the ways he tried to hide, and Kurogane didn't need him to talk to hear what he wanted to say.

It struck him then, why the wizard was having so much trouble with speech. Why Fai, whose first instinct was to weave untruths of any magnitude, was not doing so here. It was a quirk of this world. Perhaps one Kurogane could utilize to his advantage.

"You can't lie here," he muttered.

Fai looked at the caked black dirt at the foot of the wall, his mouth pressed into a knife-edge line.

"Not like you have to talk. Probably better for you to keep your big mouth shut," Kurogane said on impulse. Losing one's defenses was not a good feeling, and as much of a liar as Fai was, as much as he wanted to hear the truth from those lips, it did not sit well with him to watch the wizard struggle.

Fai stared at him, eyes growing wide. "Really," he said.

Kurogane did not think about the warmth in the cage of his ribs. He released Fai's elbow, reached up to tap him lightly on the chin. "The kids will catch on. Don't want you to do that to them."

It was part-truth, or all of the truth, the way he saw it.

Fai's smile was an incredulous thing, small and amused and delighted. "You're such a father," he whispered. "Imagine that."

"Shut up."

"I need drawing materials," he continued, and Kurogane waited as thin fingers came up to grasp his sleeve. He wasn't prepared for the way Fai threw himself onto him, hacking into the back of his hand. "Kuro-daddy to the rescue," Fai said between dry coughs, flailing. "I'm not feeling— I'm in need of some support."

"What about the magic?" Kurogane asked, looking at the pale face plastered to his arm.

Fai paused. "Later."

He dragged the wizard back to the kids, who clustered around them in concern. Kurogane supposed that this world allowed pretense the way it filtered out lies. It allowed jokes, or half-truths, or things that one perceived to be the truth. It was complex, not as straightforward as he'd originally thought. What would Fai yield about his past in this world?

A/N: that's all to this world, I think? ;) posting this before Piffle because I love the piece title so much LOL I don't think there'll be a continuation.. I don't know. this world seems like it would fit right in with the "No Bumps" parasite idea though.

I also headcanon that Fai does not lie so much to the kids as he tries lying to Kurogane, and in the end he just almost stops trying to lie :P