Disclaimer: I wish I owned some of this, at least, but I don't. They're all CLAMP's, with the exception of Nibai, who *is* mine. Feel free to write about her, but ask me first please! Arigato!

Twin Star

Part 1

The lights of Tokyo shone brightly against the dark sky, shadowed by the storm clouds threatening to break mercilessly over the city. Another vision, another dream, another nightmare. There was no end to them; Hinoto knew this and blinked sightless eyes, watching the scene unfold before her in her mind.

The clouds hung thick and dark over the city, the lights orange in the sulfur glow of the pre-storm air. Humidity so thick she could feel it even as she knew that she wasn't really outside, wasn't anywhere but within her private room beneath the streets of the city, endlessly re-circulated air brushing her mute lips. But her dreams had become her reality, as this one was now, and she was a helpless victim to the visions that ruled her world.

Now there came a light, a bolt of lightning lancing across the sky and Hinoto started at its

soundless fury, drawing back from it although she knew it could not touch her. Then again, there

was so little that she knew for sure these days that it seemed entirely likely that the spark could indeed encompass her and relieve her of this world.

But not yet.

And now the clouds were parting, and even as sheet upon sheet of cruel, cold rain poured down into the city, a circle of sky was beginning to show. Pinpoints of light faded into existence as the storm parted around the seven stars, the tail of the bear, the Seven Seals.

Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the city below and obscuring the stars. Hinoto blinked, and her breath caught in her throat as she looked back up into the circle of clear velvet sky, untouched in the midst of the summer storm. Moonlight filtered down to touch the deserted concrete of the Nakano Sun Plaza. And above…

Above, the seven stars...

... were eight.

* * *

Kakyou sat silently on his beach, watching the tide rise slowly in the afternoon sun. It was odd, he thought, how he called this place his – this place belonged to no one, but much as he knew that he still felt he had some small claim here. For this place was the starting point of his dreams, the epitome of the outside world that he could not touch, and so he felt some sort of connection here with the sand and the waves and the air.

Her shadow fell over him and he looked up to see her smiling sweetly down at him. He gave her the ghost of a bow. He smiled; he'd had a feeling she would show up.

"Good afternoon," she smiled at him.

"Good afternoon. What brings you here?"
She gave him a playful punch. "Oh, like you need to ask." She stopped, sighing, as her face fell slightly. "I saw the sign. It's going to start, isn't it?"

He nodded, a wisp of silver hair blowing across his face. He reached up and tucked it behind his ear. "Yes. It's going to start."

"Well then," she began, stretching catlike in the summer sun. "I suppose I can't afford to chat any longer." She looked down at him, brown eyes shining as the sea and the sun filled them.

"I'm going to go visit my brother, then. Take care, Kakyou." She bowed slightly before turning and disappearing into the wind.

Kakyou sighed, lifting his face to the sun. Yes, he had seen the sign. Things were going to start. He supposed he ought to tell someone; it was doubtful that Kanoe had been able to see her sister's dream about this so soon. Perhaps later, when the forces were stronger; but not now, and so it would lie with Kakyou to tell his Kamui of what he had seen.

He stood, preparing to leave the beach, to travel into Fuuma's dreams and speak with him there. As his eyes traveled once more over the waves, he caught a glimpse of a profile, a flash of long black hair blowing in the breeze. Soft brown eyes, a sweet mouth opened in laughter. Then a slim outline, clothed in a CLAMP School uniform, a child just barely on her way to becoming a woman…

Then the vision faded and he turned, leaving the beach to travel to darker places.

That night, Sumeragi Subaru dreamed of his sister.

* * *

"Ne, but what does it mean? I mean, I know it's prophetic and all - don't think I'm doubting you, Hinoto Hime-sama. But... eight stars?" Arisugawa Sorata scratched the back of his head absently, casting his gaze down to the princess before him. Beside him Arashii stood, arms crossed and pale face as expressionless as ever. One might think she was a cold and unfeeling person, despite the beauty that shone clearly around her.

But Sorata knew better.

"There are seven stars in the Big Dipper," the monk went on, thinking out loud. "Seven stars for the Seven Seals. What the hell would eight stars mean?"

"There were eight stars," Hinoto replied, telepathic words backed with a whisper of confidence Sorata hadn't heard in a while. "There were eight stars, because –"

"Mizar is a double star."

Both Sorata and Arashii turned, startled by the voice behind them, to see the Sumeragi Onmyouji standing in the doorway, long coat dripping with the remnants of the storm raging outside. Sorata himself was nearly dry after being similarly drenched; Arashii had claimed the umbrella when they had left the house and wasn't experiencing the effects of the storm quite so personally. If you asked him, Yuzuriha and Kamui were the lucky ones, safe and dry from the storm inside. Kamui had been sleeping again – a worrisome habit, as of late – when the princess had called to them and requested this "meeting," but Hinoto had told them to let him be. He didn't need to be here for this. Sorata wondered why.

"He's right," Hinoto's voice seemed to echo throughout the room; "Although it hardly seemed important until now. The stories speak of the Seven Seals, there was no need to worry about an eighth star."

"But now you've seen something," Arashii reiterated, eyes dark with thought.

"Yes," Hinoto replied. "The double star has awoken, and there will be an Eighth Seal."

Sorata blinked. "Ne? An Eighth Seal? You mean we get one more than they do?" The possibility of even one more ally was too good to be true. Wasn't it?

Hinoto gave a barely perceptible nod, her pale head inclining slightly on her slender neck. "Yes. There will be another ally; one which the Dragon of Earth must not find and sway. We must find her first."

"Her?"

"Yes. A girl, the opposite-sex 'twin' of the Seal that resides on Mizar." Subaru's soft voice echoed from the doorway.

"Hey," Sorata turned, eyeing the Onmyouji. "How do you know so much about this?"

Slender shoulders shrugged beneath the white trenchcoat. "It is a story passed down through my family," was all he said, but Sorata got the feeling that there was more that he wasn't telling. It was probably pointless, however, to question Subaru, and so Sorata let those few words be enough. For now.

"The Sumeragi know more of the old stories than even I do," Hinoto admitted suddenly, and Sorata was nearly shocked. That someone could know more about this than Hinoto… "That is why I asked him to come, " she finished.

"Huh. So if this is a chick, then Mizar ain't your star then, ne?" he asked, eyeing Arashii. She gave him a rather unreadable, yet definitely disapproving, look. He flashed her a grin and turned back to Subaru. "So whose star is it, then?"

A strange look passed through Subaru's eyes, but it was Hinoto who answered his question, voice as soft as a whisper. "Yours."