Whoo. I guess I'll C'n'P my posts from the KxF thread too, since technically they were off-topic.
That line can be taken as a purely teasing comment, even if it is worded in a way I don't particularly like, lol!
And yes, I agree with Moro-dashi! Kuro blushes when he gets embarrassed (like when Syaoran called him kind) and he reacted just as he usually does to Fai's brand of teasing.
I think that Del Rey got mixed up by Fai's 'how intriguing, Kuro-rin!' and they took that as Fai LITERALLY implying that he thought Kurogane has a crush on her, which I don't think he was. He was just like, "eeeh, you're not so big and tough, you still have soft spots for people!". I think they were trying to mimic his way of speaking when he teases, and they just found it easiest to use the term crush.
Here's some reasons why I feel KuroTomo would never happen:
1. Tomoyo loved Sakura in CCS. Also, in Piffle, she went right past Kurogane and was crushing on Sakura almost immediately. If the group falls into Nihon, who can honestly say the same thing wouldn't happen?
1 a) Furthermore, if Tomoyo is attracted to people like Sakura (ie, cute, sweet, innocent people) why on EARTH would she be attracted to someone who is the exact physical and emotional opposite of the girl she was obsessed with for so long?
2) Tomoyo sent Kurogane away to learn true strength, presumably the strength found when you protect someone you love. Obviously Kurogane cares for Tomoyo, but she couldn't teach him this lesson. If he loved her, he would have been more willing to change for her, but she had to send him away to meet Fai, Sakura and Syaoran for him to realize this.
3) When he leaves, Tomoyo says, "If fate allows it, we'll meet again". IF. Now, Tomoyo is a dreamseer. If Kurogane and Tomoyo were meant to be together, why would she say "if"? Fate would let them be together if they were meant to be together.
4) Kurogane wants to go home, sure, but would he stay there if they got there? That's definitely not set in stone. He still needs to find FWR and get revenge for his parents. And now he has the responsibility of Fai, too, which he took on willingly.
5) The splash page featuring Kurogane for chapter 124 said, "Inside an endless conflict, the man has begun to understand the reason he fights". Now, in that chapter, there is really only one thing that it could be referring to, and that's Kurogane's decision to save Fai.
6) Tagline for chapter 125: "His companion's feelings have reached him!" Now, this could be referring to Fai finally understanding what Kurogane wants him to do (to live) but in 131, Fai is clearly NOT accepting of Kurogane's choice, and doesn't appear to have any greater desire to live. So, it follows that the 'feelings' in question could only be in referrence to Kurogane's personal feelings (whether those are romantic or platonic) that Fai finally realizes he has.
7) In correspondence to point 6, Fai decides to push Kurogane away because they "got too close". I don't think Fai would necessarily have decided to do this if he was the only one with feelings, because the whole "we're too close" speech was preceeded by an "I don't want to bring misfortune to others", not an "
I don't want to get hurt". This could mean that by having feelings for Fai, Fai thinks that Kurogane will get hurt, so he's decided to push him away so that his feelings won't develop any further.
I don't know if this would be an issue in Japan, but wouldn't Tomoyo ending up with a man after being a canon lesbian sort of be like saying, "well, she had her crush, now it's time to get serious and find herself a man"? Doesn't seem like a great message to me. Not that bisexuality is bad in any way, but Tomoyo's never shown any romantic inclination towards men. If Clamp intended for her to be with a guy in the end, they might have shown that a little.
9) Tomoyo is a secondary character. If Kurogane was going to end up with her, there would probably be a *lot* more emphasis placed on their relationship.
10) At the beginning, Kurogane says he will only serve Tomoyo. However, THIS WAS IN CHAPTER 5 OR SO. The whole point of the story is that people change. Recall Kurogane and Fai's conversation about change in Piffle? And Kurogane technically protects the whole group, which is essentially what he did for Tomoyo. So that argument? Doesn't hold water. He's devoted to her, yes, but he's also devoted to the group in the same way.
Whew. Honestly, I have no problem with people shipping them, people all like different things and can ship whomever they want as far as I'm concerned, but I don't see them being canon in *any* sense of the word. Though if anyone wants to argue any of the points above, go ahead, I'm open to debate.
11. Oh. Yes. I forgot. Tomoyo looks like Kurogane's mother. So, um, odepial complex, anyone?
