Family

Disclaimer: I do not own Weiss Kreuz or X/1999.

Special Note:

Obaa-san: is Grandmother Naoe

Obaa-chan: is grandmother Sumeragi

Part 1: The Return of a Lost Child

Subaru knew it was a dream, he couldn't help, but feel this wasn't a dream at all, a sort of locked memory. He was seven; his sister and he were at a hospital, their father was standing looking rather gravely at the two of them. "You promise to be quiet, your mother and brother are sleeping," he whispered and the two little children nodded.

"Hai, Oto-san," Subaru whispered and looked into a room, it was white, the sun was shinning around them, he walked up to his mother's bed and then looked over at a small basinet with light blue ribbons on it. "Is that?"

"That's your baby brother," his father picked him up and carried him up to it, looking in at a baby with dark indigo eyes. "This is Nagi."

"Nagi," Subaru repeated back and smiled. "Hello baby brother, I'm your big brother, I'm going to take good care of you."

Why am I remembering this now? Subaru woke quite suddenly as the phone was ringing, he pulled his knees up to his chin and reached out for the phone. "Moshi, moshi," he sighed into it. "Obaa-chan, hello."

"I need you to come home, its urgent!" Her voice was demanding, not her usual friendly tone, but it sounded like she was under a great deal of stress.

"All right," he reached for his cellphone that lay on its charger. "What is going on?"

"There is no time, just get home, its about your mother."

"Oka-san? Is she?" That was a stupid question, Subaru realized, he hadn't seen his mother since the divorce when he was twelve. He ran out of the bedroom after he said goodbye and started to change. He pulled on a coat and reached for the keys to the apartment. "Damn, I should tell someone where I am going in case Kamui comes by," he rushed next door and knocked on the door. "Mai-chan!"

The young woman answered looking rather concerned. "Hai, what is it?"

"If a young man named Kamui comes by, tell him that I was called home. He knows my cell number," he handed her the note and dashed away. "Also you have the spare, could you watch my cat while I'm gone?"

"Don't I always," she smiled and nodded. "Be careful, will you!"


It was always the same memory, Nagi remembered his mother pulling him away from a green eyed boy. "I don't want you talking to him about your powers," she whispered pushing him up to a shrine, he knew this was his home, this was the Naoe family shrine, it had been in his family for generations.

"Why not, Oka-san, he's Oni-san!" the boy whimpered as his mother brought her hand up and stopped midway to smack him. Her eyes were wide, her harsh expression faded and she just knelt down holding him tightly. "Oka-san?"

Nagi stood in front of the Sumeragi home, he just stared at it, his hands trembling as he reached for the door. His eyes on the gate, he put his hands in his pocket and walked away, he stared down at his feet and sighed. "You could always go in and say hello to your mother," he heard Crawford standing behind him. "I'm sure that since Eszette is gone, you can go back to your family and live a normal life."

"How do you know this is my family? I don't remember my mother, father, or even if I have siblings. All I have is fading memories of my mother and a boy," Nagi whispered.

"At least you have a memory."

1988

"It's a divorce," Subaru heard his father who was walking from a bedroom holding a box of toys. "You'll see Nagi next week."

"I want to see him, now!" Hokuto was whining as she stood there in the hall, her eyes were wide. "Why is Oka-san taking him away?"

Subaru just stood in silence, he ran from the room and brought out a small teddy that was cream in color, he walked up to the box and tossed it in. "For Nagi-kun, so he won't be lonely. I fixed his bear," he told his father who knelt down. "I wish Oka-san didn't hate me."

"She doesn't hate you," his father knelt down and took a good look at his son. "She doesn't hate you, she's just afraid of our family. She's scared that Nagi might…" He never finished, he ran out to a car and the small four-year-old boy with dark chocolate hair and indigo eyes was standing there looking confused. "Nagi, be a good boy at the shrine."

Subaru watched, his eyes down, his sister running out hugging the little boy. "Don't cry, Nagi, I don't want you to cry ever."

Next week came quite slowlyand Subaru went up to the Naoe Shrine, he was going to spend the day with his mother. She was a priestess at the shrine and even though she was aware of the powers of the Sumeragi, she was still afraid of what her oldest son would show her and Nagi. She forbid him from using any of his Onmyoji powers and told him to never tell his baby brother anything about it. "Oka-san, I promise."

He walked up to his baby brother who was sitting in a corner, he was crying hard. "Nagi-kun, why are you crying? Did you have an accident?"

"No…no one plays with me!" the little boy looked up at him. "Only you do, you're not scared of me, everyone is afraid of me, oni-san, I want to go home."

"Don't cry, please, if you cry, I will start," Subaru fell down and started to cry too, he was holding tightly to the little boy.

2000

The service was short, at least in the standard of funerals went, Subaru sat silently and looked around, he was expecting someone. "Subaru-san, it is good to see you again, it is has been almost ten years since I last saw you," it was Grandmother Naoe, the head of the Naoe Shrine. "How is your grandmother?"

"She is not happy about not being able to come, but with her health being as it is, she hoped you would understand." He recited what his grandmother had told him.

The old woman touched his cheek and smiled. "You look just like your father, I'm sorry he died, I think about the same time as the fire that destroyed part of the manor house."

She's speaking about the Naoe Shrine fire from ten years ago, the one where, his memory went blank, Subaru couldn't remember anything from that time at all. He nodded and tried to sound less sad. "I'm sure that Oka-san was happy."

"Not really, losing Nagi was the worse thing that could of happened to her."

"Nagi?"

"Oh, you barely knew your baby brother, I forgot," the old woman shook her head sadly, she looked as though she was hiding something.

Walking home, Subaru made it to the part of the mansion that had his things from childhood, he dug through boxes and was trying to find something. "What are you looking for?" the butler was trying to help.

"A picture of a little boy that's suppose to be dead," he ran his fingers through the photo albums until he came across a baby book, he opened it and found a picture of himself at seven holding a small baby. "Subaru (7) and Nagi (1)." He stared at the picture and turned finding the rest of the book was blank. "Why isn't there anything else?"

"It was burned in the fire," he sat there staring at the picture, his grandmother holding it up. "If he was still alive, he would be fifteen by now, or at least sixteen."

"Why can't I remember 1989?" Subaru finally asked.

"It was really traumatic, and also you were in the fire. You don't remember because you don't want to. I don't know what went on, but I had to come to the hospital. I thought I was picking up two little boys, but I was only picking up one. Nagi vanished, it was like he never existed, the only thing I have to remember was two little boys playing with Hokuto, then it turned into only one."

Nagi disappeared, that means there is a slim chance he didn't die, Subaru rushed from the bedroom and went to the closet to pull out another book of photos. "Wouldn't there be copies of the pictures, one for Oka-san and one for Oto-san?"

"I would think so, but that would be in your father's old bedroom, which is your room now."


Standing outside the Sumeragi house again, Nagi stared at the fence, he pulled his mind back to almost ten years, he had been kidnapped. He knew that from the memories that Schuldich had unlocked from the boy's mind. He remembered holding onto a boy, his big brother and then being pulled way crying. His brother sending strange birds at the men, who hit him knocking him out, but it was strange everything about the image was unusual.

He reached out as if to knock, but his head was aching from the memories that were overloading his senses. He wanted to knock, but something stopped him, some overpowering sense of dread. Maybe they really do think I'm dead, maybe they don't remember me at all, he thought walking away again, but then running back to the door.

"Are you going in?" he turned to see a man with green eyes staring down at him. "We don't bite."

"It isn't that, I was…" Nagi blinked and stared at the man who had to be seven years older and maybe the right age for his big brother. "I'm looking for Sumeragi-Naoe Kasumi."

"She died last month," the man's eyes had a familiar look to them. "Who are you?"

"Naoe Nagi," Nagi whispered.

"I'm not kidding. He's my baby brother, he died ten years ago."

Nagi started to feel weak, he fell forward, almost in shock, the man rushed forward catching him. "Kid?"


Sitting by a futon, Subaru cursed himself for scaring the boy half to death, he saw Grandmother Naoe walking into the house talking quietly. "Well, we did age the photo a little, but I don't know how that can help," she held up a sketch of a boy from a missing person poster and sighed. "He looks just like the picture. We drew some blood, we might need Subaru's blood for the test."

"Are you so sure that this is…" He wanted to yell, but stayed quiet. He touched the boy and sighed. He reached out and touched the boy's hair, but something about this was wrong, something was horribly wrong with the boy. He lay his head down on the bedding and stared up at the boy again. "Why did you faint?"

/Why do you think/ a mental voice whispered. /You never looked for me, you forgot! They were right, you hated me./

Hated you? Subaru blinked and strained his memory of the incident from ten years ago. He looked away wondering if Seishiro had erased that too, but that was impossible, it happened later from the time. He got up and walked into the hall and stared at his two grandparents who were sitting talking. "Subaru-san, would you consent to allowing us to draw blood?" Grandmother Naoe asked.

He nodded as the family doctor brought out a sterile needle. "This is going to sting a little."

"How come I don't remember the fire?" he finally looked at Grandmother Naoe.

"Well, I think you should tell him, he has a right to know," the elder of the Sumeragi whispered and waited for the doctor to leave. "We have never really knew what happened, but I had my suspicions of who took Nagi from us." Her hands were on piece of paper. "You had this in your hand when you were found at the Naoe Shrine manor house." She unfolded it and showed the Nazi symbol and also the words Rozen Kreuz. "I was always fearful that those men would come for Hokuto, Nagi, and you. They only came for Nagi."

"What is Rozen Kreuz?"

The two old women shook their heads, they had no idea. "Subaru-san, please, you must understand, we don't have the answers. From the rumors we heard, psychic children were murdered, when Nagi awakes we can ask him."

Nagi lay on the futon, the blood tests came back positive, the boy was related to the Sumeragi family. Subaru moved his futon into the bedroom and set it next to the boy, he walked into the hall and found his grandmothers talking to a man with glasses and an orange haired man. "It was my doing to begin with, I can release the lock, if your grandson will let me," the orange haired man smiled. "We will be of no further trouble, just making amends."

Subaru just watched, he looked at the man with glasses, his dark mocha eyes and raven hair reminded him of Seishiro, but there was something more frightening. He remembered as a child holding up a sutra ward and his shikigami flying at the man, he had been only twelve and too weak to even cause any harm. "Obaa-san, Obaa-chan." He looked at the two men and blinked.

"Subaru-san, these gentleman have been looking after Nagi-chan since he was seven," Grandmother Naoe whispered and turned her head upward to him. "They want to return some faded memories."