Loss of Translation

“Fai.”

The voice was back.

“Fai.”

And now it was accompanied by a hand gently shaking his shoulder.

“Fai.”

The mage searched his brain for a response to the insistence that he wake up.

“Fai.”

There it was. “No.”

“Too bad. We need to talk.”

Fai’s eyes shot open. He’d understood that. That must mean...

“Mokona!” Fai sat up and searched the room for their puffy little translator.

“No, but this is probably the first time I’ve ever missed the little puff ball.”

Turning towards the voice, Fai saw Kurogane sitting on the floor beside him, holding a large translucent stone.

“It’s a translator, of sorts.” Kuro responded to Fai’s unspoken question. “I got it from the Witch.”

Fai reached out his hand to hold it. It was light, almost like it was filled with air. It occurred to him that if this translator had indeed come from the Time Witch, it would have had a price. Yuuko’s goods were never cheap, and Fai knew that neither Kurogane nor himself had anything of real value to pay with. Except...

“Your sword!”

Kurogane frowned and held up the object in question. Now the mage was really confused. Beside the sword, neither of them had anything of any real value. Mokona had been carrying all of their possessions.

“Then how...”

“It’s complicated. For now just accept that we have it. Got it?” Fai nodded. “Good. Now, how are you doing?”

“Great! You’re a good doctor Kuro-pu.” Fai’s grin covered half his face.

Sighing heavily, Kurogane stood and walked around Fai into the side room. Fai was about to follow him when the ninja returned holding a blanket.

“It’s okay Kuro. I’m not cold anym...” The blonde froze as the blanket was dropped next to him. It was stained a dark red and Fai could smell the dried blood. All the memories of what had happened came flooding back. He had just enough time to turn and lean over before he began retching. His entire body shook with the force and he felt Kurogane’s hands steady him. When he was certain his stomach had settled, he pulled out of his companions grasp.

“Are you alright?” Kuro asked gruffly.

Unable to trust his voice, Fai simply smiled and nodded. Kurogane frowned and sighed again, rising and pouring a cup of water from a nearby pitcher and handing it to Fai.

“Drink.”

While Fai slowly sipped the contents of the glass Kurogane called in a maid to clean up. Fai felt guilty for the mess and would have said something, had Kurogane not been standing over his shoulder looking intimidating. When she had finished, the maid nearly ran out the door, bowing hurriedly. Before Fai could admonish Kuro for his rudeness, there was a knock on the recently shut door.

Kurogane grabbed his sword and stood in front of Fai. “What is it?”

“Sir! The baths are ready for you, Sir!” Even though the voice was muffled by the door, Fai could tell the man was scared.

“Good. Dismissed.” Kuro grabbed two towels and two clean robes from the side room and tossed them to Fai.

Fai pulled them to his chest feeling the anxiety start to build. The baths? Last time he’d gone in there...

“Hey. What’s wrong?” The ninja had strapped his sword at his waist and was staring at the blonde intently.

“Not a thing! I could use a bath.” Fai attempted to stand up and was instantly thankful for Kurogane’s lighting reflexes as his legs gave out beneath him. He smiled sheepishly and Kuro sighed. Internally, Fai flinched. That sigh was starting to get worrisome. What had happened to his angrily-energetic friend?

Before he had a chance to ponder it further, Fai felt his legs swooped up from underneath him. With an arm around his shoulders and another under his legs, Kurogane proceeded to carry the mage towards the baths.

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The warm water felt like heaven on his battered body. All the pain and anguish of the last few days melted away into the healing waters. Fai let his mind drift and shortly found himself thinking of his dark-haired companion.

Kurogane’s recent actions both worried and comforted him. On one hand, the ninja had been more than gentle and caring. Massaging the pain from his legs, feeding him, carrying him when he couldn’t walk, and holding his hand while he slept. Fai smiled to himself. Syaoran had done that for Sakura. The thought that he might be as important to Kuro as Sakura was to Syaoran made his heart leap in his chest. However, the gentle touches were accompanied by heavy sighs and hidden glances. Was it because of the translator stone? Had the price been steeper than the warrior had been willing to pay? Then another thought occurred to him. What had happened to the men who had assaulted him? Kurogane was not known for either his patience or his mercy, and Fai doubted, whether the taller man had feelings for him or not, that he would have let them get away without punishment.

Unless...what if Kurogane had been in on it? With the amount of torment and annoyance he put the warrior through, retaliation was inevitable. Maybe their current situation had proved to be the most opportune. After all, Kurogane was the only one who actually spoke the language, so it would have been simple for him to plan the whole thing without Fai ever knowing what was going on. He could have ordered those men to surround him in the baths and then pretended to come to his rescue. Even after his little display with the knife, Kurogane knew that Fai was unlikely to defend himself in the event of an attack. His desire to live was still nearly nonexistent even after that little pep talk in Oto. Besides, one glance at the swordsman and few people were willing to even talk to him, let alone go behind his back and harm his companion. The only way those soldiers would have even considered assaulting him was if the person protecting him had either given them permission, or asked them to do it. Fai shook his head roughly. It couldn’t be true. Kuro would never do anything like that. He might be rough around the edges and scary as hell when he got mad, but he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt one of his friends.

Fai buried his head in his hands. Did Kurogane not consider him a friend? Was he just some nuisance the ninja was forced to put up with because of circumstance? If his sword hadn’t broken that night in Oto, would he have run it through the injured mage, ending his miserable existence right then and there? Or had he been waiting for a time when they were separated from the others? Could Fai really trust him, or would he wake one night to find himself bound and gagged and at the complete mercy of a merciless man? He began to sob.

“Kurogane...”

“Pinning for your lover?” a cruel voice sneered.

Fai froze as the blood drained from his face.

“Even after all the pleasuring we gave you, you’re still hungry for more? What a slut you are.”

He was dragged out of the water, his arms pinned behind his back. A hand grabbed his hair, yanking his head around to face one of his attackers. It was the dark haired lieutenant from before. His left eye was nearly swollen shut and his nose looked like it had been broken recently. The sneer that occupied half his face, accompanied with his other injuries, only served to make the man more terrifying. As the lieutenant released his hair and began stroking his cock, Fai could feel his body responding and began to shake.

“Well, look at what we have here. Seems I was right. You’re a filthy little whore aren’t you?”

He tried to stop his body from betraying him, but his hips bucked traitorously into the other man’s hand. The lieutenant removed his hand from Fai’s cock, sliding it down his back side and rubbing a finger around the tender entrance. Fai almost cried as his hips thrust backwards trying to drive the teasing digit into his ass. The brunette roared with laughter.

“Not yet, pet. You’ll have my cock in your ass soon enough, but first, I’ve got a present for you.”

The lieutenant leered and pulled a medium sized chain from his pants pocket. Fai blanched at the sight of it, trying to pull away, but the grip on his arms was firm, and soon the chain was secured around his neck and a rope tied to its end. His captor kicked the back of his legs and released his arms, forcing the mage on all fours in front of his assailant.

“Shall we?” And with a wave of his hand, the leader motioned towards the door, kicking Fai from behind when he didn’t move. “Don’t you want to see your present?”

Although Fai had no desire to see what sort of ‘present’ this man had in store for him, he also knew what would happen if he refused. So he crawled across the floor and out the doors. He was instantly relieved to see that the hallways were empty. The rest of the army was at the moon castle.

By the time they reached the prison cells, his knees were scraped and bleeding, and his arms sore and wobbly. A kick to his side sent him sprawling into one of the cells. One of the men brought a lantern into the darkened area and Fai nearly fainted at what he saw. For there, arms and legs chained to the wall, lower lip bleeding and sword cast aside and out of reach, was Kurogane.


TBC