History Fanfic / Shatterheart

* CloningBlues: The original angst for not being the clone.

-->Syaoran: I thought that you might love me a little.

* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Syaoran and Kurogane get engaged in Nihon.]]

* AdultFear: Fai is on a rare outing with Syaoran when Syaoran is kidnapped while trying to get some space. [[spoiler: Syaoran is tortured by serial killers]] while Fai and Kurogane ''pray'' they find him in time.

* RealityEnsues:
** Unless you are extremely skilled or powerful, you will lose when fighting multiple opponents at once.
** [[spoiler: After Syaoran is tortured]], it takes weeks for injuries to heal, intensive physical therapy to get injured limbs working, and he is left with lasting psychological scars.

--> '''Kurogane:''' I love you because when you vow to protect someone, you don't screw it up every five minutes like I do. Because when the people you care about treat you like shit,you still love them. Because when you see a total stranger in trouble, you don't even have to think before you help them—you just do it. You could be ugly, or incompetent, or stupid, and I would still love you because you're a good person

* HalfTruth: When asked by Fai what he and Syaoran do when they aren't around Kurogane tells him that they "talk."

* BadDreams: Syaoran already had bad dreams caused by his regret, but they get worse [[spoiler: when he later develops PTSD after being tortured.]]

* BiTheWay: Syaoran, as he loves both Sakura and Kurogane.

! This fanfic contains examples of:

* EasyAmnesia: After suffering a blow to the head after a roof collapses on him, Kurogane loses his memory of the argument he and Syaoran had before the roof fell. The story initially seems to be playing this trope straight, as Kurogane had no memory of his journey, but it's quickly subverted as he quickly regains his memory [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when he looks at Syaoran.]]

-->Cassie: You got a princess waiting for you in a tower? Have lots of magical adventures with your friends? Explore foreign territories and overthrow cruel regimes?

* [[spoiler: BrokenPedestal: Clone!Syaoran is disappointed and horrified when he finds out that Kurogane, his mentor and the man he looked up to, is in a relationship with his ''son''.]]
* BrokenBird: By the time the story begins, Syaoran has been ostracized by his clone's friends, been imprisoned for years while the clone lived his life, doesn't know if the girl he loves is still alive, and has had to deal with the knowledge that he is indirectly responsible for his friends' tradegies. He slowly gets better over the course of the story after he is befriended by Kurogane.

-->Kurogane: What's wrong is that you don't love me and I don't love you.

-->Syaoran: I don't want to be a burden to anyone but--
-->Kurogane: But there's no changing the fact that you will be.
* ButNotTooBi: It's mentioned that Kurogane has slept only with women in Suwa offscreen, but in the story he has subtext with Fai and a romantic relationship with Syaoran. According to Souma, his longest romantic entanglement lasted twelve hours.

** When Syaoran joins the group during mealtime for the first time, he endures an awkward and hostile spaghetti dinner with Fai and Sakura. When Fai and Sakura try to make amends to Syaoran after he is tortured, they both ask if he wants to have spaghetti and eat dinner with them, but he refuses out of anger.

-->Fai: You can still talk to us...I'm not holding anything against you.
-->Syaoran: I don't believe you.
-->Fai: I don't want to you to think you don't have a support network. We--
-->Syaoran: If I had a support network, then where were you after we landed in this world?

** ''Flowing dresses with sequined accessories hung from plastic dolls made to resemble the human figure, if that figure happened to be anorexic.''

-->Syaoran: ''You're sick.''
-->Cassie: Actually, I just got over a cold so I'm not sick anymore.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Kurogane becomes the only reason Syaoran willingly leaves his room and attempts to socialize with Fai and Sakura. Kurogane also acts as Syaoran's source of emotional stability and comfort since Fai and Sakura shunned him. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in that Kurogane realizes that Syaoran's dependency on him is unhealthy after Fai points out that Syaoran ''still'' remains withdrawn and has actually gotten worse despite his efforts. When Kurogane ends their relationship in an attempt to get Syaoran to stand on his own, he relapses back as shut-in.

* NobodyPoops: Averted. Its offhandedly mentioned that Syaoran leaves his room to go the bathroom during his time as a shut-in.
** Further averted as one of immediate problems of Syaoran's knee injury is that it's much more difficult for him to use the toliet since he can't stand or walk.
* NominalImportance: While the rest of the gang goes nameless in their first appearance, the leader Jet is named and is the one to beat up Syaoran. Jet's girlfriend remains nameless until the gang reappears later, but is described as rather bloodthristy. They later gain importance when they are revealed to be {{SerialKiller}}s.

--> Kurogane: I'm done with you. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of the way you're sulking like there's nothing to salvage in this world, and I'm sick of watching this group fall apart. Whether you two like it or not, we're all on this journey. If you don't shape up, we're not going to be functional when we really need it.

* [[spoiler: ScrewDestiny: R!Syaoran is literally destined for Sakura. By not being with her and loving Kurogane he is overriding his destiny.]]

* [[spoiler: SerialKiller: The gang leaders, Jet and Cassie, brag that they had other victims before Syaoran.]]

--> I love you because when you vow to protect someone, you don't screw it up every five minutes like I do. Because when the people you care about treat you like shit,you still love them. Because when you see a total stranger in trouble, you don't even have to think before you help them—you just do it. You could be ugly, or incompetent, or stupid, and I would still love you because you're a good person

* [[spoiler: StrangerInAFamiliarLand: When Syaoran finally returns to Clow, he realizes that his house no longer feels like home because his friends are his home.]]

* [[spoiler: TheyDo: Syaoran and Kurogane get engaged in Nihon.]]

--> This can't be healthy. There's no way I'm this desperate for approval.

* WhatTheHellHero:

** She gets called out by Kurogane for not treating Syaoran as a non-entity.

** When Kurogane [[NearRapeExperience threatens to rape]] Syaoran after Syaoran unintentionally insults his honor.
* KissOfDistraction: [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] when Kurogane kisses Syaoran [[AnywhereButTheirLips all over his face]] in a rare moment of playfulness to win a chess game that he was losing. It works as Syaoran completely forgets his strategy

--> I love you because when you vow to protect someone, you don't screw it up every five minutes like I do. Because when the people you care about treat you like shit, you still love them. Because when you see a total stranger in trouble, you don't even have to think before you help them—you just do it. You could be ugly, or incompetent, or stupid, and I would still love you because you're a good person

* [[spoiler: StrangerInAFamiliarLand: When Syaoran finally returns to Clow, his house is completely unfamiliar to him. He realizes that it doesn't feel like home because his friends are his home.]]
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Sakura is extremely cold and distant to Syaoran and can seem downright emotionless at times because of [[BrokenBird her hurt over Clone!Syaoran's]] betrayal. Her sweeter side starts to resurface when Syaoran start making an effort to connect and being called out on it only to melt when Syaoran is kidnapped and tortured, causing her to realize she could have permanently lost him.

* TapOnTheHead: Kurogane punches Fai out cold when the latter lies to him about hurting Syaoran. Fai's quick recovery is [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by his improved healing abilities.

* TranquilFury: Syaoran is very calm and extremely angry when Kurogane apologizes to him for actions.

* WhamEpisode: First, it starts out with Fai's attempts to bond with Syaoran to make up for being a bad friend and Syaoran hating it the entire time to point of ditching him the first chance he got in the bookstore. Then Syaoran is jumped by the gang that attacked him earlier in the story and kidnapped. The gang's leaders turn out to be a pair of serial killers who nearly torture him to death while Fai and Kurogane frantically search for him.
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Directly said by Syaoran, "It's only another chess match, what could possibly go wrong" The next chess match has him fighting a battle automata one-on-one [[spoiler: and Fai's curse activates and he stabs Sakura.]]

** She gets called out for not treating Syaoran as a non-entity.

* YouMustBeCold: Kurogane gives Syaoran his coat after the latter goes into shock from almost being run over and because he didn't have a jacket.

* LookBothWays: Syaoran nearly gets run over by a speeding car when a pedestrian knocks him into the road.
* LoveDodecahedron: Between all four of the Main Players. Real!Syaoran is in love with Sakura, but is developing serious feelings for Kurogane. Kurogane is returns Syaoran's feelings but has a thing for Fai. Fai is in love with Kurogane but is too angry and too late to do anything about it. Sakura is ambivalent toward Real!Syaoran and is still in love with Clone!Syaoran.

** Syaoran has one when he trying to figure out his own feelings so he could find a self-help book that deals with the problem.

* MistakenForPedophile: It doesn't bode well for Kurogane and Syaoran when Fai found out without knowing Syaoran's real age.

* NearRapeExperience: Kurogane pins Syaoran down and implicitly threatens to rape him after Syaoran accidentally insults him by asking if Kurogane took advantage of him when he was drunk. Kurogane snaps himself back to reality before he goes through with it. This destroys Syaoran's trust in him.

** Becomes HypocriticalHumor when Kurogane does the same thing in Suwa.
* NobodyPoops: Averted, its offhandedly mentioned that Syaoran only left his room to go the bathroom when he was a shut-in.

* NominalImportance: While the rest of the gang goes nameless, the leader Jet is named and is the one to beat up Syaoran. Jet's girlfriend goes nameless but is described as rather bloodthristy. They later gain importance and the girlfriend is named when they kidnap Syaoran forty chapters later and revealed to be {{SerialKiller}}s.

* NotQuiteTheRightThing: Fai tries to make up his emotional neglect and ostracization of Syaoran by teaching Syaoran to bake and trying to bond with him. Fai's shift from cold to caring just comes off as off-putting and exhausting to Syaoran.
** Fai forces an ultimatum on Kurogane and Syaoran to either break up their relationship or to tell Sakura the truth in hopes of ending what he sees as a dangerously codependent relationship or preventing Syaoran from hurting himself with constantly lying. This has consequences such as:
*** Tensions in the house ''imploding'' as Kurogane and Syaoran were the only things keeping each other relatively sane and happy and they end up more miserable than before.
*** Intensifies the severity of Syaoran's PTSD as now he can't turn to Kurogane, who was his only form of support.
*** Destroys Fai's chance of making amends with Syaoran for his previous coldness as this proves to be the straw that broke the camel's back and Syaoran decides that he'd rather starve and isolate himself than have anything to do with Fai.
*** Fai's relationship with Kurogane reaches a boiling point as Kurogane believes that Fai had no right to get involved and thinks him to be a massive {{hypocrite}}.

* OneSteveLimit: Enforced due to literary constraints. Syaoran's clone is always called "the Other" while R!Syaoran is Syaoran. [[spoiler: When Syaoran and Kurogane find Syaoran's father in Fei Wong Reed's trap, the former is referred by his real name, Tsubasa, and the father is referred as Syaoran.]]

** Syaoran gets so used to Fai's gloominess in the first half of the story, he freaks out when Fai smiles at him.

* OpenSaysMe: When Kurogane and Fai finally track down Syaoran's kidnappers to their hideout, Kurogane punches down the steel door and the door ''crumbles''.

* PsychoSupporter: The female gang member Cassie is distinguished from the rest of the gang when she cheers for her boyfriend, Jet to smash Syaoran's head in.
* PunchAWall: Kurogane gets so angry when Syaoran kisses him that he punches a hole in the wall when he was trying to open Syaoran's bedroom door to force a confrontation.

--> Kurogane: I'm done with you. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of the way you're sulking like there's nothing to salvage in this world, and I'm sick of watching this group fall apart.Whether you two like it or not, we're all on this journey. If you don't shape up, we're not going to be functional when we really need it.
* RealMenDontCry: Deconstructed, Kurogane believes that he shouldn't cry so he would never show weakness and decides to get angry. Souma calls him out on it because he never learned to express his grief in a healthy manner, he doesn't know how to empathize with others. Since anger is his reaction to anything, he often does he immediately regrets.

** [[spoiler: After Syaoran is tortured]], it takes weeks for injuries to heal, intensive physical therapy to get injured limbs working and takes even longer for the psychological scars.
* RelationshipUpgrade: Kurogane and Syaoran start as each other's OnlyFriend after they make the effort to understand each other. Then they become FriendsWithBenefits to provide emotional and physical comfort to each other. After breaking up twice and going back and forth on their feelings, they confess their love for each other [[spoiler: after Fai nearly kills them in chess finals and they eventually become engaged in Nihon.]]

** Syaoran tries to release Kurogane from their [[FriendsWithBenefits agreement]] when he believes Kurogane's doing it out of obligation, not interest. Kurogane is quick to show him otherwise.

* RequiredSecondaryPowers: While Syaoran knows how to fight through past training and his clone's memories, he has slower reflexes because he wasn't actually taught and he didn't gain the reflexes himself.

* [[spoiler: ScrewDestiny: R!Syaoran is literally destined for Sakura, by not being with her and loving Kurogane he is overriding his destiny.]]

* [[spoiler: SerialKiller: The gang leaders, Jet and Cassie brag that they had other victims before Syaoran.]]

* SecretTestOfCharacter: After Kurogane accidentally triggers Syaoran's PTSD, Fai tests how much he actually cares for Syaoran. He does so by telling Kurogane that he hurt Syaoran when he was trying to calm him down during his panic attack. Kurogane is horrified by the possibility that he did that he swears to walk out if he did. Kurogane passes to Fai's displeasure and the former is furious when he finds out that he was lied to.

* HollywoodHealing: Averted as it takes several weeks for Syaoran's torture injuries to heal and he needs physical therapy to be able to use his knee.
** Kurogane is bedridden for days due to blood loss [[spoiler: caused by his self dismemberment]]. Even with Tomoyo's passive magic to speed up the healing process, it takes him a while to fully recover.

* HypocriticalHumor: Kurogane refuses to let Syaoran weather the pain and drugs his food with pain medication against his wishes. He later becomes angry and stubborn when Healer Hinata does the same.

* ILied: Fai says this phrase word for word when Kurogane passes his SecretTestOfCharacter by vowing to leave if he finds out he physically injured Syaoran. Kurogane didn't take that he was lied to and played emotionally lightly.

** [[spoiler: Averted, when Sakura finds out about Syaoran and Kurogane's love for each other she is extremely upset and has a hard time accepting it.]]

* ImplausibleDeniability: When Fai and Kurogane confront Jet, who is about to pour bleach down Syaoran's eyes, he tries to deny it by saying:

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Sakura, believing Kurogane fell in love with someone in Infinity, tries to give romantic advice and tells him to confess his feelings before it's too late. Since they will eventually leave Infinity and Kurogane intends to return to Suwa, he will likely never see this person again and will always hold regrets that he didn't confess. Since Kurogane is debating on his feelings on Syaoran, this gives him a harsh reminder that they will eventually be separated.

* InternalReveal: Kurogane and Syaoran evolve their friendship into something more physical/romantic twenty chapters in. Fai finds out thirty chapters later [[spoiler: and Sakura finds out 140 chapters ''later'']]

* IntimatePsychotherapy: Syaoran and Kurogane's temperaments improve and both get less depressed after they start turning to each other for affection. Subverted in Nihon, Syaoran tries tempting Kurogane with affection to get him to calm down. It ends in tears.
* IrrationalHatred: Fai knows that Syaoran wasn't responsible for the loss of his eye, initially hated him for being indirectly responsible for his clone's FaceHeelTurn and because he replacing a formerly beloved friend. He slowly grows out of it.

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Fai is being a massive hypocrite about it, he is ''right'' that Kurogane and Syaoran have an extremely codependent relationship and hiding the truth will only hurt them in the long run. He also points that regardless that Syaoran initiated the relationship, Kurogane is taking advantage of someone emotionally vulnerable and in love with someone else.
* JerkassRealization: Kurogane realizes that Syaoran didn't get his shoulder injury treated because he was afraid of triggering Kurogane's anger and he assumed no one would be concerned for him. This causes Kurogane to realize how badly he and the others are treating Syaoran so he vows to protect him and make an effort to help him.

** When Kurogane [[NearRapeExperience threatens to rape]] Syaoran.

* KnowWhenToFoldThem: When Syaoran decides to run when he can't convince the gang attacking him to stop and he gets outnumbered.
* LapPillow: Kurogane makes Syaoran sleep in his lap after the latter wakes up from his nightmares.
* LastGuyWins: R!Syaoran is last person to join the group and is the most proactive in his pursuit for Kurogane's affections and ends up winning him over.

* LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone: While he still opposes Syaoran and Kurogane's relationship, Fai starts taking Sakura out shopping when they want alone time.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Kurogane becomes the only reason Syaoran would leave his room and attempt to socialize with Fai and Sakura and becomes his source of emotional stability and comfort since Fai and Sakura shunned him. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in that Kurogane realizes that Syaoran's dependency on him is unhealthy after Fai points out that Syaoran ''still'' remains withdrawn and actually gotten worse despite his efforts. When Kurogane ends their relationship in an attempt to get Syaoran to stand on his own, he relapses back as shut-in.
** It turns out that Syaoran is also a crutch for Kurogane, as Syaoran is only one that he opens up to and let his guard down. Kurogane realizes this when he starts to miss Syaoran's physical and emotional intimacy.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Sakura never finds out that Syaoran and Kurogane are more than friends [[spoiler: until chapter 160 Syaoran tells her himself after they both recover in Clow. She did not took it well when she found out.]]