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Title:
Dust In The Wind

Rating:
PG, because there's a few bloody bits.

Author:
Ferret Boy (amazingbouncingferret@hotmail.com)

Author Notes:
- X is not owned by me. It's owned by CLAMP, Asuka and numerous others. Too many to remember right now.
- Yes, this is based on the TV series. More specifically on episode 24. If you haven't seen it, hit your back button, unless, of course, you really do want to be spoiled.
- Also for those who are wondering, yes, I have used the translations from the TV series in this work of fiction.
- Dust In The Wind is a song sung by many people. I'm not even going to bother to name them. It is owned by them and the recording industries and everything else.

Special Comments:
I'm never going to write another fic in first person again. It's really hard to describe things in detail when you're portraying a character with no emotions or anything looking at it all.
This fanfic ficlet was written for my friend, Pamela. It was inspired by the last episode of the TV series, some information clarification from my significant other and Pam's X music video, 'All We Do', which uses the song that serves for the title.
While reading, I suggest you listen to the 'Dust In The Wind' version by Sarah Brightman.

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"The future is not yet decided."

Were the words of Kotori Monou, my younger sister. She who loved 'Kamui' until her dying day and then took it with her to the grave for all of eternity there after. I tossed them carelessly aside, not giving them any thought or consideration for I knew it was not worth it. When one comes into such a destiny, there is nothing that can be done to escape it...

"The Dragon of Heaven... is finished!"

I cried, then lifted the shinken to the level of my shoulder in preparation to strike. He stood before me like a newborn babe, bare before the eyes of the world and arms outstretched. There was no time for hesitation in order to admire or comment on his submission, however. I plunged the shinken deep into his chest, burying the blade to the golden hilt, forcing it through his aching heart, and out again from his back in a short, but sweet, spray of crimson droplets. I felt the rush of victory wash over me and my heart began to pound, both echoing clearly in my ears. It was a thrill. A wonderful thrill. I had forgotten myself momentarily in my triumph, in the completion of a fated destiny. Across my face was a smirk. It remained until he looked up at me with those doe-like eyes of lavender, through the dark lashes and threads of ebony hair which dangled lifelessly before them. His lips, red with the essence of life, parted faintly.

"Fuuma. I understand. Finally... how I'm going to bring you back."

The voice that had sounded so determined earlier was now weak and strained, on the brink of death, who waited just around the corner to claim him. It, certainly, was not enough to draw any pity from the depths of my blackened and empty heart. After all, this was destiny. This was the way it was meant to be and he came to Tokyo Tower knowing full well what had awaited him here. Impaled upon the sword, now all he was was a wounded animal, caught in the claws of the predator, begging to be put out of it's misery swiftly and painlessly. Or, at least, that's all I saw upon looking at him.

"I... wanted to... protect you... along with this world."

He had not yet finished, much to my dismay. The words brought a nasty sneer to my dry lips.

"But... you will only die and be forgotten. And then, the world will begin to change."

For that's the way things would be upon the victory of the Dragons of Earth. The Earth pleaded for a change. To be purged from the humans that inhabited it, destroying it much like a deadly virus does to the vulnerable body. He, however, was not apparently seeing eye to eye upon the matter. Being one so weak, so thin, so fragile... so delicate, 'Kamui' could still lift his hand from his side, though it pained him to do so. He pressed his palm flat against my chest, over the heart that beat rhythmically beneath, and held it firmly in place. Perhaps he wasn't as weak as I had thought, after all. There was strength residing within his spirit and it soon began to pour out from him like water over the edge of the falls.

"I will not be forgotten."

The 'Kamui' of the Dragons of Heaven stated, then, quite confidently, his voice momentarily without waver.

"Because I will... always be inside... your heart. I finally realized it. Kotori lives inside my heart. And my mother. And Sorata... will continue to live inside... Arashi's heart. Hinoto, Saiki, and Karen... They all will be in someone's heart... giving hope... to that person so that they can live on."

Such words. They were something to laugh at, to scoff at, to just simply ignore for they possessed no meaning, at least not to me. How could one live inside a heart that only beat? A heart that couldn't feel anything at all? A heart that was empty and became only what others needed it to be? My eyebrows came together in confusion for only a brief moment, but I didn't receive much time to mull over my own thoughts, for there was still more which needed to be said.

"That's why my... my wish... I entrust to you."

I felt suddenly filled...

"This is what I have decided."

His hand began to slip away, soon falling entirely back to his side lifelessly. Perhaps it was a motion made on purpose, used to have an effect, but I would never know. I never asked.

"My future."

And this 'Kamui' said with a smile, looking up at me as though seeing my face gave him the greatest happiness imaginable. From his small body poured out the light of golden. It started small, but then grew, expanding outwards from him, enveloping me with it's warmth, washing over me, into me and beyond. The beams climbed to the tops of the tower and then spread out over the city, perhaps even the entire world as well. A once blackened Tokyo soon grew bright and the color returned with it. It reached out with magnificent fingers of gold until it touched the Earth and wrapped around it lovingly, setting into it it much like the setting sun does into an ocean. I lifted my hand and touched it to my chest, where his had been.

According to destiny, according to the way it was supposed to be, it should not of ended this way, but Kamui's wish... I watched as it over-powered that of the Earth's. He was supposed to lose to me, for that was the way things were foreordained. He couldn't fight at full-strength for he had been attacking one he had wished to protect. To win, he had to of been able to beat me, his 'equal', his twin star, the 'Kamui' of the Dragons of Earth. But, had he of become that and fought to win, lost what he had desired to protect, to save, then he would no longer be a Dragon of Heaven. It was self-defeating. I had moments ago been without a personality of my own, becoming only what other people needed me to be. When placing his wish into my hands, he entrusted everything else into me, without the slightest form of reservation. I could feel it. I could feel myself becoming exactly what he needed of me completely and permanently.

I became Monou Fuuma once more.

In a blink, he faded away right before my eyes, as did the light, seeping into the fertile Earth whose cries subsided and were replaced with those of humanity tending to their everyday business. I couldn't hang onto to him; nothing lasts forever but the endless sky. It slips away.

Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.

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