Title: Crucible
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, angst.
Summary: Sometimes, it's handy traveling with a powerful witch or wizard. Other times, not so much. When they come to a world which hates and fears magic, Kurogane will have to move fast if he wants to keep everyone safe.
Spoilers: This story is set post-series, although there are no explicit references to series events; only that Fai is willing and able to work magic and Sakura is not traveling with them.

Author's Notes: Writing this story reminded me once again of the old fandom debates about whether or not character death in fics should be warned for. On the one hand, that's definitely a spoiler that ruins any kind of suspense the author is trying to build in the story (including that if there is NO warning, then the audience knows everyone will survive) and most professionally published works don't bother to include such warnings. On the other hand, writing a deathfic and then not warning for it is kind of a dick move.

Through all the worlds they had traveled, Kurogane had grown accustomed to standing out. For a long time it had made him uncomfortable, even embarrassed, although he tried to tell himself that he didn't care what other people thought of him, that the only thing that mattered was getting out of each new place as soon as possible so that he could get back home. Gradually, though, the discomfort had faded away, and the excuse became the truth; he had the people he belonged to, the people knew him, and he honestly could not give a damn how strange he looked to anyone else. He'd learned, too, to relax and take joy in the journey, the places and the people and his own companions.

But Kurogane was counting the hours until they were finished and could move on from this world. There was no green in this town, just rows of heavy, cramped brown buildings intersected with grimy alleys and deep stone gutters. And the people here were distinctly unfriendly to anyone who stood out. Actually, once they'd gotten local clothes, Syaoran and himself weren't so badly out of place. The people of this world were dark-skinned and dark-haired, and as long as they didn't come close enough to get a good look at his eyes, they blended right into the crowd.

Fai, on the other hand, stuck out like a sore thumb. His blond hair and light eyes drew stares everywhere he went; some merely goggling, others openly hostile. The fashions of this world, which ran heavily towards earth tones and dull red-oranges in heavy cuts, did not suit him at all; he actually looked more out of place in them than he would have in his own clothes. Even his voice - ringing out in a delighted laugh over the close, sullen air of this town - turned heads and drew glares.

Kurogane found, much to his annoyance, that it was even more of a pain to have people glaring and whispering about the mage than about himself. If such attentions were directed his way he could steel himself to ignore them, aside from keeping part of his attention open for threats. But when it was Fai, not only was he constantly on edge for someone to attack out of the blue, but he also had to worry how Fai would react to the cold treatment.

He'd long ago come to accept that Fai was just a very sensitive person; he wanted to be liked and it affected him far more than it should when people treated him coldly, even strangers. It annoyed him twice over, to be worrying about what someone thought about what someone else thought of them - not like he could do anything about it either way - but he couldn't stop. It had become habit to look after the mage, to want to protect him and make him well. No - more than a habit, a compulsion; one he couldn't have broken even if he wanted to, and he was not at all sure that he did.

So he stalked down the street behind his companions in a foul mood, one hand on Souhi's hilt as he glared daggers at the people on the street who gawped and shrank away, and could not wait to get out of here.

"Kuro-grumpy," Fai said in a playful tone, twirling around to walk backwards so he could watch Kurogane as he talked. "My back is getting blistered from that glare you're giving everyone. Lighten up, will you? Otherwise, nobody will want to talk to us!"

"Idiot," Kurogane snarled, temporarily transferring his glower to the blond instead. "It's you they have a problem with." He watched with narrow eyes as a street-stall vendor saw them coming and abruptly pulled her little girl out of the road, and the two of them disappeared behind a canvas curtain.

Fai laughed, spinning around and skipping ahead a few steps in the road, flinging his arms out in a broad gesture. "Why would they have a problem with little old me? I haven't done anything wrong. You're the one who looks like he might up and start skewering people at any time."

"How oblivious are you?" Kurogane asked in irritation, starting to be drawn into the familiar cadence of argument, when Syaoran interrupted their budding fight.

"Do you think we should split up?" Syaoran asked tentatively, glancing from one face to the next. "Maybe they'd be more willing to talk to each of us individually, instead of all together as a group." He was carrying Mokona in his satchel; the little creature was staying out of sight in this world, and would pretend to be inanimate if spotted.

Fai started to say something, but Kurogane overrode him with a firm "No. Absolutely not."

"Why not, Kurogane-san?" Syaoran asked, looking at him curiously.

"We stay together here," Kurogane said, in a voice that brooked no argument.

Syaoran looked doubtful, but nodded acceptance of Kurogane's authority; Fai gave him a bemused look, then laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Whatever Kuro-daddy says. I'm sure he knows what's best!"

There was danger in this world. Kurogane could feel it with a warrior's well-trained instincts, as surely as Mokona could sense feathers or Fai seek out magic. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it was all around them, as insidious and oppressive as the humid heat, the low-hanging gray clouds. He tightened his grip on his sword hilt, imperceptibly, and vowed that he would do whatever it took to keep his family safe.

"Whatever," he growled. "It's getting dark. Let's just find a place to stay for the night. We can worry about getting more information in the morning."

"We can ask someone where to find a good inn," Fai said, and without any further warning he was flitting off to the side of the road. A pair of children were walking slowly along the verge beside the gutter; a boy and a girl of about nine or ten. They were carrying packages, presumably on some kind of errand, although they stopped what they were doing and stared wide-eyed as Fai approached them with a friendly smile, bending down a bit to approach their eye level.

"Hello there," he addressed them in a warm, friendly tone, "Do you two live around here? Do you know this area?"

The girl just stood and gaped, although the boy gave a grudging nod. Fai grinned brightly. "My friends and I are new in town, and we're looking for a place to stay," he said, directing his words towards both of them. "Do you know of a good inn or hotel nearby?"

This produced some shuffling; eventually the boy pointed off down a side street, and muttered something too quietly for the others to hear. The directions seemed good enough for Fai, though, as he laughed and thanked them both. He threw a sly glance over his shoulder. "See how much further you can get with a little kindness, Kuro-grumpy?"

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "You're making a spectacle of yourself," he muttered. Random people in the street were stopping to stare, none of them too friendly.

Fai looked back at the girl, still staring riveted at him, who had barely spoken or moved since he approached them. "Why don't I give you something as a thank-you?" he asked her. He raised one hand, his slender fingers drawing symbols in the air; before Kurogane could stop him, a blue glow had formed in his palm, sparking brightly with the force of magical creation.

The blue glow illuminated the shocked, awed expression of the girl as it resolved itself into a beautiful, fanciful flower, wildly colored in blues and purples. He held it out to her; when she made no move to take it, he smiled and tucked it in her hair instead, behind her ear. "There," he said. "A pretty flower for a pretty little girl."

"Hey!"

Fai looked up as a man came striding over to them, a deep scowl on his heavy features. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?" he blustered, shoving his way into the conversation. He grabbed the flower out of the girl's hair and threw it to the ground with one fierce swipe, grinding it into the pavement with his boot. "Trying to enchant and poison our children!"

Fai stepped back a little, startled. "I'm sorry," he said automatically. "I wasn't trying to - is she your daughter, then?"

"No, but I won't stand back and watch you trying to seduce or corrupt any innocent child in this town!" The man advanced as Fai retreated, getting right into his personal space. "Who let you in here, anyway? We don't want scum like you in this town!"

"Oi," Kurogane growled as he stepped forward, grabbing the man's shoulder and pulling him back. "Don't get so pushy. He didn't mean any harm."

They were rapidly attracting a crowd; a ring of unfriendly faces surrounded them. One older woman hurried forward and pulled the boy and the girl away, rapidly disappearing from sight, although Kurogane couldn't tell by her face whether she was any blood relation to them. "We don't want your kind around our children," someone shouted from behind the crowd. "Poisoner! Faithbreaker! You shouldn't show your face around decent folk!"

Fai's expression closed off abruptly, his eyes going blank, although the fake smile stayed pasted on his face. Kurogane hated that expression, hated the smile that came with it even more, and it enraged him; who the fuck were these people, and what did they know?

"I said back off!" Kurogane snarled, flipping around to face the voice and putting one hand on his sword. The menace was heavy in the gesture, and several people shrank away.

A whistle sounded on the other side of the street, and people moved aside as another man came shouldering through the crowd. He was an older man with a distinguished gray mustache and an oddly-shaped round helmet on his head. Kurogane could have guessed he was the local law enforcement just from the way people deferred to him, even without the slightly tarnished silver badge on his coat.

"Here, what's all this, then?" he said, sounding slightly out of breath. He stared at Fai for a moment, then shook his head and eyed Kurogane without favor. "What d'you think you're doing, disturbing the peace?" he demanded.

"We were doing nothing of the sort," Kurogane said stiffly, slowly removing his hand from his weapon. They started it.

"Sir, we're travelers who just arrived in town," Syaoran said sturdily, addressing the older man with respect. "We were just looking for a place we can stay while we're on business here."

"Travelers, eh?" the constable eyed the three of them suspiciously. "Maybe you'd better keep on traveling, then, and spend the night elsewhere."

"We'll stay here as long as we need to complete our business," Kurogane rumbled, not in the mood to be conciliatory. "Are you guys always this unfriendly to strangers?"

"Strangers, eh? Well, there's some that are stranger than others," the constable said, eyeing Fai up and down. "If it comes to that, no, we don't like folks coming in here and stirring things up that they oughtn't. There's rooms for rent at the guide-house a few blocks over," he admitted grudgingly, "that might be willing to put up even the likes of you. But if you'll take my advice, strangers, you'll finish up your business as soon as you may and be on your way."

"Can't wait," Kurogane muttered between clenched teeth, as they turned towards the indicated street, followed by the angry glares of the crowd.

They found the inn eventually; haggling with the sullen old landlady for the price of a room took almost as long as walking there had. The inhabitants of this world had little enough interest in clothing or souvenirs from faraway places; only one merchant had even been willing to deal with them, and he'd only been willing to pay them for the raw value of the gold and gems for the jewelry they had to offer, completely discounting the workmanship. As a result, their supply of cash for this world was meager, and they had to manage it carefully.

The room they were given was cold and cramped, although that might have been par for the course in this place and no slight to them. Still seething over the confrontation in the street, Kurogane barely waited till the door had closed behind them in order to round on Fai.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Kurogane kept his voice down with an effort; he really would have rather shouted, but he didn't think the walls of their little room were any too thick. "Doing magic right out in the open where anyone could see it!"

"I wasn't doing any harm, Kuro-chan," Fai replied. His tone was light, but Kurogane could tell by the tiny crease between his brows - and the lack of any more ridiculous nicknames - that he was upset, too. "It was just a trifle for children, nothing serious. There's no reason - " He cut himself off abruptly, and set his mouth.

"If it was nothing serious, then why did everyone else in the street freak out?" Kurogane snarled. "We have no idea what this country thinks of magic. That was probably the worst way to draw attention to yourself you could have come up with if you'd taken a poll!"

"And when did Kuro become the expert on magic?" Fai returned tartly. "Either this world knows about magic or they don't. If they don't have it, then they'll assume it was just a trick - and if they do, then they'll understand."

"But that's not necessarily true, Fai-san," Syaoran objected. He came back from where he'd been stowing their gear on the bare shelves this room had to offer, and sat on the edge of the bed with Mokona in his lap looking up at Fai. "Not every place that knows about magic is understanding about it. There are some places in the world where people think that all magic is evil, and anyone who does it must be too."

"What?" Fai looked surprised, then amused. "Now why would they ever think that?"

"Ignorant people are afraid of things they don't understand," Kurogane growled. "It's easier to hate than to learn."

"And they're afraid of people having power over them, especially power that they don't have any way to defend themselves from," Syaoran said quietly. "In the world that I came from - well, not any more, but way back in history hundreds of years ago - terrible things happened all the time. If you were accused of being magic - even if you didn't actually have any, even if someone just accused you out of spite - then you could be arrested, even hanged." His expression, when he looked up at Fai, was very grave.

"It's true!" Mokona piped up, little features scrunched in an expression of distress. "Mokona saw pictures, in history books Yuuko had. Sometimes people were even burned alive!"

"Burned alive?" Fai's tone was shocked, and for a moment Kurogane hoped that they were getting through to him. In the next moment, however, he burst out laughing. "Why, what a silly and pointless thing to do!"

"Shut up!" Kurogane rose from his seat to tower over Fai, his temper flaring. "This isn't a joke! Why can't you take something seriously for once?"

"Was it really not like that at all where you came from, Fai-san?" Syaoran's voice intervened, his tone obviously placating.

"No, not at all." Fai's laughter subsided, and he turned away. At least he had the grace to look apologetic, touching Kurogane in the arm as he moved past him to put his own things on the shelves. He paused, his hands still flat on the white wood, with his back to them.

"In my home... in the place I was born... magic was considered a great blessing," Fai said softly. All the humor had gone out of his tone, and Kurogane recognized how hard it still was for him to talk about these things. "It was terrible luck to harm or kill someone who was born with the gift; that would anger the gods, to reject their favors. That was why... even when..."

Fai was struggling now, words and even whole sentences seeming to get blocked in his throat. "They decided they couldn't... just kill us, even though..."

"You don't have to say it," Kurogane said shortly, turning away to settle by the clouded window. "It's fine."

Fai turned around quickly, meeting his eyes, and then smiled. He changed the subject. "Afterwards, when I got to Ceres, everybody was very pleased that I had magic," he said cheerfully. Kurogane suspected much of that cheer to be feigned, but at least this was a subject he could talk about. "Ashura taught me everything - and he had me use my skills to help the people of Ceres - controlling floods and putting out fires, rescuing people trapped under landslides, helping the crops grow, all things like that. I was always happy that my magic could help people, and they were always so glad to see me..."

He moved back into the room and sat down, shrugging his shoulders a little bit. "So I guess it's a little hard for me to imagine why people would hate and fear something that can do so much good."

"I guess different worlds and cultures really are very different," the boy suggested.

"People are stupid," Kurogane summed it up much more succinctly.

"Either way, it really looks like the people in this world don't like magic," Syaoran added. "So we should try to respect the local customs."

"If you say so," Fai said, with a shrug and a cheeky smile.

Kurogane growled, recognizing the evasiveness behind that reply. "Not good enough," he said sharply. "I want you to promise that you won't do magic in this world - or any world unless you know it's safe."

Fai sighed, sounding much put-upon, but Kurogane's glare did not relent. "All right, I promise," he said; and if he sounded peevish and pouty, at least that meant he was probably sincere. "Kuro-sama is so strict!"

"Somebody has to be, or God knows what trouble you'd get into," Kurogane grumbled.

They weren't expecting the knock at the door.

Giving his two companions a warning look, Kurogane rose to answer it. In the cramped low-roofed design of this place, his body was almost sufficient to completely block the rest of the room from view - or from line of fire, if that became necessary.

His fighting tension eased a bit - although not completely - when he recognized the clothes of the two men standing in the corridor; they were wearing the brown-and-navy uniform of constables. There were only two of them, and neither had their weapons in hand, Kurogane noted with a faint edge of scorn.

"Yeah?" he growled.

The senior of the pair stepped forward and cleared his throat nervously, his expression slightly queasy but resolute. "Mr... Kurogane?" he asked.

"That's me," Kurogane said warily. (After the fiasco in Outo country, Kurogane had vowed never to let Fai register their names for anything ever again.) "Whaddya want?"

"We're here to investigate a report of an... incident that occurred on Sledge Street earlier today," the junior of the pair said. "You were identified by several eyewitnesses as provoking a fight and threatening violence with an illegal weapon."

"I didn't start anything. He came up and started trouble with us," Kurogane said in annoyance. "Go arrest the guy who starting mouthing of to us in the first place."

"Kurogane-san? Who's at the door?" Syaoran intervened, no doubt in an attempt to keep the situation from escalating. He elbowed Kurogane aside; with some reluctance, Kurogane gave way. "Oh. Excuse us, officers; is there some trouble?"

"Well, there have been complaints," the constable said, turning to the less hostile Syaoran with some relief. "We don't take too kindly to strangers in this town, especially not ones that make trouble on their first day."

"We're very sorry to have caused trouble," Syaoran apologized. "But really, we didn't mean to start anything. We were only defending ourselves, from a man who seemed very hostile and unreasonable."

"That's as may be," the senior constable said. "But the fact remains, young man, that your companion here is carrying around a dangerous weapon completely without any kind of license. This is a peaceful place. We can't have just any lunatic running around armed. You'll need to come along to the station with us now."

"I'm not giving up my Ginryuu," Kurogane said flatly, a dangerous edge in his voice. "In your dreams."

"That won't be necessary," the constable said hastily. "But we need you to fill out the registration forms in order to issue a temporary license. Also, we need to get your statement from the incident this afternoon."

Kurogane's eyebrows went up despite himself, and he rocked back on his heels. Paperwork? Not exactly the threat he'd been steeling himself up to face...

"Just me?" he asked.

"Unless your companions are carrying any weapons on their person..." He paused, and Syaoran shook his head solemnly. Probably not the best time to bring up the weapons secured away in Mokona, but that didn't exactly count, now did it? "Just you, then."

Kurogane frowned. Something about this situation didn't seem quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. A trip down to the station for filling out forms that would be irrelevant in a day or two was a pain in the ass, but... they only wanted him, none of the others. If this was some kind of set-up, why target the one member of their party most obviously able to defend himself?

"Do you think it's safe for you to go, Kurogane-san?" Syaoran asked, turning away from the door and lowering his voice for a whisper. Apparently his thoughts had been leading along the same lines. "It could be some ambush..."

"Random thugs aren't likely to jump two cops," Kurogane said quietly. "And if they're planning something themselves, why not just arrest me flat out? I might as well go along with them and see what they have in mind. Besides," he said and his hand drifted towards his sword hilt, although he was careful not to touch it, "they'll find I'm not as easy to take down as all that."

"Okay," Syaoran agreed, although his eyes were full of doubt.

Kurogane turned and surveyed the room; Fai and Mokona, both out of line of sight from the door, watched with curiosity and concern. "I'll be back in an hour or two," he announced. "You all stay inside where it's safe. I don't want you wandering out in the streets where any two-bit thug could jump you."

"We'll stay in the room," Syaoran promised.

Kurogane turned back to the police, and stepped out into the corridor. "All right," he said, closing the door behind him and hearing the lock fall shut, "let's get this over with."

Kurogane kept an eye on his surroundings he walked through the streets, flanked by the two constables. Not many people were out at this hour, but he could feel dozens of eyes on him from the windows of the houses; could see the bodies huddled in the doorways and alley mouths. No one approached or called out to them, whether out of fear of him or caution for the police Kurogane wasn't sure, but he wasn't particularly worried. Nobody here was likely to be much of a fighter.

The police station they took him to was a slightly newer building than the rest, towards the center of town; it was built of stone, unlike the firetrap wood and thatch houses further out, and slightly more spacious. Fortunately, it was still close enough that he wasn't out of range of Mokona; he could still understand everything the constables said, both the two who had come to detain him and several more, including the one he'd seen in the street the other day.

That didn't seem like so much of a boon when they engaged in a lengthy, repetitive, boring interview; Kurogane kept his answers short and uninformative, so as not to give away any more of their past or purpose than they had to, but the constables didn't even seem to care. They worked their way through a monotonous list of increasingly banal, unimportant questions about where he'd been on the day of the incident, had he ever encountered Citizen Palmer before that date, did he have any known record of crimes in this county or any adjacent counties... on and on, until Kurogane was sure he'd burned up his allotted hour in record time; it felt more like six.

Even Mokona's translation didn't help him one bit to read the papers they put in front of him, though; Kurogane was perfectly willing to just scribble his name wherever they indicated, since they'd be gone in a few days anyway. Instead, the officers insisted on reading the whole form out to him, in a slow, monotonous cadence that dulled to a buzz in Kurogane's ears. He fidgeted restlessly, looking around for some kind of timepiece.

There was no clock, but his eyes came to rest upon a small, barred window. The sky had been hazy overcast all day, gray clouds tinged with brown smog, and sunset had been a gradual dimming of the light to black. Now, however, the overcast haze visible through the window had an eerie orange glow.

Kurogane sat up straight and stared out the window, the first klaxons of alarm beginning to course through his system. No, this town didn't have street lighting; all the streets and buildings nearby were dark. The orange light was coming from somewhere else. "What the hell is that?" he demanded abruptly.

The feelings of wrongness only increased when every one of the police officers refused to look out the windows, instead keeping their gazes determinedly straight forward. "It's none of our business," one of them replied in a low voice, although Kurogane couldn't tell which one of them had said it.

"What do you mean, it's none of your business?" Kurogane pushed back from the table, the chair legs scraping piercingly over bare stone, and strode over to the window. He craned his neck, trying to get a better look at the source of the light; yes there was a column of smoke rising, underlit by the evil orange glow. "Your damn city is on fire!"

"It's got nothing to do with us," another one of the constables said. As Kurogane whirled around, looking from man to man, he saw the same blank, deliberately wooden expression on every face. "We aren't doing anything."

"What's the hell is wrong with you? You're the law! You're supposed to be supporting peace and order!" Kurogane shouted.

None of the policemen would meet his eyes; none except the youngest constable, his features set in a mask of righteous defiance. "Sometimes, the law doesn't go far enough," he said. "Sometimes, there are things that are beyond the law. But if ordinary men and women decide to take action... decide to rid themselves of the filth and perversion among them... well, then the best the law can do is step aside and let the will of citizens be carried out."

Realization clicked in Kurogane's head, along with a sudden blossoming of horror: why they had come for him, and not for Fai. Why they'd carefully isolated and neutralized the biggest threat before they made their moves. They'd been getting him out of the way .

Seizing his sword in one hand, Kurogane went for the door, only to find it was locked behind them. He whirled around and swept the assembled policemen with a searing glare. "Open this damn door right now!"

Several of the constables started towards them; and *now* they had weapons out, if only metal-banded wooden bats. "You're still in custody," one of them said. "Resisting arrest -"

To hell with this. Kurogane drew his sword, and, ignoring the suddenly scrambling constables, whipped it around towards the metal door in a shattering blow. " Senryuu hikugen! "

The door - and indeed much of the stone wall - blew outwards. The constables shouted in alarm as they ducked, arms over their heads as they ducked falling debris, but Kurogane paid no heed to them. This was all to distract him, slow him down. He stepped over the crumpled door, picking his footing carefully through the rubble until he reached the road and then he ran.

The streets were crowded with people, now, far more than there should have been this late at night. Many of them were carrying weapons or tools, others torches. There seemed no cohesion, no leadership among them; they gave way to him as he ran down the street with his sword bare, steel flashing in the ugly red firelight. But he could sense their presences closing in behind.

He skidded to a stop at the inn where they'd camped for the night, and fear hammed in his throat as he beheld the damage. The door had been broken down, the little lobby trashed; the landlady who'd so grudgingly taken their money was nowhere to be seen. But there was curiously little activity going on for a mob scene; people were wandering around more or less aimlessly, in the little alleys surrounding the building. Was it all over already? Clenching his teeth, Kurogane stepped through the splintered portal and charged up the stairs.

He found Syaoran on the landing, arms full of their gear and of Mokona. The boy looked shocked and dazed, right hand clutching his left arm as though he'd been hurt. There was no sign of Fai. Mokona's ears perked when Kurogane appeared at the top of the stairs, and her delighted cry made Syaoran turn and his expression light up with relief. "Kurogane-san!" he cried.

"Where is he?" Kurogane demanded; a quick look showed their little room to be empty. The furniture was overturned, the hanging torn down, although it had been so spartan in the first place that there wasn't much to wreck.

No need to ask which 'he.' "We heard shouting and footsteps outside," Syaoran said in a rush. "Fai-san went out the window. He told me to get someplace out of the way, keep Mokona safe in case we had to get away. But we couldn't go on to the next world without you here..."

"The cops were in on it," Kurogane hissed, still seething with fury over his innocent gullibility. He controlled his anger with an effort, sheathing his weapon and leaning over to inspect Syaoran's arm. "We've got to get that idiot and get out of here. Are you hurt?"

Syaoran shook his head, although the wince when Kurogane gripped his arm said otherwise. "They weren't looking for me," he said. "But all the people came up here - and they didn't find him - there was a lot of shouting and shoving for a while."

"Somebody pushed us into a wall," Mokona piped up. "Mokona almost got crushed..."

"Get a sling to support it as best you can and then follow after me," Kurogane ordered him. "Don't bring out your own weapon. We aren't looking to start a fight with a whole city if we can help it. We're just going to find him and then leave as quickly as we can."

"Okay," Syaoran said shakily, and began fumbling with the long sleeve of his shirt, Mokona's tiny hands pulling helpfully along.

Kurogane left them to it. He crossed the room and stuck his head out the window; much too narrow to accommodate his wide shoulders, only someone as skinny as the mage could have managed it. He went back out, taking the steps two at a time, and stopped in the ruined doorway of the building. He stared out into the smoky haze of the night, barely seeing the forms of the milling bodies that shrank away from him.

So Fai had run. And they hadn't found him yet, or these losers wouldn't still be hanging out here. If there was one thing Fai excelled at, it was evading things he didn't want to face; Kurogane had reason to know that.

"Which way should we go?" Syaoran said from behind him. They'd barely been in this city a day; not nearly long enough to learn its layout and its quirks, its safe and dangerous spaces. The townspeople would know the layout far better than them, know exactly where to look to find a fugitive. The town center especially was a bad place for a man trying to hide. The buildings were newer, the streets wider and straighter; no twisty alleyways to break the clear lines of sight, the official stone buildings too tall and solid to climb to the rooftops.

If Fai had any sense, he would have headed out of town, towards the woods bordering the village. Wilderness was wilderness anywhere. Once in the scrub, these useless city dwellers would have had no chance of finding him. They could beat about in the brush all night and tire themselves out; then in the morning they could find their missing companion and get the hell out of dodge.

But if Fai had gone looking for Kurogane...

"This way," Kurogane said, and took off at a run.

Even at this hour of the night, the streets were alive with people; half the town's adult population must be out in this mob. How the hell had they organized this many, this fast? Or were most of these people just reacting to the excitement and bloodthirst of the chase, with no clear idea of what they were hunting? Certainly many of the people they pushed past in the street seemed confused, aimless, although no less dangerous for all that.

Kurogane led the way, clearing a path; few enough people were willing to stand in his way, with the bared threat of his sword and murderous scowl. Behind his back, however, they grew bolder; a few women gathered on a second-floor balcony, no doubt thinking themselves safely out of reach, shouted threats and insults down on his head. In the shadows of an alleyway behind them, a figure stooped, then straightened and hurled a chunk of brick at the travelers.

It was a poor throw, and Kurogane deflected it contemptuously with his metal arm, the force of the collision shattering the brick to dust. The unseen brick-thrower melted into the shadows before Kurogane's searching glare, but Kurogane wasn't worried about him specifically. One or two missiles was not a problem, but if the whole mob got ideas, he couldn't possibly deflect them all...

"We can't keep this up forever, Kurogane-san," Syaoran said from behind him. The boy's expression was pale, and Kurogane didn't doubt that his hurt arm was giving him trouble. "We won't find Fai-san just by going around the streets at random!"

He knew the boy was right, but he couldn't come up with any alternative right now. Just as he was about to suggest going back to the broken police station - as a rendezvous point if nothing else - they both heard the roar of dozens of voices rising from the streets ahead of them, the triumphant bay of hunting dogs bringing their quarry to bay. All around them, heads turned as if drawn by a magnet, and people began to flow along the streets towards the source of the noise.

"They found him," Syaoran whispered, and Kurogane swore.

"Come on, " he said, and while a part of him knew that he must not leave Syaoran behind - the boy was injured and wouldn't be safe on his own - he could not keep from quickening his pace as he pushed his way through the rapidly thickening crowd.

They burst out of the narrow streets onto a broad cobbled plaza, and for a moment the noise and activity of the mob left them stunned. The hostile townspeople hardly paid any attention to them now, lost amidst the press of the crowd. All attention was diverted to a broad ring cleared in the center of the plaza. The tall iron flagpole, now bare of any pennant, was piled high around with stacks of wood.

The air was electric with excitement and hunger, full of the babble of shouting voices. There was an almost festival glee to the air, as though people had gathered to see an especially captivating show. Syaoran had to grab Kurogane's arm and pull him down to be able to hear him even when shouting; "There he is!"

Kurogane followed Syaoran's pointing arm to a cluster of activity on the far side of the square, people drawing back to clear a space as a handful of men struggled forward. They had between them a bound figure, clothes rumpled and dark-stained at the knees and elbows, with a dark hood drawn over the head. He hadn't spotted Fai at first - even though the man's height meant he towered over this world's shorter inhabitants by a head - because he'd looked for and missed the shock of pale hair that marked him as an outsider, an alien.

None of the townspeople seemed to want to go near Fai, even the men who'd captured and constrained him. Instead they had tied rope around each of his wrists, and used it to pull him along; Fai stumbled along as if drunk, or dazed. Others gathered around the unspoken perimeter, screaming and jeering epithets; one woman darted into the open space carrying a bucket, and flung the contents of a dark, noisome liquid across Fai. The whole parade dragged him forward, towards the stake and the piled faggots of wood, and it was all too clear now what they intended.

Kurogane was shouting, too, barely heard over the noise of the crowd, as he struggled to make his way forward through the tight press of bodies to reach the open space. The mass weight of humanity pushed him back; the nearest people couldn't retreat from his sword even if they wanted to, and there was no room in here to even swing Ginryuu.

As he struggled against the crowd, Fai's captors dragged him the rest of the way across the square and clambered up on the woodpile, pulling his arms around behind the pole and wrapped the ropes around his torso. One of them snatched the dark hood away from his head, uncovering his face; even across the distance, Kurogane could see the disorientation in his face, the shock and disbelief in his expression as he groggily shook his head to clear it. "Fight back!" he shouted, unheard in the noise of the mob. "Damn it, fight!"

Their task finished, the men scrambled away from the pyre with alacrity. They looked almost as though they wanted to make a speech, some way to commemorate the occasion, but the crowd would have none of it; one torch-bearing man, shouldering his way through the crowd, stepped forward and threw his brand on the pile.

Kurogane had expected to have more time. If nothing else, he should have had a few seconds - precious seconds while the fire took hold and began to kindle - to make it across the plaza. But the wood of the bonfire had been well doused in oil; and so, he realized, had Fai's clothes. The fire blazed up with a terrible roar, filling Kurogane's world with blistering light. Flames raced across the woodpile and enveloped Fai, catching hold in his clothes and leaping to hide him from view.

The whole world seemed to narrow down to the clearing in the plaza, the noise of the crowd was a muted him in Kurogane's ears. It took him a few moments to even realize that he was screaming, the voice ripping its way out of his lungs and scouring his throat raw.

The space between him and the pyre opened up abruptly, the bodies that had plagued him melting away; he was in front of the fire now, and blood hissed and sizzled on Ginryuu's blade in the scorching force of the heat. He had no idea, no idea how many he'd killed, and he didn't care.

Somewhere over the din, he heard Syaoran's voice, distant and dim - "Mokona! Get us out of here now!" They were still too far away - even if Mokona could transport them all, there was no way they could not be separated on the other side - but there was no more time.

It was impossible to breathe in the superheated air; the smoke overpowered everything. Kurogane plunged forward into the flames, heedless of the heat and pain that bit into his hands. Smoke filled his eyes, blinding him with black grit and tears; he could no longer distinguish clothes, or hair, or facial features, only a dark silhouette against the fire's heart. Ginryuu flashed forward, severing the ropes, and he grabbed the body tight in both arms, pulling him tight against his chest. His eyes were full of smoke and ashes, blinded to anything else in the plaza; he could smell nothing but the reek of burning cloth and hair. squeezing his eyes tightly closed as his momentum carried them both forward to safety.

He felt more than he saw the familiar rushing buzz of Mokona's portal-magic starting up - he doubled over, coughing uncontrollably as the smoke filled his lungs, and as the vision of this cursed world faded away his consciousness faded with it. The last thing he was aware of was the body he clutched tightly in his arms, burning and freezing his skin all at once, but he would not let go.

Kurogane swam through unconsciousness, lit by flashes of nightmare. They'd changed worlds again, all four of them; there had been no mistaking the dizzying rush of transport. He had no idea where the others were, or what sort of world they had landed in this time. He didn't want to know; he clung to unconsciousness because he was afraid of what he would have to face when he opened his eyes.

Fai had been completely consumed by the flames. Kurogane had no idea if what he'd carried out of the bonfire into the next world was even a living body, or a charred cinder. No idea which was better. Kurogane had seen terrible burn victims before, pulled from the smoking ruins of Suwa; skin burned to cinders, screaming and moaning with broken voices from blind, eyeless faces. There was no recovering from such dire wounds, no way to salve the terrible pain save one. Death was a mercy, rather than being forced to live through such unending torment. If Fai was - if Fai still lived, then Kurogane would be merciful, must be merciful.

He came to realize that he was lying on his back on a rough surface, yet soft enough that someone must have placed him there. A light blanket of the same material covered him, scraping painfully over his burned skin as he shifted to breathe. They must have arrived somewhere safe, then, or at least found someone kind enough to help. Were Syaoran and the others nearby? If so, Fai must be close, too.

Pain seared his world, a sharp agony radiating from his burnt hand. From his metal arm he could feel nothing, of course; but at the joint where the arm met the shoulder there was a deep, throbbing ache where the heated metal had burned his shoulder. If he was feeling this, from only the few seconds he'd touched the fire... He had to wake up. He had to get up and face the world, not hide like a coward in unconsciousness.

His awareness of the world was coming back, although he had not yet opened his eyes. Someone was sitting by his bedside, their aura flickering faintly in the otherwise quiet room. A light touch drifted over his face, brushed the bangs back from his forehead; a cool hand placed a damp cloth on his forehead, soothing the miserable heat radiating from his burned skin.

He opened his eyes.

Fai was sitting by his bedside, a damp cloth in hand, smiling down at him apologetically. The light gleamed in his hair and in his bright blue eyes; he was completely unmarked.

"You're alive!" Kurogane gasped, the vision shooting through him like a comet trail, a searing wave of hope and relief. He felt a wave of disorientation swim over him as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew had happened.

"Sorry to have worried you," Fai said softly. He glanced down at the floor, reached out and took Kurogane's hand in his own, squeezing slightly. "Mokona transported us all; we're in a different world, now. Unfortunately, Syaoran-kun and Mokona were a little ways away, so they didn't end up in the same place, but they shouldn't be too far. Once Kuro-sama is awake and feeling better, we can start trying to find them."

Kurogane slumped back against the mattress, still stunned by relief and disbelief. His hand and arm and face still throbbed where they'd been burned, so he knew it hadn't all been a dream. "You're not even singed," he said faintly. "I saw you - in the fire. How...?"

"I said to Syaoran-kun that it was silly and pointless to try to burn witches," Fai said in that same soft voice. He turned their joined hands over, his own on top, and Kurogane felt a sudden chill against his palm. Blue light blossomed over Fai's skin, spreading to cover the back and palm of his hand and spreading rapidly up his forearm; under Kurogane's fingers, the skin felt suddenly as cold and hard as ice. "Because real witches can shield themselves from fire. It's a very simple thing to do."

Kurogane let his head fall back, letting out a long, slow breath. Slowly the sick churning in his middle started to settle, as he began to believe that Fai really was all right, he was unhurt.

In the face of his continuing lack of response, Fai kept talking. "The shield protected me from the heat," he said. "But what I didn't realize is that the fire took away all the air; I couldn't breathe at all in there. If Kuro-sama hadn't come to get me, then in another minute or so I would have passed out, and then the shield would have disappeared. It was pretty scary." He tried to make light of the possibility, but his smile faltered.

"Why didn't you fight back?" Kurogane growled. He wanted to be angry at Fai for his carelessness, for letting himself be put in mortal danger that way, but he couldn't muster more than a numb hurt and frustration. "I don't understand. I know you're strong enough; why didn't you defend yourself?"

Remorse filled Fai's blue eyes; he leaned in closer and placed his other hand on the side of Kurogane's face, a cool and comforting touch. "I'm sorry, Kuro-sama," he repeated in a whisper. "I don't have an excuse, not really. I got hit on the head, and I wasn't completely sure of where I was, or what was going on. All those people shouting, and the lights shining in my eyes, I couldn't focus enough to fight my way free."

"So it wasn't because of - what I said to you?" The one thought that plagued him, the one thing he could never have forgiven himself for, was the memory of the promise he'd made Fai give him - the promise that he wouldn't do magic in that world. If Fai had gotten hurt while trying, in some stupid way, to keep his word to Kurogane...

"No, no," Fai assured him. "It just - it all happened so fast. I thought - I kept thinking, right up until the very last second - that there would be some way to get free without hurting anybody."

Kurogane nodded wearily, accepting Fai's word, understanding Fai's deep reluctance to harm others even if he didn't agree. "Well, next time, you'd better be willing to hurt someone," was all he said. "Before one of us gets hurt."

"I'm sorry," Fai said for a third time; Kurogane was getting really tired of hearing it. He didn't want to talk, he just wanted to hold Fai close until the reality of his presence sank in and the fear and the pain went away. But Fai insisted on pushing away, reaching out to capture Kurogane's hands, trailing a feather-light cool touch over the angry red blisters rising on the skin. "I was stupid. And Kuro-sama got hurt saving my idiot skin. Somehow it always happens like this."

Despite the light tone, there was dismay in the tightening of his lips, regret lurking in the deep blue of his eyes. Kurogane could see Fai wondering - even if he knew better by now than to voice it, at least in Kurogane's presence, still in some silent thoughts he wondered - if he was really worth it in the end. If Kurogane wouldn't have been better off without him after all.

"I thought I would die," Kurogane said, and his smoke-roughened voice came out as a croak.

Alarm flashed across Fai's face, and his form tensed, although he covered it up quickly with a freshly bright smile, best bedside manner. "That wouldn't have happened, I'm sure!" he said in a cheerful, reassuring tone. "Kuro-puppy is very tough! It would take more than a crowd and a little fire to do him in!"

"You don't understand," Kurogane growled, and abruptly shifted his grip on Fai's hand, pulling him in close. "I thought I would die if I lost you. If I let you get killed." That thought still hurt inside his chest, worse than all the pain of the burns combined, only eased by Fai's presence and Fai's closeness.

Fai made a little noise, half-soothing and half-anxious question. "Kuro-sama -"

"The last time this happened," Kurogane said, overriding his plaint. "The last time I felt like this was the night my parents died."

Fai stilled, his hands resting lightly over Kurogane's ribs, pressed in to feel his heartbeat. Kurogane closed his eyes, dry and stinging still from the heat of the fire.

"I don't remember what happened after I picked up my father's sword. Even now, I don't really remember. I only know what they told me afterwards, what I saw on the ground when I came back to myself. I killed every demon that came within my reach. And when the Imperial soldiers came to relieve the town - I killed them too. I couldn't stop myself. It took the Tsukuyomi's power to snap me out of it, bring me back to my senses.

He opened his eyes again, met Fai's wide blue ones and held him steadily. "Tomoyo is worlds away, now. And I'm a hundred times stronger now than I was then," he said, no boasting in his voice, just fact. "If you died - if I lost myself again - I don't think I could stop. I don't think I'd want to stop, not until everything in the world that killed you was dead."

It wasn't pleasant, but he had to make Fai understand this. He'd sacrifice a hundred, a thousand lives to save this one. The knowledge had flashed on him in the city square when the torch hit the kindling: that without Fai he didn't give a damn about the world, any world. Not that he didn't love other people as well; he would grieve to lose Syaoran, rage to lose Tomoyo, but his life would go on without them. It wouldn't go on without Fai, because Fai was his life now.

"So don't you let yourself die," he said fiercely, his hands tightening on Fai's until he was sure the grip must be painful. "Understand? Don't you ever let yourself die before me, or I'll kill you."

Fai's eyes widened, going soft, and his lips parted. In his expression, mirroring his own, Kurogane was finally able to put a name to the terrible feeling that was driving him; the fierce urgency and wild fear, the pain and the mad yearning. So this was love, he thought. Was it always supposed to hurt this much? Maybe it was the only way it could.

"That's a terrible thing to put on me, Kuro-sama," Fai murmured, but he didn't sound too displeased.

"I'm not going to apologize," Kurogane returned. His hand tightened on Fai's. It hurt too much to sit up right now, so instead he drew the other man down to him, and kissed him.

The kiss started out tender, but couldn't remain so for long; the memory of fear and loss drove Kurogane to deepen it hungrily, searching for a deeper connection. The fingers of his human hand, brushing through Fai's silk-soft hair, encountered a sticky ragged patch; Fai winced and pulled away.

"They hit you," Kurogane said, ardor quenched abruptly in a resurgence of anger. "They hurt you."

"I already told you they did, Kuro-sama," Fai said, tired and reproving. "It doesn't matter any more. They're all behind us now."

"I'm not going to apologize," Kurogane insisted again, and he wasn't quite sure what he meant; for forgetting what Fai had told him, for bearing a grudge against Fai's tormentors, for the people he had killed and left lying in the street coming to Fai's rescue. For falling in love with Fai at all.

Instead, he pulled Fai firmly down into his arms, wrapping the human and the metal one both around him tight. There, that was better; that finally made the fierce aching in his chest begin to quiet down. Kurogane settled in to wait until it was finally gone.

After a few moments of silence, Fai wriggled tentatively in his grip. "Um," he said. "Shouldn't we get up? You need treatment, after all, and we should start trying to find Syaoran and Mokona..."

"No," Kurogane said firmly, pulling him back in.

"No?" Fai asked, although he slowly relaxed, deliciously warm and limp in Kurogane's arms.

"This is fine," Kurogane said.

~end.