Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3

When Worlds Collide
Chapter 2 - Renewed Ties

“What are you doing here?!” Kurogane exclaimed. He was utterly bewildered, and his thoughts were running with a million unanswered questions.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” Souma asked him, equally confused. “Tomoyo-hime sent you away, didn’t she?”
Kurogane’s eyes widened. “You mean this is Japan?!”
“Of course it is! What did you expect?”
Kurogane’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He groped for words, but found none. He felt a peculiar sensation in his midriff. Something between… happiness… and sadness. But he was home. That was what mattered.
Souma smiled at him. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Kurogane grimaced in response. “The welcoming committee was great,” he grunted.
Souma sighed. “I’m sorry about that, but things have been more hectic lately. Two assassination attempts on Tomoyo-hime were made only this month.”
“WHAT?! Who—?”
Souma held up her hands saying, “Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. First we had better untie you and…?” She looked curiously at the others.
“My traveling companions,” Kurogane said shortly.
“What?” Souma gasped. “You’re traveling with these people?” She put her hands on her hips. “You never travel with other people.”
“This is different,” he mumbled.
“Different how?” Souma regarded him steadily. “You seem like another person. You didn’t butcher anyone and you seem to be more civilized. Although the bad language remains unchanged,” she smiled.
Kurogane averted his gaze uneasily; he wondered how the others reacted with Souma’s term of ‘butchering’. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he now felt ashamed of his previous behavior, and honestly didn’t want his companions to judge him by his past. He had put all that behind him.
But now that he had actually returned home he couldn’t just ignore the past; he had to face it, there was no denying that. But the others regarded him as someone worthy of respect (even Fye and Mokona), and he did not want to fall in their bad graces. How would they regard him if they knew he had a bloodlust? With wariness? Apprehension? Fear? Or repulsiveness?
Lost in his thoughts, he did not realize that he had been untied until he found that he could move his hands. Souma was apologizing to the others. “I’m so terribly sorry about the slap, and the way I treated you before,” Souma was telling Sakura. “But that is exactly how I would react were you assassins or spies.”
“Since you’re sorry, that’s quite all right,” Sakura told her gracefully, with a sunny smile on her face.
Souma also smiled. “You have a large and forgiving heart. Which is more than I can say for that guy over there,” she said, indicating Kurogane and raising her voice slightly.
“Cut it out,” Kurogane growled.
Souma laughed. “You may have changed somewhat, but you’re still the same hot-head I knew.”
“WHAT?!” Kurogane exclaimed.
“She has a point,” Fye chuckled.
Kurogane glared at him.
Souma handed Syaoran and Kurogane back their swords, and bowed. “My name is Souma,” she formerly introduced herself, “Lead Ninja in Princess Tomoyo’s Personal Guard.”
Kurogane started violently. It used to be his own position, so it was quite a shock.
Souma arched her eyebrows at him. “You expected your place to remain vacant for four years?”
“Wha…?” Kurogane was once again rendered speechless. Four years? Had it already been so long?
Souma turned to two of the guards. “I want all of you to prepare camp, and to set up one extra tent for our guests.”
“Er… ” one of them said. “If I may ask… who are these people?”
Souma sighed exasperatedly. “Kazuo, don’t you recognize him?” She indicated Kurogane.
“Should I?” Kazuo asked, puzzled. “All I understand is that you know these people.”
“No. I only know him, although it did take me a while to figure it out.”
Kurogane turned to face Kazuo, for during the conversation he had had his back to him.
Kazuo’s eyes widened. “Kurogane-sama!” (”‘Kurogane-sama’?” Fye snickered) he bowed low in respect. The warrior beside him also bowed deeply. “I… you have returned! I… did not know… ” Kazuo spluttered.
“We shall accompany Kurogane and his companions as an honor guard to the Capital,” Souma told the two ninjas. “Spread the word to the others. I want all of you to make yourselves presentable before we reach Shirasaki Castle. We set out tomorrow morning.”
“Yes… ” they murmured, then took off at a quick walk, conversing animatedly between themselves.
“Erm… ” Kurogane said, pulling on his cloak collar uneasily. “How is it that that guy knows me…?”
“You are something of a legend among Princess Tomoyo’s ninjas,” Souma smiled. “You never really spent much time with others, but your exploits are known throughout the country, not just in the Personal Guard. I’m sure that as soon as you tell of your recent adventures, word will spread. Undoubtedly, you must have had some.”
“I’ll say,” Fye muttered sarcastically.
“And what’s all this about an ‘honor guard’?” Kurogane asked her again.
Souma smiled slyly. “Well… we can’t let Japan’s strongest ninja arrive at the Capital looking like a vagabond, can we?”
Kurogane glared at her.
Souma laughed. “Come. We can sit before my tent, and although the food is meager, I would like for you to sup with me.”
“Sure! I’m positively famished!” Fye grinned. “How about you guys?”
Sakura blushed as her stomach gave off a loud growl. “Er… ”
* * *
After all the tents had been erected, and the food cooked, Souma sat before her tent, and invited the others to sit around her.
“So… ” Souma said, as she started on her supper. “I’ve introduced myself to you, but I still don’t know anything about you.”
“Oh… right!” Syaoran said. “Sorry about that! I’m Syaoran.”
“My name is Fye D. Flowright; a former wizard from Celes Country. But you can call me Fye.”
“I’m Princess Sakura, from Clow Country.”
“And I’m Mokona Modoki!” he squeaked, jumping out of Sakura’s hood.
“Ah! There you were!” Fye grinned. “I was wondering where you had run off to!”
“I was reaaaaally quiet!” Mokona whispered.
Souma had started when she saw Mokona. “What’s that?! It looks like a manjuu… ”
“Ahaha!” Fye laughed. “Looks like you’re not the only one who thinks that, eh?” He elbowed Kurogane and winked at him.
“Psh,” was Kurogane’s only comment.
“Mokona’s our mode of transportation. He transports us to different dimensions,” Fye explained to Souma.
“Whatever for?”
“Oh, right! We haven’t told you about our mission!” Fye grinned. “Well, to make a long story short, Sakura-chan here lost all her memories, which scattered to different dimensions in the forms of feathers. We’re traveling to find them!”
“All of you?” Souma asked them, arching her eyebrows.
“Well, we first met at the Dimensional Witch. She couldn’t fulfill our wishes separately, so she forced us all together. Whenever we arrived in Japan, Kurogane here would stay behind, because that was his wish. He had to give up his pretty sword for it, so I’m guessing it’s worth it.”
“Oh… ” Souma smiled. “No wonder I didn’t recognize you. If you had had Ginryuu, I would have known it was you in an instant!” Then her eyes widened. “You gave up Ginryuu?!”
“I had no choice,” Kurogane said darkly.
“But that was your father’s katana!”
“I know,” he grunted.
“Your family’s heirloom!”
“I know.”
“You had sworn never to part with it!”
“I know.”
“What will—?”
“I know! Cut it out already!” Kurogane shouted. “But it was either that, or stay stuck in that freakin’ world!” He frowned. “Is my…?”
“Your family? Yes, they’re still in the capital.” Souma looked at him pitifully. “I feel sorry for you. Imagine your father’s reaction when he finds out you gave up Ginryuu.”
Kurogane’s eyes widened. He took in a sharp breath. “Oh, man… ” he moaned as his shoulders sagged slightly.
Souma giggled. “Since you’ve been with Kurogane for four years, I guess you know his character. Imagine that times ten. That’s how his dad’s like,” she told the others.
“Oh, dear… ” Syaoran said.
“Hahaha!” Fye laughed. “‘Like father like son’, as the saying goes!”
“The saying in your country,” Kurogane retorted.
Fye controlled his laughter (for a moment), and raised his hand. “Um, just out of curiosity, how do you know how his father is going to react? Do you know him?” he asked Souma.
“His father used to be the strongest ninja in Japan. So his family has much honor, since Kurogane had the same place as well. But it just so happens that Kurogane and I are cousins. So I actually know his father personally since he is my uncle.”
“Wow!” Sakura said as she clapped her hands together. “You’re cousins?”
“Yup,” Souma smiled. “So we know each other very well. Since we were children.”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Fye burst out laughing again.
“Er… are you OK, Fye-san?” Syaoran asked him timidly.
“It’s just… I can’t… imagine him… as a little kid… HAHAHA!” Fye said, in-between gasps for air. He clutched at his stomach. “AIR! I need AIR!” He continued to giggle hysterically.
The others sweat-dropped. Kurogane looked livid. “I bet you were pretty stringy yourself!” he shouted at Fye.
“You know, the funny thing is, I was,” Fye said, managing to regain his composure. “I was tall and gangly. You must’ve been pretty… burly!” he laughed again.
“Actually he wasn’t,” Souma said. “He was the tallest, but the skinniest.”
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Fye said again.
“When you’ve quite finished discussing my childhood appearance,” Kurogane snarled, “I’d like to know about those assassination attempts that you mentioned before.”
Fye quieted down. He looked expectantly at Souma.
Souma coughed delicately. “Well… We’re almost at the end of October… In the first week of this month, a samurai snuck into the palace compound.”
“A samurai?!” Kurogane interrupted. “But samurai are extremely loyal; they’d never go against their sovereign! They follow an even stricter code than ours!”
“I know that, but it was indeed an assassination attempt. When we questioned the samurai, he would only repeat the same cryptic message: ‘The time is nearing’. Beats me what he meant. And the really strange thing was that, although we hadn’t greatly wounded him, he died in two nights.”
Kurogane sat back, dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. “That doesn’t make sense… ” he muttered.
“I know,” Souma told him seriously. “And we couldn’t get anything else out of him.”
“Why didn’t Tomoyo-hime use her magic?” he looked up at her.
Souma averted his penetrating gaze. “Well… something’s wrong with her magic. She can still use it, but when she tried to question the samurai she met a sort of barrier, and couldn’t find out anything.”
“WHAT?! Is she OK?!” Kurogane had sat bolt upright, his expression one of horror.
“She’s fine! Calm down! She just couldn’t use her magic on him, that’s all. And the same happened with the other assassin. Now this is even stranger than with the samurai, because… we have no idea where he was from.”
“Was he from some other country, perhaps?” Syaoran asked her.
“No,” Souma shook her head. “At least not any country we know of. He had a strange weapon which shot bits of metal.”
“A rifle?!” Kurogane, Fye, Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona exclaimed.
“Eh…?” Souma said. “What’s that?”
“A weapon, which you use like this,” Fye said, mimicking that he was carrying a rifle. “And you pull a trigger, and the bit of metal — the bullet — flies at an object, depending where you aim.”
“Yes! That’s what it was!” Souma frowned. “But how did you know—?”
“When we were in Jade Country, we had met people who used those kind of weapons,” Syaoran told her. “In one of the dimensions we traveled to.”
“What if… ” Sakura began, then faltered.
The others looked at her. “Go on,” Fye said encouragingly. “It looks like you’re on to something.”
“Well, what if… this assassin was from a different dimension?” Sakura wondered tentatively. “I mean, since Souma-san is positive that he couldn’t have been from another country.”
Syaoran turned to Souma. “Did this person speak?”
“Yes, but we couldn’t understand what he was saying. Tomoyo-hime tried to use her magic again to understand him, but her powers wouldn’t work. He spoke in the same tone as the samurai however.”
“Perhaps this has something to do with Sakura-chan’s feather?” Fye suggested.
“Maybe… ” Syaoran said. “If it is the feather, we’ll find out what’s wrong.” He wore a determined expression on his face.
Sakura looked worriedly at him. Syaoran had been stead-fast in helping her find the rest of her memories, and she still couldn’t understand why. But she was also very anxious for him, because she had watched the fight before, and saw that Syaoran had acted strangely. That was one of the reasons she had been so easily caught; she had been watching the others.
Mokona balanced some chopsticks on his nose. “Did you find out anything else?” he asked Souma.
“No. But the assassin and the samurai must have had something in common, for the assassin died a night after we had captured him as well. And we had hardly delivered any blows… ”
Kurogane frowned. It seemed that the time of his arrival had been just right. Too right. Again, the sense that someone was watching them was upon him. But who was it? It was so infuriating not to know where your enemy was hidden, even though you knew he was there. And now, there was a possibility of people from other dimensions. In his home-world. Something strange was going on. “How far is it to the Capital? ” he asked Souma.
“About two days on horseback,” she answered. She crossed her arms. “Just wondering… how come you got tangled up in this adventure, Kurogane?”
“The faster we could find those memories, the faster we could make it here,” he answered simply. He shrugged, “So I helped.”
“We were pretty lucky to have him with us, though,” Fye grinned. “If it hadn’t been for him in some tight spots we would have really been in trouble!”
All of a sudden Sakura began to sway dangerously. “No… not again… ” she mumbled, but too late; she had fallen fast asleep.
“Sakura-hime!” Syaoran said, as he caught her before she fell.
“Aw…! Sakura fell asleep again!” Mokona squealed.
“Is she alright?” Souma asked worriedly.
“Yes; she’s just sleeping. It’s because we haven’t found all of her memories.” Fye grinned.
Souma sighed. “I’m so sorry. It’s late; I hadn’t realized that the time passed so quickly. I’ll lead you to your tent,” she offered as she got up.
The others got to their feet as well, and followed Souma (Syaoran carrying Sakura) to the tent. Souma pulled back the flap and peered in. “The four of you’ll fit perfectly. So, good night; and remember: we break camp in the early morning.”
“We will! Good night!” Fye waved as Souma left.
Syaoran tenderly lay Sakura down on one of the sleeping pallets and covered her carefully with the blanket. Mokona curled up beside her, and was soon fast asleep.
Syaoran yawned tiredly. He was about ready for sleep himself, when he gasped. “I forgot my sword!”
“Psh… ” Kurogane huffed. “You’d lose your head if it weren’t for us. I’ll go get it.”
“But, you don’t have to bother—”
“It’s no bother. I need to stretch my legs anyway.” And with that Kurogane got out of the tent.
He made his way towards Souma’s tent, and saw that she was approaching him. She handed him Syaoran’s sword. “Here. He forgot it.”
“That’s just what I was coming for. He still can’t handle a sword properly,” he grunted.
“But he showed great skill while battling,” Souma protested.
Kurogane froze. He had almost forgotten about that. “That wasn’t him,” he answered carefully.
“What?”
“He doesn’t fight like that. I have the feeling someone was meddling.”
“Meddling?”
“Interfering.”
“Who?”
Kurogane sighed. “I don’t know yet. But I feel that someone’s spying on us. Ever since we started our journey.” He had not meant to say anything, but because he and Souma were so close, all his worries seemed to tumble out into the open. “I think it might have something to do with the Princess’ feathers. Sometimes, getting the feathers were too easy. Way too easy. Someone is interfering, there’s no doubt about that. But the problem is we don’t know who. Or why. And now… with all of these assassination attempts… and the chance that one of them was from another dimension… ”
Souma placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “But now you don’t have to think about that. You’re finally home. Your part of the journey is over.”
Kurogane looked at her in surprise. “But things have changed. Greatly.”
“If you’re talking about my taking your place in the Personal Guard, that can be easily fixed now that you’ve returned. I was only a temporary replacement.” She took his hand in hers. “I really missed you, my hot-headed cousin.” She winked.
“Ugh. You sound like that damn wizard.”
“He must’ve rubbed off of me. Now get to bed; you’re no good if you go without sleep. You’re even grouchier than a bear.”
“What?!”
Souma giggled. “Good night.” She turned on her heel and mad her way to her tent.
Kurogane stomped back to the tent, muttering about ’stupid wizards’ and ‘annoying cousins’. He had meant to ask her more details about what had happened the previous years, but she had effectively deflected his chance of asking. He pulled back the tent flap. “Here,” he grunted as he tossed the sword at Syaoran.
Syaoran caught it. “I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “But Sakura-hime fell asleep and—”
“I know that; I was right there,” he grunted as he sat with a plop on a sleeping pallet. “But you need to get used to having that sword with you at all times; what if someone attacks you and you don’t have that sword handy? ”
“Aw, Kuro-sama, you’re too strict!” Fye grinned, waving his hand airily as he lay back on his sleeping pallet with a sigh. “Relaaaax! You’re back home now, so chill.”
“When will you act your age?” Kurogane sighed, rolling his eyes, as he pulled off his cloak.
“Right now if you want.” He sat up and looked at him seriously. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“What?” Kurogane said irritably.
“Your cousin mentioned something before she untied us about you not ‘butchering’ anyone… what did she mean by that?”
Syaoran raised his head and looked at Kurogane, wondering what he would answer.
Kurogane avoided looking at them, as he shifted uneasily.
“Well?” Fye asked him expectantly.
Kurogane held his breath, then let it out explosively. He raised his hands in the air, saying, “Great. Whatever. Since we’re in Japan, you’d find out anyway.” He removed his helmet.
“Tomoyo-hime sent me away for a reason. I had this… killing-obsession. But when she sent me away, she cursed me, saying that if I killed anyone in cold blood, my strength would be reduced. So even if we were in countless battles, if you had watched closely, I didn’t kill anyone. The only person I was determined to do in was that guy who taught you how to fight,” Kurogane said, looking at Syaoran. He turned to Fye. “So you were relatively safe whenever I had tried decapitating you, because I wouldn’t waste my strength by killing you. Satisfied? You now know the truth.” He squirmed uncomfortably, and crossed his arms.
Syaoran regarded him with arched eyebrows. So that’s why he didn’t kill any of those ninjas before… he thought.
Fye laughed hard, slapping his knee with mirth. “And here I was thinking that the reason Tomoyo-hime sent you away had been something serious!”
Syaoran and Kurogane keeled over, sweat-dropping with Fye’s reaction.
“Isn’t it?!” Kurogane spluttered.
“Not really,” Fye smiled. “She did it so you could learn a lesson. And I think that you’ve learned it, haven’t you? You looked positively squeamish when you were telling us about it.”
“Well… ”
“See? Everything’s perfectly fine!” He settled under the covers of his sleeping pallet. “So no worries!”
“But… ” Kurogane began, but bit off his words.
Fye looked at him through the corner of one eye. “But what?”
Kurogane shifted uncomfortably. “Nothing… ” he muttered.
“Hmm… I don’t think it’s ‘nothing’,” Fye told him seriously. He turned to face him. “Was all of this killing senseless? Because you liked killing? Or did you have a reason for killing?” He raised his eyebrows in question.
“I… ” What were his real intentions for killing? He was responsible for Tomoyo’s well-being, and he deemed that by killing off her enemies would she be properly protected. A dead enemy is a safe enemy, as the saying goes, after all. It wasn’t that he enjoyed it, but there was some personal glory in the bargain; becoming stronger. But now, he realized, strength didn’t only come from the number of enemies put down; strength came from the heart, and how strong it was. He had realized that in this company; he only needed to look at Syaoran to confirm that this was true. He knew the answer now. “I was protecting—”
“Exactly: you had a reason. According to your beliefs and ideals, you were protecting Princess Tomoyo. So stop acting as if it’s serious. You’ve found out that you weren’t going at it the right way. I don’t blame your past actions on your present self; you’ve changed, and you now understand your previous mistakes. Neither I nor Syaoran-kun hold it against you. And neither will Sakura-chan and Mokona when they find out about this; they’re bound to, you know. We all have something to hide. It just turned out that your secret was revealed first.” He looked at Syaoran. “Isn’t that right Syaoran-kun? ”
“Huh?” Syaoran’s eyes widened. “How? Did you—? ”
“Not only me; Kuro-pi here, too. What happened during that fight?” Fye eased his head onto his arms, and looked at Syaoran questioningly.
Syaoran lowered his eyes. “I don’t know… I felt that I couldn’t control my body. I thought at first that it might’ve been because of what Kurogane-san had said about being inept at a sword; that the sword would take advantage of the user’s weakness.”
“That’s not how it would’ve happened,” Kurogane stated firmly. “I think someone was interfering.”
“You know, I thought the same thing when I saw Syaoran-kun battle, too.” Fye raised himself and sat erect once more. “And remember what Emeraude had told Sakura-chan? That someone was spying on us? What if there’s a connection?”
“You think?” Syaoran asked him worriedly. He lowered his head. “Actually, I had realized that it couldn’t have been the sword, because my eye hurt me; that couldn’t have be connected to the sword… could it? ”
“No,” Kurogane said seriously. He frowned. “Maybe whatever controlled you has something to do with that eye.” He turned to look at Syaoran. “Were you born with your right eye blind? Or was it caused by some sort of accident?”
“I… I don’t know… ” Syaoran said heavily. “I don’t remember what happened to me before tou-san found me. I was wandering on the streets. He took me in, and gave me my name. I may not remember who I was, but I know who I am now. I’m Syaoran.”
“You don’t remember anything before?” Fye asked him.
“No.”
Fye regarded Syaoran steadily. He put his hand to Syaoran’s forehead.
“What—?” Syaoran said.
“Ssh,” Fye hushed him. Long moments passed in silence. Finally, Fye removed his hand from Syaoran. “The only memories you have of what happened to you before can only be viewed in your dreams,” he told him. “If you concentrate hard enough, I’m sure you’ll find the answer.” Fye smiled reassuringly at him.
Kurogane crossed his arms. “I thought you said that you had decided no to use your magic,” he accused Fye.
Fye smiled. “That wasn’t magic; that was a trick.”
“I fail to see any difference.”
Fye chuckled softly. “There is a difference. If you use magic openly, or if you use ‘active magic’, it can be ‘heard’ by others with the same qualities.”
“Huh?” Syaoran and Kurogane said.
“Haha… ” Fye laughed quietly. “Magic, when used, makes a characteristic sound which can be heard only by others who also use magic. It also depends on what you do. The bigger the feat, the louder it’ll be. If you use ‘inactive magic’ or the so-called intuition, you hardly hear any sound at all. That’s because the results aren’t really evident as opposed to active magic, like throwing a lightning-bolt at someone.”
“Er… have you ever done that?” Kurogane asked him.
“Done what?”
“Thrown a lightning-bolt at someone.”
Fye chuckled. “No… but I could if I wanted to. It’d be really noisy without my tattoo, though.”
“So your tattoo would block the noise?” Syaoran asked him.
“Yup. That’s another reason why I don’t use magic without it. I regard magic as the loud kind; so doing small feats of intuition isn’t really magic, in my opinion.”
“But what are the other reasons?” Kurogane asked him warily.
Fye smiled mysteriously. “Too much has happened today. I suggest we get some sleep. I’ll tell you… someday… when you’re ready.” And with that, he snuggled under the covers and closed his eyes.
Syaoran and Kurogane exchanged puzzled looks, but said nothing. It was clearly evident that Fye was unwilling to let out even more, and anyway, he was right; a lot had happened that day. Syaoran curled under the blankets, and was soon fast asleep. Kurogane dug under the covers and lay on his back, his eyes staring into space.
His mind was full of thoughts swimming around, and he couldn’t calm down enough to sleep. He was glad to be back home, but he was also worried. Admittedly, he did not want to part with his companions. Kurogane’s predicament was what Fye had mentioned before when they were discussing with Souma; if it hadn’t been for him, they wouldn’t have made it in some tough situations. He didn’t feel pride at this, but genuine worry. Now that only a few feathers remained, undoubtedly, they would have to come face to face with the one who had forced Sakura’s memories away in the first place. And Kurogane strongly suspected that it was that someone who was spying on them, and who had controlled Syaoran like that before. So what was he to do? He longed to help them, for he actually counted them as something more than traveling companions; he almost dared to call them ‘friends’. But his desire to see Tomoyo again was very strong.
He sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands. His head hurt so much; he was at his wit’s end. What to do?
“Tomorrow,” he murmured. “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
And with that he closed his eyes and tried to cease all thoughts. However, it was a long time before sleep took him.

Credits
+ CLAMP takes credit for TRC; all characters respectfully belong to them
+ BUT: Kazuo is a character created by me
+ Fye saying all of those stuff about magic was by me; CLAMP hasn’t told us much about that aspect of his yet
+ CLAMP hasn’t actually given us any information on Kurogane’s family; that’s all me
+ SO: Souma being his cousin was something I made
+ Personal Guard: my idea

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3