kurofai-week

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week, Day 5 - Memories

We write our love psalm

[kurofai-week]

26.11.20

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle / CLAMP / Fai POV / KuroFai

~

time has brought your heart to me (you and i and we, forever)

KuroFai Week 2020 - Day 4: Haunting

 ~

"There's no such thing." 

Kurogane looks at him, eyebrow raised, every single inch of his face screaming a disbelieving 'seriously?'. "Really, mage?" 

Fai shakes his head stubbornly. "Honestly, Kuro-sama," he says, exasperated himself. "Ghosts are… They're a myth, a fairy tale. Something parents use on occasion to scare their children. They don't truly exist." At least, that has been the case in both Valeria and Celes, and in every world they've visited in their travels (well, that he knows of, anyway).

Fai refuses to believe- "Yeah, well," Kurogane snorts at him (which, rude, and also? unnecessary), interrupting his train of thought. "They do, here," he explains, arms crossing in front of his chest. "If there's lingering resentment or regret when a person dies, if there's too much of it, that person's spirit can latch onto this world instead of passing into rest. And it's rarely anything other than a pain in the ass for everyone involved."

It does make sense, yes, and it aligns with what little knowledge he has of the phenomenon, but still, Fai can't help but find the whole concept too… outlandish. He shakes his head. 

Kurogane groans. "Come on, after everything we've seen, everything we've gone through, ghosts are the things you draw the line at?" He rolls his eyes, and Fai wants to poke him, hard, for it. "Because haunting the place you died a lonely death, or the person who gruesomely murdered you is such a far-fetched idea."

It's… well, it is and it isn't, Fai has to admit. He shrugs. "Fine, alright, so. How do we banish it?"

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week, Day 4 - Haunting

And I would’ve gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids and your talking rabbit!

[kurofai-week]

haunted

KuroFai Week Day 4 - haunting

He’s back in that place. The pit at the base of the tower. Not knowing what else to do, Fai climbs.

His fingernails get ripped away against cold, unrelenting stone, his blood staining it in streaks as he tries desperately to hold on as he falls. There’s something in the back of his mind as he begins to climb again that tells him that this can’t be—he’s an adult, not a child, wearing his Celesian clothes. He shouldn’t be here, so how—?

Fai pays the voice no attention and instead tries to climb again. It’s the only choice he has.

He falls so hard the wind is knocked out of his lungs and he’s left dazed for a few moments. When he finally can catch a full breath, he rolls onto his side to stand up, but his hand brushing against a cold cheek stops him. Had that body always been there? The one with auburn hair and emerald eyes that have gone dull, the face with round cheeks and skin ashy from death?

Fai yanks back hard enough that he falls again. It’s Sakura lying in front of him, stabbed through the middle and still bleeding. His breath coming in trembling gasps, he reaches out for her again. She can’t be here, what sin could she have committed to warrant such a fate? Who would have killed—?

But then he sees his hands and now they’re coated in hot and fresh blood that is not his own. Beside him lies Syaoran’s sword, the blade stained.

“No…” He whispers, and though he is an adult, he once again feels like a child. “Sakura, I didn’t mean—”

Something above distracts him. Someone else has just been thrown into the pit and their body is falling the long way to the ground. He shuts his eyes when it lands; he should be used to the wet thud a body makes when it hits, but it still rattles him. After a moment, he opens his eyes and peers over at the new body.

With morbid curiosity, Fai inches closer to get a look at who has joined him. He stops when the winter sun gleams on a long, silver blade, his eyes traveling up to a large hand holding the hilt, up the arm and to—

It’s Kurogane lying before him, blood spreading slowly from under his cracked skull. Fai falls beside the man, his lungs full of ice and his heart stopped, and reaches out to him with a trembling hand. He touches Kurogane’s cheek—it’s cold, but that’s not right, Kurogane should be warm, he’s always been so warm. The cold doesn’t suit him.

Fai turns Kurogane’s head gently towards him, expects those eyes to open and that low voice to grumble at him as he fearfully whispers, “Kuro… sama…?”

Keep reading

[kurofai-week]

25.11.20

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle / CLAMP / Kurogane POV / KuroFai

~

time has brought your heart to me (you and i and we, forever)

KuroFai Week 2020 - Day 3: Sweet & Spicy

 ~

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” Kurogane asks, eyeing the various dishes spread out in front of him. They  look  mostly appetizing, and he knows the mage is a good cook, but there is something about the whole thing that makes him slightly uneasy. 

The fact that Fai has spent the better half of the day in the palace kitchens with Tomoyo doesn’t help with the foreboding feeling creeping over him.

Keep reading

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week, Day 3 - Sweet & Spicy

It’s just a t-shirt, man. It’s not worth it.

[kurofai-week]

holding your scarred heart in hand, on ao3

Fai’s fingers have scars. Kurogane has noticed. Now that he knows why they’re there, he decides to do something about them.

For KuroFai Week 2020, Day 3 - “Sweet and Spicy”

(Title from “All The Same” by Sick Puppies, yet another song from my Kurofai playlist.)

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week 2020 - Seasons

Day 2! Bit sad and short…

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689603/chapters/67803869#workskin

[kurofai-week]

24.11.20

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle / CLAMP / Fai POV / KuroFai

~

time has brought your heart to me (you and i and we, forever)

KuroFai Week 2020 - Day 2: Seasons

 ~

The first spring after he and Kurogane move to Nihon, Fai spends it acquainting himself with a new language, a new culture, a new way of life. It’s thrilling, honestly, in a way Fai had feared he’d never get to experience, and it’s also terrifying. 

“We could settle somewhere else,” Kurogane tells him sometime in the first month, when he finds Fai struggling with some new custom, nerves fried, and agitated beyond measure. He kisses Fai’s hair, and Fai loves him tremendously.

Keep reading

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week, Day 2 - Seasons

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week 2020 - Old

Day 1 done! WOOT! Please read my entry over on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689603

[kurofai-week]

23.11.20

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle / CLAMP / Kurogane POV / KuroFai

~

time has brought your heart to me (you and i and we, forever)

KuroFai Week 2020 - Day 1: Old

 ~

"I had a plan, you know," Fai says, his long fingers carding gently through Kurogane's hair. "For when your hair started to go gray." He plucks at a dark strand of hair, tugs at it, his nose wrinkling in slight (adorable) annoyance. "It involved lots of jokes, lots of teasing. As always, you're a plan ruiner, Kuro-sama."

Kurogane snorts. Even after so many years, the mage can still be such a drama queen. "Not my fault your old age is starting to show before mine, mage." He side-eyes him, and reaches over to tug at the lock of silver hair by the side of Fai's face. 

Fai's eyes cross and then screw shut for a second. His nose wrinkles further. "Hey!" He swats, huffily indignant, at Kurogane's hand. "Rude, Kuro-grampa."

Kurogane can't help laughing at that, because that's rich, coming from Fai. He tugs at that silver lock again, and then cups the back of Fai's head with his other hand, pulls him closer. There are lines now, at the corners of those beautiful blue-and-gold eyes, deep ones that speak of a long life spent laughing. In contrast, the lines on Fai's forehead, the frown ones that used to mar his beautiful face, are all but invisible most days. 

Fai huffs again, and threads his fingers through the ones in his hair, brings Kurogane's hand to his lips. "I never thought," he murmurs against his skin, and it sounds like a confession to Kurogane's ears. "When I was young. Before. I never thought I would grow old next to someone. I never even hoped I would find someone I would want to grow old with. Well, other than my brother." Lightly, reverently, he kisses every knuckle of Kurogane's hand. "Thank you for giving me this, Kuro-sama."

And, well, what can Kurogane do, when his husband acts as nostalgic as the old grandfather he is? "Stop talking like you're about to kick the bucket," he says and drags Fai into his lap. "We're not that old, you idiot."

He leans up and kisses the lines at the corner of Fai's golden eye. "We still have a long life ahead of us."

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week, Day 1 - Old

Nice try, Satan, but they age at the same rate in the horitsubaverse so I don’t need to confront the angst.

[kurofai-week]

Like Thunder Under Earth, on AO3

Written for @kurofai-week 2020, Day 1 - “Old”.

Kurogane and Fai are somewhat of an old, whispered legend in the area; having been around for decades and never aging, defending innocent people from those who would wish to harm them.

Title taken from “NFWMB” by Hozier. It just fits the sort of Old Gods vibe I wanted them to exude.

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week – Nov 23rd – 30th

Day 1 [Nov 23]: Old Day 2 [Nov 24]: Seasons Day 3 [Nov 25]: Sweet &Spicy Day 4 [Nov 26]: Haunting Day 5 [Nov 27]: Memories Day 6 [Nov 28]: Flowers Day 7 [Nov 29]: Vulnerability Day 8 [Nov 30]: Free Day

[Guidelines] – [Prompt Explanations] – [ask]

And the official prompt list is up! Welcome to year five four of KuroFai Week, and a big thank you for making it all possible. Don’t forget that these prompts are here to help, and they’re made to be able to be filled by all fan media. And don’t worry if a submission is late – life happens and we’ll still accept it.

Another announcement is that there is now a second mod on board for this event - a big thank you to @velosarahptor for offering to help out! You’re a gem and I’m sure things will go much more smoothly with you here!

Please tag all content as “#KuroFai Week” (space INCLUDED!!) within the first 5 tags so that it’ll show up in the tracked tag where we can find it and reblog it!

We hope you can participate and join in on the fun celebrating these beautiful life-ruiners!

[kurofai-week]

The Archives of the Aphelion Dusk, Chapter 7

KuroFai Week, Day 7 (*cough* after a slight delay)

Explosive

“The escape pods put you stasis, but they don’t leave you in stasis. Power is, after all, only guaranteed for so long and can’t be drawn from the surrounding environment once you were planetside. The presence of strong gravity and a solid surface will trigger deactivation of any decently designed pod. The thought process has always been that you are better off waking up than simply dying in your sleep waiting for someone to find you. After all, there are a lot of planets out there that haven’t evolved intelligent life that would be perfectly survivable, provided that you aren’t in stasis.

And since we don’t get to hear from the people who wake up on airless moons, in the middle of a world-circling ocean, or sinking inextricably into a swamp, the statistics overwhelmingly favor pod deactivation upon landing.

I say overwhelmingly, because it is, of course, not 100%.

Occasionally people wake up and are eventually rescued from whatever situation their escape pod has put them into. We can only draw conclusions of what might have happened. And how often the worst has happened to others.

Everything succumbs to gravity eventually. The larger the pod, the more dramatic it is when this happens. Imagine a hundred-person - two hundred, three hundred, it doesn’t really matter at that point - plummeting to the surface of a planet. Heat boils off the shielding as the occupants ride a burning comet to the unforgiving earth below.

I say occupants, but in this story, there’s only one. If there had been more, it may have ended different.

He wakes from stasis, but is hanging upside down from the one occupied harness in an escape pod meant to hold hundreds of people. There’s practically space for him to run laps inside the ship.

The runes and software responsible for righting the pod after a crash landing have failed. The landing gear - spidery legs tucked into every quadrant of the outer hull - jammed on one side. The remaining legs, unable to reach the ground and flip the pod, extend ineffectually and stall.

His brain is groggy from the aftereffects of stasis, but he recognizes first that he’s not facing the right way and then that the pod isn’t facing the right way either. It takes several moments for the thought to sink in, even more for him to find the coordination in his fingers to unlatch the harness and send himself sprawling to the floor - or rather, the ceiling. When he stands up on the canted surface, he realizes that the pod is not wholly upside down, but is rolled steeply onto its side with the door facing down.

He skids across the plating, trying to find his feet on surfaces that were never meant to be walked on. He stumbles over the arched ribs that make up the skeleton of the ship. The door, when he finally reaches it, opens with a grinding noise of gears-on-gears that make his teeth ache.

It opens a scarce finger-width and stutters to a stop.

Keep reading on AO3…

Or read the entire thing!

[kurofai-week]

KuroFai Week

Pet Names

“Fai, love of my life, the annoyance that I cannot live without, what the hell is that?”

Fai put the large box down on the tile floor of the entranceway to their small apartment and shrugged off his rain coat.

“Silly Kuro-pon. It’s a blender, can’t you read it?”

Kurogane scoffed and moved forward to grab Fai’s coat from him and hang it up in the closet, side-stepping around the package.

“I can see it’s a blender, but why did you buy it?”

“It was on sale and we don’t have one, that’s why!”

Kurogane rubbed the bridge of his nose, following Fai as he picked up the box again and headed towards the kitchen.

“Fai, what would we even USE a blender for?”

Fai put the box on the counter and put a finger to his chin. “Well,” he began, already starting to open the box, “we can make smoothies, and I heard from Yuui that you can make really good pasta sauce in blenders!”

Kurogane crossed his arms and leaned against the countertop, watching Fai as he worked with an almost frown.

“How much?”

“What?”

“How much did it cost?”

Fai smiled at him, beaming bright and cheerful in the rather muted colours of their kitchen.

“I told you Kuro-chan, it was on sale.”

“That’s not a price Fai.”

Fai laughed again and waved his hand. He pulled out the styrofoam incased blender and set it on the counter, examining it. He picked at the tape along the sides of the foam before giving up and searching the counter.

“Do you know wher-“

“Fai.”

Fai almost flinched, turning from his search for scissors to look at Kurogane. The later was still leaning against the counter, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Fai laughed nervously and pressed his hands together.

“It wasn’t that much really-“

“Fai.”

“-and I just got my pay check-“

“Fai.”

“-plus Yuui’s in town this weekend and I was hoping-“

“Fai!”

Fai’s rambling came to a stop and Kurogane rolled his eyes.

“You’re just digging yourself a deeper hole, you realize that right?”

Giggling, Fai slid along the side of the counter till he was leaning next to Kurogane. He crossed his arms and put a forced scowl on his face, looking up at Kurogane. Kurogane blinked, leaning in the same position.

“Are you making fun of me?”

Fai laughed, mimick falling away as he wrapped his arms around Kurogane’s neck.

“Kuro-puppy is so serious all the time.”

Kurogane raised an eyebrow and unfolded his arms to place them gently on Fai’s hips. He let out a sigh as Fai leaned in closer, their noses barely brushing.

“Kuro-tan is much prettier when he smiles.”

Kurogane rolled his eyes, cheeks darkening and grip tightening on Fai’s waist. Fai giggled again, nuzzling Kurogane’s cheek before burring his face into his neck.

“So.”

“Hm?”

“How much was the blender?”

“Hmmmm…about five hundred dollars.”

“…Fai?”

“Yes Kuro-love?”

“You have five seconds to run.”