AN: The last chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!

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"Eternal Morning"

Chapter 3

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Mornings were becoming a pain in the ass.

Kurogane hated the way the sun was always in his eyes. With no rise and set of the sun, he had to rely on the movement of the nuns in the convent. Morning prayers were amplified by the stone walls. Breakfast and lunch were always served right when his stomach grumbled. Afternoons were filled with activities (whatever activities nuns did) and by the time dinner arrived, Kurogane felt heavy, like the day had dropped a heavy burden on his shoulders and would not let up until he slept.

Since the day they arrived in this world, Kurogane kept count thus, and for five days he watched Fai intently.

Five days. Five days since he had woken up. Five days since he had fed for the first time consciously. Kurogane grew increasingly worried that all his efforts to keep Fai alive were for naught, since it seemed that Fai sensed his apprehension and stayed far away, spending most of his time at the edge of the ocean. But at least Kurogane always knew where he was.

Fai couldn't escape that.

Kurogane brought up the fact that they hadn't searched for the feather as much as they should have now that Fai was awake. He urged Syaoran to take Sakura on a casual outing. The boy sensed something was amiss, but listened to the older man without question. The children made a trip to the village to get out of the stuffiness of the convent. There were children their age to talk with, a definite change from the near silence in the old stone cloister. Kurogane made Mokona go with them. He didn't need anything to distract him from Fai.

He didn't want witnesses.

When the kids were only a few hours into their excursion, Kurogane sought out his prey.

Or perhaps it should be vice versa.

"Oi, mage. Come here." Kurogane waved Fai over from his perch on the big rock he had taken to sitting on. He felt like a sea bird pecking at crabs from there. Fai strolled over casually, his feet and the hem of his robe wet from the water. Smiling with a slight cock of his head, he asked Kurogane, oh so graciously, what he needed.

"I want to show you something."

"Oh! Kuro-pipi has a surprise?"

"Somewhat." Kurogane slid off the rock and beckoned Fai to follow. They walked back up the convent, much to Fai's chagrin. He was panting slightly because he was weak with hunger, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Kurogane. Actually, he was counting on his weakness. He led Fai back to their room and let the mage in first and quickly locked the door behind him. Then, in a swift calculated move, he kicked a very heavy trunk in front of the door. Fai regarded this coolly, for it seemed Kuro-pon had planned something very special indeed if he had to block the door.

"Now." Kurogane growled, pushing Fai against a wall. "Now you're going to eat until your gut pops, understand?"

Fai winced. "Ah, Kurogane, you're squishing me." Fai flexed his fingers against Kurogane's chest in a futile attempt to push the man away, but he was tired and hungry and Kuro-pon didn't seem to care. In fact, he pressed Fai harder against the stone.

"You won't escape. You won't use magic. So," Kurogane said, "you have only a few options to choose from to get out of this. Want me to tell you?" The ninja gripped Fai's arms tighter.

"Please do," Fai said with a pained chuckle.

"One. You fight me and run away. Two. You eat and we move on. Three. You die of hunger. Tell me which one you chose."

"Or four. How about you kill me and put me out of my misery." The smile that went from ear to ear made Kurogane furious. That little, stupid promise in Tokyo. Had he really meant it, Kurogane would kill Fai, but it was said out of desperation to get the mage to comply with his wishes. Even then, Fai's cooperation wasn't needed; he was too weak to actually accept or deny the gift of blood. But Kurogane knew Fai would never have accepted it, and so he felt in the right to make the decision for him. Perhaps he had overstepped his position as the rational adult in the group.

Kurogane finally spoke after a brief silence, "I'm not gonna kill you, idiot."

"No? You like me too much to let me die, ne?"

"Whatever." Kurogane ignored Fai's taunting words and pushed him to the bed.

"Eat," Kurogane ordered as he offered his wrist. Fai shook his head no.

Resolve can only last so long, he thought, when one is looking at the thing that can break that resolve.

Kurogane took out a knife and made a deep gash in his wrist. The blood spurted out a little before he stopped it with his other hand. He could smell the blood in the air so he knew that Fai could taste the blood already. So sweet and syrupy. Hot and salty, like the ocean air coming through the window. Fai opened his mouth a little and leaned in towards the bloody fount.

Oh, he could taste it terribly.

Kurogane slipped his fingers off and pressed the wrist to the waiting mouth which suckled gently as the first hot draught of liquid washed down his throat. Kurogane much preferred cutting into his own skin rather than the little teeth making holes for him. He placed his other hand on the back of Fai's head and encouraged him to drink more.

Fai suddenly felt trapped by this touch, so he stopped and pulled away from his prey.

"Keep going," Kurogane said, "you just started."

"Mmm," was all that came out of Fai's throat. His blue eye was fixated somewhere else.

"What are you doing? Eat!" Kurogane tried to press his wrist back to Fai, but the mage, in a quick cat-like move, knocked him down and made for the door. He almost knocked the trunk away from his only route of escape but Kurogane tackled him to the floor and pinned his arms above his head. He wearily let the blood dripping wrist waste itself on the wood below. Fai didn't even struggle.

In a soft voice he whispered, "Kurogane, don't make me do it."

He looked hard at the face below him.

A single tear had slipped from the black bindings of his left eye.

"You're right, Fai. I am selfish. Just eat today and live to fight it another day." Kurogane offered the wrist again, but it was declined by tightly pressed lips.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Kurogane whispered to the man below him. "One drink, that's all."

One drink. No more?

No more.

"It will happen again and again," Fai responded. "How many times will I have to fight you?"

"Does it matter?" Kurogane spat. "Why don't you fight the things that make you so scared to live?!"

He repeated more desperately, "Fight for your life to fight against the things that hurt you! Don't run away."

"You make it seem so easy."

The grip on his body became loose. Kurogane sat back on his feet. "It's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy."

Fai sighed heavily from his place on the floor. He could still taste Kurogane in his mouth. His tongue was saturated. How? How could he do this when it was too hard. He voiced his dilemma to Kurogane, but the man simply smirked.

Then how do you do it, Kuro-sama? Why do you keep the will to live?

Why? To see how it all ends. I want to know the end of the story…

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"There it is," Syaoran said softly, "the little island." He pointed from the prow of the little ship they had rented for the day. Sakura looked behind and saw the faint outline of the shore they had sailed from only hours earlier. The wind was strong today and the sky clear. It was a perfect day. Mokona inhaled the sea air heartily and said, "The feather is getting stronger!"

None of them knew the island was there, as they couldn't see it from the convent or the beach below. Strange how they could see the land from which they had come from on the shore of the small island.

"Do you wonder if we'll have far to walk?" Sakura wondered as they began circling the island.

Kurogane snorted lightly, "Probably not far. I've seen palaces bigger than this rock."

Fai snickered beside him. The children walked ahead with Mokona while Kurogane and Fai stayed behind.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Kurogane said as he eyed the forest they had suddenly entered.

"Ah. I'm full of Kuro-pon's blood."

"That's...gross."

Fai smiled and put his hands behind his back. "I'm glad we thanked the nuns for their hospitality before we left. If we find the feather we won't see them again." He sighed and looked up at the sky.

"I kind of liked this world with its eternal morning."

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end.