"Nyaa~" The blond man said.
"Meow?" The cat replied.

"You're very cute," Fai informed the stray feline. The cat ignored him and continued with its ill-begotten meal. Fai had taken on a habit of feeding strays, though never more than once. He didn't want any attachment to form between him and the cats. After all, he was never in any one world for very long.

The magician stood and adjusted the eyepatch that covered the emptiness where his left eye should have been and walked away from the cat and the saucer of fish he had left for it. The stray mewed at him for a little while in the drizzling rain, then its voice faded back to munching sounds.

"It's almost time to move on," he muttered to himself, lifting his gaze to the sky. There was a lazy smile on his face, but his good eye was empty of any joy. His blue gaze reflected the gray storm overhead. It was midafternoon by his judgment, but the sun was no where to be seen.

"... After all, it will be a problem if they catch up."

'THE HELL?!' A loud roar bursted through the street as a rough looking man chased a dog 'Get the hell back here you mut!!!'

He ran after it with such a violent expression, it was certain the dog was not running just for kicks, but because it feared for it's life. The cloak obscured the man's features, but one could tell he was tall. His mask obscured his face, but he looked handsomely dark and scary at the same time. Red eyes flaming in anger.

As the dog passed Fai, it slipped through a crack in a wall.
'GET THE HELL BACK HERE YOU COWARD!!!!' Kurogane yelled after, punching the wall. Then his hand dropped and he gritted his teeth in fury.
'Oh.' He let out, finally noticing Fai.

A moment of silence passed between them as Fai stared into the stranger's red eyes. Then the shock faded and his face fell easily back into its lazy smile of flippancy and utter carelessness.

"The big doggy was chasing a little doggy..." he mused out loud. Then dug around in his coat for something. "Wait there, I know I have extra around here somewhere."

Finally, he held out a packet of bone-shaped doggy treats. "Did the little one steal your lunch?"

Kurogane's expression was ticked off. 'The hell did you call me?' He glared at him, though kept his anger in check.

He wondered if the man was just stupid, but he noticed something else about him. But for now, he would keep silent about it.

'... dog treats?' He muttered 'OI! What do you take me for?!' He towered over Fai, with the same violent expression, he had with the dog.

'I am not a dog!' He hissed, stepping closer to him. Now was the best time for Fai to run, seeing as Kurogane was breathing flames if you may.

"Ara~" Fai took a step back as the stranger's face pressed closer. He gave him another lazy smile and shook the treats enticingly. "Ookii-wanko, big doggy."

He stepped out neatly from under the looming figure and reached up to pet his hair. "Wanko-sama will burst a blood vessel if he keeps shouting like that. Ah... but we can't keep wasting time like this."

The smile did not fade, but his eyes became even more distant. Fai pressed the dog biscuits into the stranger's hand. "I must bid you farewell, otherwise..."

He stared back at the sky. "Otherwise, they might catch up to me."

Kurogane's nostris flared as he breathed sharply. When the male was saying his goodbyes, he grabbed his arm 'Oi, who the hell are you? And stop calling me a doggy!'

'Your problems don't concern me.' He let go of his arm 'But running away reeks like a coward to me.' He muttered, glancing down at the somewhat shorter male.

He wasn't going to admit, he was curious to know about the strange man's ordeal. 'What is your name. So I can add it to my, to kill list.' He spoke calmly, hands crossed over his chest underneath his cloak.

Fai barely grunted when the man's hand closed over his arm. He smiled until the stranger let go, keeping his eyes almost closed, and let the coward comment slip entirely by him. Having an argument with Fai was like trying to fight water.

"That's something someone like you would say na? Wan.ko.Sa.ma~" He chuckled but didn't leave as he had said he would. He pressed his face just under the man's chin and sighed dramatically.

"If you scowl much more, your brow might eat your eyes," he warned, then hopped out of arm's reach. "My name is Fai. But you can call me Mew-sama if you want."

Kurogane seriously was about to bark an order at him 'Don't call me a dog!' He finally yelled, a roar escaping him at the same time.

This all came to pass as Fai had pressed up under his chin, silencing Kurogane's anger for a moment. 'Che. At least I don't run away.' He mumbled.

'I'll keep it with "Idiot".' He spat at him, eyeing him up and down 'You're on drugs?'

"Ehh~" Fai turned away from him, his blond hair hiding whatever emotion he might have had in his eyes. "If depression is a drug, I might have overdosed a long time ago."

Then he cheered up all of a sudden and put on the biggest grin yet. "So, since you don't want me to call you Wanko-sama, what about ... ano kuromono (that black thing)?"

"Or you could tell me your name," Fai suggested, though he sounded a bit dramatically disappointed, as if this was the last best resort, and definitely the most boring one.

---

(Events here occur before they do in RP with Xiah.)

Kamui crash landed on top of something soft. He shook the rain out of his eyes and scrambled up quickly. Subaru let out a soft moan but didn't complain as his brother pulled him back up. Kamui stared around at the bleak city and the drizzling rain. His left cheek was cut, and unlike normal, he was not healing very fast, blood still flowed, dripping down onto the pavement in watery splatters. "What is it with you bringing us into raining worlds all the time, Subaru?"

"Kamui, you need to feed," Subaru urged, trying to support his twin's weight as the taller vampire sagged. Kamui merely nodded his agreement. His eyes flashed gold for a moment, and he lifted his head to scent the rain-thickened air.

"There is... an E nearby."

'DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT?!' He roared, then silenced down. 'It's Kurogane.' He answered, calmer now, looking off to the side.

The place he was staring at, was the hole the dog had gone through. It seemed he still hadn't come to terms with his loss of fight. Though, he kept talking to the man before him, for unknown reasons.

It was so hard for him, to know he couldn't kill him just because he ticked him off. The damn curse made him practically immobile for fighting. How was he going to defend now? Hit them with a pillow and hope they don't suffocate in it.

'Where are you heading to?' He was surprised about it, didn't think he'd ask, but it had slipped his mouth the moment he was thinking about it.

Fai nodded. "Kuro-wanwan then," he said, the same smile staying on his face. His gaze followed Kurogane's, and he was silent for barely a moment before he was staring at Kuro again. "You hate losing, na?"

"And it doesn't matter where I go," Fai replied, this time speaking at least sort of like a normal person. "No matter where it is, as long as there are no Asurans or vampires."

---

A dog sat nearby, sniffing at the bins the vampires had knocked over. Subaru was about to pet it when he noticed his brother had stopped moving and was staring at the crack in the wall beside them.

Kamui remained motionless for a little while. Then he pulled back his hand then let it shoot forward again. The brickwork crumbled around his fingers, and when he retracted his hand again, it came tumbling backwards along with it. Leaving a very stunned Fai on the other side.

'My name's Kurogane... Che- it's useless to make you say it.' He ran his hand through his hair and kept looking at the wall.

'More than anything...' His answer was slightly absent minded as if he was deep in thought. 'You travel alone?' He asked, not asking about any Asurans or Vampires. The world was weird enough without that knowledge.

When the wall crumbled down, did his facial expression change 'Che- Guess this is going to be an interesting ride.'

The rumble from the collapsed wall died away, Kamui's golden eyes went from the thin man to the warrior, then he smirked and grabbed the blond one around the throat. The vampire lifted him bodily and slammed him legs first against the crumbled concrete.

Fai hissed sharply as he felt the impact. He wouldn't be using that foot for a few hours at least. He grunted when Kamui dropped him again, and stared down at the ground. "Vampire..." He muttered under his breath.

Kamui turned to the more armored man and dropped into a fighting stance. He had assessed the threat from both, and decided it was better to incapacitate the E first. His twin was now no where to be seen, having been told to leave battles so he did not become a burden.