Warning: CHARACTER DEATH! This isn't a fluffy love story, it's a tragedy! So if you don't want to read something like that or don't like KuroFai, please click the back button now!

A/N: Whew, exams are finally done and I can continue to write again! I'm so glad! Anyway, here's another KuroFai oneshot, though obviously this one's not nearly as cheerful as most of my others... Enjoy!

Blood. So much blood. Spilling down Fai's face, drenching his clothes and Kurogane's as well as the ninja held him tightly in his arms, not wanting to ever let go, afraid that if he did he would lose him forever.

But even by holding him like that he would still lose him.

Kurogane didn't deny the inevitable. Even when he wanted to more than anything, when his heart was screaming that this couldn't happen, this wasn't supposed to happen, Fai wasn't supposed to die!

Gently pushing a few strands of cornflower colored hair out of Fai's face, Kurogane pressed his palm to the mage's eye, wishing he could stop the flow of blood though he knew it was hopeless.

Nothing mattered anymore. Kurogane had completely drowned out the noise of the two Syaorans fighting close by and the cries of a distressed Sakura, eyes and ears focused only on the blond in his arms.

Fai. Why? Why you? Why not me? I'm the one who should be lying there covered in blood, not you! I'm the one who tears through people with his blade, relentlessly killing! I'm the one with the crimson-tainted soul!

The ninja remembered the first time he'd seen the mage, when they'd both arrived in Yuuko's shop. He'd thought Fai so strange dressed in those heavy, pure white robes, even though he was dressed no more normally himself. His first feeling was annoyance as the mage began to call him silly, ridiculous names that only got worse as they began their journey together. He didn't know where that feeling of annoyance began to contrast into something else, something deeper and much more complicated. He didn't know when he began to fall in love.

Through the months as he traveled with the mage and others, Kurogane began to change, to become something other than the cold, ruthless man he once was.

Perhaps it was the smiles; Fai's few real smiles that melted his heart of ice and made him want to do anything to please the other man.

Maybe it was the way Fai teased him, annoying though it might be, Kurogane found himself warming to it, though he'd never admit it. No one had ever given him nicknames before.

Or it could be those deep, haunting sapphire eyes, eyes full of sorrow and pain, eyes with knowledge beyond what Kurogane knew.

Whatever it was, nothing could erase his feelings for the other man, nothing could change this.

"Why the hell didn't you fight back?" Kurogane growled, rage beginning to fill him. "Why did you just stand there while he did this to you?"

"Because…" came a quiet voice, and Kurogane was startled to see the mage's only eye opening slightly, a hand reaching to drip his shirt weakly. "Because it wasn't his fault. He couldn't control his actions."

Kurogane began to protest, but Fai pressed a shaking finger to his lips. "There's no use… arguing over it…. It won't… help anything. I'm going… to die no matter… what." Fai's breath was coming in shaky gasps, and Kurogane held him all the tighter, fingers threading through soft blond hair, stroking silky locks.

"I love you," the beautiful blond mage whispered, staring into Kurogane's eyes for just a second before his head fell back against the ninja's shoulder, figure going limp.

Kurogane hugged Fai's form to him, lips pressing to his forehead. "I love you too," he murmured, breathing becoming ragged, body starting to shake as the tears that threatened him overflowed from crimson eyes and spilled down his cheeks like rivers. "I love you so much…."

A/N: So, what did you think? Do I completely suck at tragedy? Please don't flame, though constructive criticism is always welcome. Review please! ^.^