What Kind of Man

1. The Desert, part three

It was getting dark, and both of them sensed that this place was about to get a lot livelier.

"I'll be fine," said Fai lightly, yet there was an edge in his voice. 

No sooner the words left his mouth, as something came whizzing by out of the shadows, and Kurogane instinctively spun around to shield both of them, turning his left side into the sound. When he turned back to face Fai, a thick, barbed thorn was stuck in his shoulder armour. Wincing, he pulled it out, and tossed it aside. Its surface appeared to be like that of stiff leather, and it had a rancid, rotting smell. Poison? thought Fai, alarmed.

Kurogane swore under his breath.

"Did it puncture the plate?" Fai asked.

"Yeah, but it's just a scratch."

"Let me see," Fai said quietly. He wasn't going to say it, but the words came out on their own. Old habits die hard, it seems.

Kurogane ignored him. "We need to get the hell out of here. I have a feeling we're about to see more of where that came from," he said, eyeing the shadows by the rocks suspiciously, and casting around for what might count as shelter. 

Their prospects seemed rather limited, and the hissing sound resumed, now coming from multiple directions. Automatically they moved to stand back to back in the shadow of the large boulder. Luckily, they did have some weapons on them, though the rest of their gear was, as always, with Mokona. Fai had his throwing knives, and Kurogane had his sword and a dagger — and they were about to find out how useful these were going to be against unknown monsters.

A round of thorns launched their way, but this time they were better prepared and parried them away. The last of the sun was now well extinguished behind the crag, the visibility was quickly thickening in the murky twilight, and the temperature was now dropping rapidly, as if someone was dipping this entire world in a cold lake. Fai pulled the fur collar of his coat closed by habit, even if he did not feel the cold all that much, and Kurogane wrapped himself tightly in his cloak. There was movement in the shadows, and a few squat and broad shapes moved toward them, hissing and gurgling.

"Here they come," said Kurogane, his voice almost eager. Unlike Fai, he enjoyed fighting. He was neither cruel nor bloodthirsty, but he loved to push himself against a difficult opponent, be it a monster or a human foe. He did not shy from either his own or another's physical pain, so long as it was an honest and fair fight. Even now, Fai could feel a kind of excitement emanating from the warrior's back, but he turned his attention to the creatures. 

It was getting quite dark, yet Fai could see the monsters clearly. They were about the size of a large ox, and resembled giant lizards with broad, fanged snouts, and two rows of beady black eyes across the front, larger in the centre and smaller towards the sides. Their tails curled upwards like a scorpion's and were set with many sharp, probably poisonous barbs that they seemed to be able to fling at their prey. Their thick leather hides were covered in pale tufts of short coarse hair here and there.

"Careful," warned Fai, "They're faster than they look."

Kurogane made a noise in agreement, then suddenly lunged forward as the closest of the monsters leaped with surprising grace, closing the remaining gap of fifteen or so paces between them. Kurogane was faster, and sliced a deep gush in its snout. The creature roared and staggered back, but did not give up its attack. Kurogane slashed again and again. 

Fai threw out his hand, aiming for the eyes of the monster closest to him, and it too roared and staggered as a few of its beady eyed burst and oozed dark liquid. This action also seemed to disorient the creature, and turning around awkwardly, it rammed straight into a third one, just as it was approaching the fray. The latter turned around and bit its neighbour, while in turn it sunk a barbed tail in its flesh. 

Kurogane, having dealt with the first one, took advantage of this commotion to hack at both creatures, going for the dangerous tails first, then for the flat broad snouts. It all happened in a minute or two, no more, but the noise seemed to have attracted a fair bit of attention. As Fai and Kurogane stood, catching their breath, in the midst of the reeking and oozing bodies, the now familiar hissing sound was once again coming from several directions.

"We need to get higher," said Kurogane, pointing to a tall cluster of rocks not far away. Its sides were suitably steep, but the top looked like it just big enough for them to have some fighting room, should it come to that. 

It was possible that it was home to more monsters, but they sprinted towards it anyway, and clambered up the steep sides. Or rather, Kurogane climbed, expertly enough, while Fai leapt easily up in a few powerful jumps, beating him to the top and holding out his hand to pull Kurogane up the final little stretch of sheer rock face. It was just in time — below them a dozen or so of the ugly overgrown things had surrounded their little rocky island, though it was clear they could not leap that high, and their short paws were not made for climbing. They could still fling their sharp barbs, but it seemed their aim was impeded by the fact they could not quite lift their heads upwards, and the barbs did not clear the top of the rock. So they remained below, hissing and gurgling.

"Lovely place," said Fai sardonically, sitting down on the ground, and hugging his fur coat about himself.

The top of the rock was level, as if cut off by a knife. It was maybe ten or fifteen paces across, and for now it seemed that they've earned a bit of peace. The night air was frankly cold, but at least the temperature stopped dropping. 

Kurogane, meanwhile, walked slowly all around the perimeter and, after scowling at the monsters one last time, sat down opposite Fai. Above them the alien stars of this world were lighting up one by one, and if it wasn't for the creatures' hissing and gurgling, it might have been beautiful.

For some time, they sat in silence. Ever since the events in Tokyo, things were different between them. Gone was the regime of easy, good-natured teasing and bickering, and Fai resisted the familiar urge to twist Kurogane's name into all those silly nicknames. At first, when they all started this journey many moons ago, Fai did it to diffuse the tension, and Kurogane was just too easy to get a rise out of... But, as time went on, both got oddly comfortable with the routine. Now its absence hung uneasily between them.

Not that they have had many chances to be alone, recently, stopping only to sleep on their renewed and mad chase for Sakura's 'feathers'... The times that they did remain alone, were mostly the times when Kurogane would pick a moment, as the others were asleep or away, and silently cut open his hand or forearm for him, leaving the blood trickling, waiting for Fai to drink it. Fai never asked him to do it; but like clockwork he would present him with the opportunity — and Fai could neither truly accept, nor actually refuse it. They did not talk much during those times, either. 

Now, stuck atop a small boulder in a dangerous desert, there was nowhere to go. Unable to hide behind his usual banter with the princess and Mokona, and missing the sobering presence of Syaoran, Fai fidgeted with his hands. They were alone.

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A/N

What do you think is about to happen? Read on for the last part of chapter one!