Disclaimer: All characters are copyright of CLAMP. No monetary profit is being made from the writing or distribution of this fic.

Warning: Very undignified vampires, possessive children, mayhem in a cup...

Co-authored with: Schnickledooger! Of course! (You know when an angst writer and a humor writer join forces the world is going to end) She actually came up with the basis for this. She was making jokes about one of my currently unposted TRC angst fics, Deeper than Blood, and how, when it came to Seishirou, Subaru just couldn't say no. Long story made short, her cracks were too good to ignore, and I wrote out a rough draft, which she of course then had to fill out, because we all know how horrible I am at humor. So go read her other humor fics, not mine.

Please note: I'm sorry, this is another of my increasing collection of X/TRC fics that have too much TRC to put in the X category, but almost have too many X cracks to be in the TRC category. So if you're reading this and have not read X, then you should know…

In X, Fuuma Monou and Kamui are destined to fight for the fate of the world on opposite sides. When Kamui chooses to save humanity, Fuuma is forced to destroy it in his position as "the other Kamui." It's a point of some confusion in the books that there are two "Kamui" and Fuuma repeatedly corrects anyone who calls him "Fuuma." I was happy to see that in TRC he got to live a normal life as himself.

Spellbound

Subaru had felt the considering weight of eyes on him for awhile, but he was definitely not expecting the tug on the hem of his shirt—not expecting to look down and meet... very familiar amber eyes. The kid stared up at him, disconcertingly direct, and despite the fact that the head of black hair only came to his chest, it was very definitely Seishirou. Well, not his Seishirou, but still...

"Will you go out with me?"

Subaru blushed. Yep, definitely Seishirou.

"Ah, I... That is..." Subaru fumbled for words. "Isn't there someone... uh, your own age you'd prefer?"

"You're very beautiful," Seishirou replied, not put off in the least.

He smiled pleasantly and reached up, cupping Subaru's chin and pulling him down closer. For the second time, Subaru had the disconcerting impression he was being considered carefully.

Finally, Seishirou nodded. "Yes," he said. "You're the one I'm going with."

"But..." Subaru started to protest.

"Don't you like me?"

Amber eyes bored into him, daring him to deny it. Subaru wilted.

"It's not that..."

"Then it's settled."

Subaru was beginning to wonder how he'd gotten himself into this one, but at that point they were interrupted.

"Not another one!" exclaimed Kamui, who had been debating over the best places to stay with one of the locals, and had finally turned to look over at Subaru. He was hard-pressed to say what it was about his brother that caught the attention of every Seishirou in existence... "Subaru, you really have to stop attracting them!"

"But I'm not doing anything!" Subaru protested, turning hurt, big green eyes on him, and that probably was half the trouble right there... Recognizing a lost cause, Kamui turned on the kid.

"You! Stay away from my brother!"

"He's mine." Seishirou regarded him coldly. "Back off."

Kamui spluttered incoherently for a second, "You can't just claim Subaru! He doesn't belong to you!"

And if Kamui had been thinking straight, he would have realized he had just started an argument with a ten-year-old...

"Well, what gives you the right to him?"

"I'm his brother!" Kamui replied indignantly.

"Yes, but I'm his boyfriend."

Subaru choked. No one paid him any notice.

But luckily, at that point, Kamui realized his mistake.

"This is pointless. Subaru, come on. Let's find a place to stay..."

"Don't be silly. Subaru-san's coming with me!"

Kamui ground his teeth and forcefully kept himself from strangling the little pipsqueak. "He's not going with you and that's final!"

Kamui could never explain why, fifteen minutes later, he was trailing sullenly after his brother, who was being pulled along by the miniature Seishirou. It probably had something to do with big green eyes turned on him pleadingly and a gentle hand on his shoulder. He scowled. Really, did his brother have to get attached to every Seishirou they met?

"We're almost there," the kid in question spoke suddenly.

Then Kamui was jerked from his thoughts as something hit him in the back full-force, wrapping thin arms around his neck and dangling from the hold.

"Hello, Monou-kun," Seishirou said absently.

"I'm going to destroy the world!" Fuuma declared happily, and Kamui, choking on the death-grip those little arms had around his neck, replied hoarsely:

"I'll bet you are." He reached up to attempt to dislodge the little terror that was cutting off his air supply and promptly had his hand bitten. "Ow! You brat!"

The kid let go, and when Kamui tried to hit him, promptly stomped on the vampire's foot. Now Kamui usually didn't believe in killing humans—it was messy and left trails hunters could follow and was just generally unpleasant. However, that didn't mean he wasn't willing to make an exception...

Subaru started to intervene, but Seishirou jerked on his hand.

"Don't worry about Monou-kun. He can take care of himself."

"Where are we going exactly?" Subaru asked instead.

"My class is having a lock-in in school tonight. I'd like to take you for Show-And-Tell." Seishirou smirked up at him.

"S-Seishirou-chan... This isn't such a good idea!" Subaru felt the beginnings of cold panic. "I'll be a danger to you and everyone there!"

"Don't worry. It's one of the Student Council's stupid Halloween events. They'll all probably think you have one wicked cool costume on. Bakas."

Subaru could only stare at him numbly. He had a really bad feeling about this...

Several hours later found an increasingly paranoid Subaru and sullen Kamui (they had finally managed to get him away from Fuuma by playing hide-and-go-seek and then running away while the kid hid) trailing through a sea of other kids after Seishirou, who had of course come dressed as a vampire hunter.

"You know, Subaru-san," Seishirou said suddenly. "If you're hungry, you can snack on anyone you want."

"S-seishirou-chan!" Subaru spluttered. "I can't just attack some innocent kid!"

Seishirou stared at him. "Trust me, they're not innocent. But if you prefer, no one would miss any of the teachers either."

But Subaru was shaking his head frantically, a look of horror etched across his face, and Seishirou sighed, "Too bad really."

"Hey! Mister! Hey!" a squeaky little voice suddenly called from somewhere near Subaru's elbow, the owner covered in green face-paint and wearing antenna twisted around a green headband. "What class are you from?"

"Ah..." Subaru looked briefly at Kamui for guidance. "We're visiting from another dimension actually..."

The kid's little alien antenna bobbed up and down in awe.

"They do exist," he said, eyes huge, and scampered off into the crowd.

At that point there was a shout that radiated the width of the building, over all the little mummies and vampires and werewolves: "Kamui!"

Kamui paled and turned to look at Subaru with the air of one about to be executed.

"It's the Fuuma from hell," he whimpered, and Subaru took a moment to think he'd never seen his brother quite so... whipped. But then the miniaturized Fuuma was upon them, and there really wasn't time to run. .

"Look!" Fuuma shouted, grinning madly. "I'm Kamui!"

Kamui blinked stupidly for a minute, taking in the black leather and very real-looking sword he was struggling to lift.

"Kamui, you have a fan!" Subaru smiled. Kamui shot him a withering glare.

"He doesn't look anything like me!"

Fuuma kicked him in the shin. "I'm not Kamui! I'm Kamui!" Three sets of blank and bewildered faces stared back. Including Seishirou.

"Er, you should be whatever you want to be," Subaru supplied diplomatically.

"Stop encouraging him!" Kamui hissed.

"Kamui," Fuuma looked up at him seriously. "It is my destiny to kill you."

He swung the huge sword at Kamui, who had a moment to see his life flash before his eyes and wonder what he'd done to deserve this, and another second to wonder what was wrong with the upbringing of children these days... Luckily, the sword was too heavy for Fuuma, and he toppled forward with the weight of it. In the strangely lucid moments after his near-death experience, something finally snapped in Kamui and he caught the kid by the scruff of the neck.

"We do NOT," he punctuated his statement with a firm shake, "run with sharp objects!" Another shake, jerking the boy up and down. "We do NOT," shake, shake, "aim sharp objects at other people!" Fuuma was beginning to look slightly sick. "And we do NOT," here a shake that made the kid's eyes roll up in his head, "bring weapons to school!" At some point Fuuma had lost his grip on the sword. Kamui stormed off with the little troublemaker dangling firmly from one hand, presumably to put him in detention or send him to his room, it was debatable.

Subaru stared after him, awed by the depth of Kamui's unforeseen parenting skills.

"Are you thirsty?"

The question was unexpected, and Subaru, still caught up in thoughts of his brother, answered without thinking. "Yes."

"I'll get you something then..." Seishirou replied courteously.

Subaru, realizing his mistake and how his answer would be taken, spun around. "No, wait!"

But Seishirou was already disappearing through the crowd.

"Seishirou-chan!" he called, hurrying after him. "I'm fine, really! This isn't necessary!"

Knowing Seishirou, there was a very real possibility of someone not making it out of the school that night alive. But as Subaru tried desperately to catch up, he ran right into someone he hadn't seen in time, stumbled, and started to fall... only to be caught at the last second as the stranger's arms came around him, holding him securely.

"S-sorry..." Subaru started to stutter an apology, but looked up at his rescuer and stopped, startled. The person he'd run into was tall, taller than he was, not one of the kids... perhaps one of the adults... and dressed as Death in flowing black, complete with black porcelain mask that covered half his face.

"No trouble." And the voice was smooth as silk, warm as honey, as the stranger took his hand, the picture of a gentleman, and brought it to his lips. "The pleasure's mine..."

There was something about that pleasant smile, something about the feel of lips brushing against his hand... something inviting, pleasantly dizzying amid the swirl of costumed kids around them. The stranger's black silk robes fell about them, sheltering them from the crush of children, and that arm still curled protectively about his waist was warm and welcoming. Subaru found himself swaying forward, swept up in the eyes he could just see through that black mask.

And he was surprised to find that he had indeed answered Seishirou's previous question honestly. He was thirsty. Ravenous.

And then there were small fingers tugging at his other hand, pulling him insistently away, and the stranger was letting go of him, watching him with narrowed eyes, never turning away.

"Subaru-san, come on. This way."

Subaru could only stare over his shoulder, feeling strangely bereft. Then a set of heavy metal doors swung shut, blocking the other from view. Several yards of hallway draped in orange and black crepe paper swept past before vanishing into blinding white, and suddenly a styrofoam cup was shoved into his hands. Subaru stared at the thick red liquid in surprise, the rich coppery scent of it filtering into his nostrils, more than a little grateful to note the lack of dead bodies. He lifted it to his lips, desperate to relieve the ache that had tightened in his throat, even if it was cold, and was startled to find it just as suddenly flung from his grasp, the contents of the cup splattering across the immaculate floor and nearby counter.

For a second Subaru could only stare stupidly at the empty air in front of him, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then a sharp push at his middle had him stumbling backward, quite suddenly hitting a chair and falling into it with a yelp. But there was no time to get his bearings.

Seishirou's knees pressed into the seat of the chair on either side of his legs, trapping him, and those amber eyes glinted dangerously, cold and calculating. The fact that this Seishirou was so young made no difference in the intensity of that penetrating gaze. It was just as effective as his own Seishirou's gaze, and he was truly frightening when he was angry. Subaru knew he was in trouble when one hand wrapped around his jaw and jerked him sharply forward.

"You... are mine," Seishirou hissed. "You are not allowed to flirt with anyone else! You belong to me!"

Then the hand that had been gripping his jaw wrapped around the back of his neck, pulling him down insistently, and those strangely-adult amber eyes stared up at him as the distance between them decreased. They were so close now, all it would take was to lean a little further forward... and about the time Subaru realized what was happening and that he really needed to stop it... a deep, pleasant voice rolled over them.

"Actually, I'm afraid this one's mine..."

Then the Seishirou in his lap abruptly crumpled into sleep.

"Really, Subaru-kun..." that deeply familiar voice tutted. "A ten-year-old? I know you can't resist me, but a ten-year-old?"

Subaru blushed as Death stepped into the light seeping through the windows. Of course...

"You..." Subaru took the hand that was offered to him, helping him up, laying the sleeping Seishirou in the chair in his place. Then he was drawn back into the silken folds of those black robes, into those warm arms. He reached up and pushed the black porcelain mask further up his rescuer's face so that he could see those same disconcertingly direct amber eyes, currently tilted in amusement. Laughing at him. "Seishirou-san..."

"You're mine," Seishirou replied, tightening his grip around the vampire's waist. "Never forget it. I won't share you. Not even with myself."

Subaru blushed a little at getting lectured twice in ten minutes, but was quite happy to obey. There was something suspiciously nice about looking up into those demanding amber eyes, about leaning against a solid chest, warm under his cheek.

Then Seishirou unwrapped his cloak and tossed it across the sterile white bed along the wall.

The nurse's station, Subaru noticed absently. That's where we are. And suddenly it made sense where the blood had come from. But it was one of those fleeting, unimportant impressions that fled from him just as soon as he'd thought it. Then Seishirou's hands were fitted to his hips, lifting him up as though he were made of eiderdown, and settling him on that soft black puddle of silk that had been a cloak.

"I think you've done enough babysitting for one day," Seishirou whispered, pushing Subaru slowly back onto the bed. "I'm feeling distinctly neglected."

"What are you doing?" Subaru flushed with embarrassment. "We're in a public school!"

Seishirou sighed, "Subaru-kun... I've been searching for you across a thousand different worlds, day after day, month after month... I am not a patient person. Do you really think I'm going to give you up now that I've got you at last?"

It was punctuated with a searing kiss and Subaru shut up, quickly deciding that it had indeed been a long time and he really didn't want Seishirou to go.

"Besides," Seishirou whispered, kissing him gently on the forehead this time, "this is a lock-in." A smirk. "We have all night."

Subaru nodded dizzily, letting himself be pushed back down.

"Kamui..." he murmured suddenly, remembering his twin at the last second. Seishirou chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure Kamui will be quite preoccupied for awhile."

And that was the last coherent thought Subaru had for the night.

Fuuma stood in a mostly-empty classroom and grinned down at the sole occupants. Kamui was sitting on the floor, back propped up against the teacher's desk, head lilting to one side, beautiful in repose, with a little Fuuma draped over his lap, as deep in exhausted sleep as the vampire. It really was going to be a shame to wake him...

"Kamui..." Fuuma crouched and reached out a hand to brush stray locks of raven hair away from that pale face. "Kamui, wake up."

There was no reaction. The vampire was really knocked out.

Smirking to himself, Fuuma leaned over and kissed him. Kamui stirred faintly and then his eyes flew open, wide and terrified at the realization that the little Fuuma had somehow grown quite large over night and was coming after him. Something like a horrified wail was smothered by the older Fuuma's mouth before the last dregs of the nightmare faded and Kamui realized that in actuality the kid version was still asleep on his lap. Too relieved to be angry, he threw his arms around Fuuma's neck and kissed back.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" Kamui told him once they'd let go of each other and he'd managed to squirm out from under the kid.

"I can imagine." Fuuma chuckled. "I was quite a terror at that age."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Dimensional Witch. Job. The usual. Though, funny thing, I can't seem to find the thing she sent me after…"

For once, Kamui thought he owed the Witch a thank you. But later. Definitely later.

"Don't you ever leave me with another you again!" Kamui told him adamantly, and grasping hold of the man's shirt, tugged on him a little to make his point.

"Why, I wouldn't dream of it," Fuuma replied, smirking, and chuckled when Kamui used the grip on his shirt to pull him down into another kiss.

Epilogue

"Excuse me… but are you… alright?"

Seishirou slowly opened his eyes at the sound of the soft voice and found himself staring into the face of a worried black-haired, green-eyed boy.

Subaru? No, it couldn't be Subaru. The Subaru he knew was older and certainly not human or a kid like this one standing before him. Although, with the early morning light streaming behind him through the room's windows, illuminating his profile, dying the outline of his ebony hair a shining white and bursting over his shoulders into full-bodied candid rays, making it seem that the boy had suddenly sprouted wings of light from his back, he could have been an angel.

Not sure what to think of this strange new development, he stared quietly at the boy for a few minutes while the other fussed and worried and blinked those shy emerald eyes at him. Then he stood up and took the boy's hand in his own, noting absently that there was something nice about a Subaru who was shorter than him.

"Subaru-kun, hush. You're mine now. Everything's okay."

"Wha?!" The little Subaru blushed crimson and babbled in embarrassment.

"Come on," Seishirou told him, tugging on his hand, leading him out of the building...

...and Subaru followed.

Fuuma was sulking. Kamui had disappeared. When he had woken up the day after the lock-in, the older boy was nowhere to be found. He had searched everywhere but had come up empty-handed, and when he finally had run into someone, it had only been Sakurazuka and he had had the gall to taunt him by smugly showing off the Subaru whose hand he was steadfastly clenching as if he would never let go. The Subaru who seemed to have shrunk and now was the same age as them.

Fuuma scowled. It just wasn't fair.

"Onii-chan!" came the giggling call of his little sister and Fuuma glanced about to see where it had come from.

Their mother had insisted he get out of the house and take Kotori to play in the nearby park. He suspected it was more of an attempt to stop him from tearing his room apart in a vicious fit of rage.

"Onii-chan!" Kotori cried again, but this time it was more frightened and sounded close to tears.

Fuuma didn't catch sight of her until it was too late. How his little sister with her weak heart had managed to climb into the lower branches of the tree, he didn't know, and it didn't matter. He didn't even have time to get to his feet. He could only watch in a numb sort of horror as she fell from the limb on which she had been perched, seemingly in slow motion, just counting the fatal seconds until she would hit the ground below with her fragile body…

But it never happened. Instead of a jarring impact upon the earth, Kotori sank into the outstretched arms of the small boy who had appeared suddenly below the tree and who caught her in a firm but gentle hold.

"Kotori!" Fuuma yelled, leaping up and rushing over, the spell of paralysis over him broken.

"You should watch over your sister more closely," the boy said, placing the girl safely back on her own two feet.

Fuuma stared at the boy, drinking in the sight of his dark tousled hair and amethyst eyes…

"Kamui," he said.

"What? Do I know you?" Kamui asked, blinking at him.

Fuuma supposed he could have said several other things. Something like "Thank you for saving my sister" or "I am indebted to you" or "Let's form a bond of friendship" or even "I know another you who's a hot vampire." But no, when he opened his mouth, what came out was:

"I'm going to destroy the world."

Kamui gave him a look, both eyebrows raised high. Then turning to Kotori he stated rather matter-of-factly, "Your Onii-chan's a psycho."

Kamui started to walk off but before he got very far, he turned around and said, "If that's the case, I guess I'll have to stick around you to make sure that doesn't happen."

Fuuma smiled lopsidedly and decided he really wouldn't mind the world not being destroyed…if the amethyst-eyed boy stayed forever by his side.

And the world was spared...

Sometimes, all that's needed is a little friendship…and the intervention of vampires from other dimensions…

The End

End Notes: How did Sei know Subaru was a vampire? He'd been watching them. Why was the Nurse's station left unlocked? It wasn't. Seishirou has skills. Do schools really keep packages of donated blood around? I have no idea, but probably not, so by law of the author they do now… Is this world where the plot of X takes place? No! This is a world where X didn't take place because it was prevented.

Cookies to anyone who can figure out what parts were written by which author!

Happy Halloween! ^_^