A/N: This was just a random idea that came to mind. I honestly don't know what to think of it, so I'll leave it to you to decide. Let me know if you like it, or, perhaps, if you think I should quit writing all together. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No, I didn't buy the rights to Tsubasa overnight. I don't own it and I never will.

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I.

Their first kiss wasn’t romantic; it wasn’t enjoyable or pleasurable or even any good, really. It was in Outo, and Fai was drunk, and it had been too wet and too open and too awkward and before the magician had been able to pry open the buttons on his shirt he’d bitten Fai’s lower lip so hard that it bled. As if to only worsen things, Fai did not remember the incident come morning and that mark on his lower lip (which the magician had, oddly enough, never even asked about) had served as a reminder for days.

From that night onward he’d banned not only Fai, but the others, as well, from ever drinking alcohol again.

II.

The second time they’d kissed was a major improvement from the first. They were both sober and fully alone, far from the encampment and other soldiers.

It was during their third month in Yamano, the first night that Ashura, himself, had appeared in battle. Fai had told him before they’d become unable to understand one another that if it was his Ashura, then he’d know it. But even though it had not been Fai’s Ashura that night, it’d had an effect on him all the same. When they’d returned to camp, Fai had near immediately wandered off, settling himself in the grass of one of the meadows far from the encampment and staring up at the moon forlornly, lost deep in thought.

Kurogane had never seen the magician look quite so miserable before. So, even though he knew it would probably be best if he simply turned around and headed back, leaving Fai alone for awhile to think, instead he settled beside him and together they stared up at the moon for a very long while.

“I know you won’t tell me anytime soon,” Fai could not understand his words and he knew it well, so when Kurogane finally spoke, it was mainly for his own benefit. “You’re an idiot and you’re probably going to keep everything bottled up for the rest of our journey,” he reached out and touched his fingers to the magician’s pale cheek, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate seeing you like this.”

Fai peered up at him, understanding the sentiment, if none of the words, and smiled a small, but true, smile. And not a moment later, Kurogane covered it with his own.

III.

After Kurogane had done everything in his power and saved Fai -- after Tokyo -- the magician had cast distance between them to ensure that it would not happen again.

It was during the feedings in Infinity when they were closest; but it was also during those feedings that Fai harbored the most hatred toward him. There was always a sense of loathing there as the vampire bent over his wrist and lapped at the blood spilling from the self-inflicted wound.

The night of their third, and what Kurogane had presumed was their final kiss, Fai finished, licking a clean stripe across the wound and then rose to eye level, glaring vilely for a moment. Kurogane glared right back.

“Do you know just how disgusting,” the word was like venom on the blonde’s lips as he spoke, “your blood is to me?”

Kurogane did not answer, rather continued staring straight into his single golden eye for what seemed like an eternity.

“That taste lingers in my mouth for hours,” he continued to rant his voice now low and sultry, his face coming nearer and Kurogane remained unwavering, “I can still taste it -- it’s like poison.” the man’s breath was warm, his next words a mere whisper, “Do you know what you taste like?”

Fai’s lips were pressed to his, then, and the magician’s tongue pressed past his lips and into his mouth, warmly dancing around his own. Kurogane’s lips were still -- unresponsive -- but the taste of iron and salt, blood, was, indeed, unmistakable as Fai kissed him.

After a moment, the blonde pulled away, and the ninja spotted one hundred different emotions dancing in his eyes. Anger, loathing, betrayal, and sorrow. Longing, passion, expectance, and, deep inside, love.

“I hate you, Kurogane.”

IV.

“I’m sorry.”

Forgiveness came with the birth of spring and countless Sakura petals dancing in the wind.

The fourth time he and Fai kissed, he had finally reached home and it had meant much more than words could ever express.

It was a promise; a silent vow to one another that they wouldn’t let that distance come between them again.

“I realized something.” Even when Fai’s lips finally strayed, he remained close enough that his next words were a soft whisper against the ninja’s skin. “I can’t really be worthless; not when you were so willing to exchange me for an arm and a sword. That had to mean something. I have to mean something.”

Fai touched his face ever-so-gently and Kurogane allowed a rare smile to curve his lips before capturing the vampire’s mouth once more with renewed intensity.

That was the night that he lost count.

That night was the night they made love for the first time.

V.

The very last time their lips met was stained in blood, tears, sweat, and endless sorrow.

They had not anticipated surviving the final battle. Fei Wong Reed was a very dangerous man to begin with, and with all the powers of the ruins at his disposal, to lose was an inevitability.

When they went down that night, they went down together, stricken with the same blow as crimson seeped from their wounds and they fell to their knees. All too quickly that ever-familiar darkness was beginning to border Kurogane’s vision. They were losing blood far too quickly.

The ninja weakly dragged himself to the blonde’s side, his hands sticky with blood as he struggled to remain conscious and it was easy to see that Fai was doing the same.

“I’m breaking all my promises,” he rasped, resting his head beside the blonde’s. Fai tilted his head to look and Kurogane saw the same pain he felt there, as well.

“It’s over,” Fai spoke the words so quietly that they could barely be heard.

“You’re right,” he replied, and then he brushed his lips feather-light over Fai’s.

That night they died together, and their story came to an end.