"Somehow I knew I'd be able to find you at a pet store …"
Seishirou Sakurazuka smiled with a cool triumph upon seeing the nineteen year old he had been seeking out turn her head to stare him in the face. My, how she had grown since the last time he saw her two years ago. Or perhaps it was simply the disposition and demeanor about the girl that changed so much. Her face was hardened even more so than it had been during her later teenage years and the gleam of sincere kindness that once shone in her eyes was now gone. Perhaps the kittens she was looking at in the pet store were able to see the softness in her soul, but she was definitely not going to show her inner truth to Seishirou.
He understood full well why she would hate him. After all, he did murder her childhood friend, Hokuto Sumeragi. He did scar for life her best, and closest, friend, Subaru Sumeragi. Oddly, Seishiro found the dynamics of the little saga at hand to be quite amusing. Oh, how he destroyed this young girl's life through his onslaught on the Sumeragi siblings. How he placed a lifelong burden of guilt on her when he revealed to her that he was her older half-brother.
"You came all the way to Okinawa," the girl said. "You're pathetic."
Seishirou chuckled. "The animals at the vet miss you, Kazeyume. I felt sad for them so I asked the Monous at Togakushi Shrine if they knew where your family moved to." He smiled. "Has Kamui been liking his new school?"
With a glare, Kazeyume Shirou replied, "Don't drag my little brother into this. If you wish to harass me, we should leave the store."
Seishirou gestured toward the door. "Shall we? We have plenty to catch up on. I want to know how you are. You must have completed school by now. Have you been developing your Onmyouji powers on your own?"
Kazeyume brushed by him as she silently made her way toward the door. Once she exited, he followed her to find her standing on the sidewalk, waiting for him just as he suspected she might do.
"What do you want from me?" she asked quietly but strongly once Seishirou approached her.
Seshirou reached in the pocket of his jacket to take out a deck of enchanted Sakurazuka tarot cards, nicely bound together by a silk black ribbon. He offered them to Kazeyume, who would not budge to take them.
"Destiny will be speaking someday," he began. "I'm sensing four years, perhaps five. You must be prepared as one of the Seven Angels."
"I've been burdened too much by this apocalyptic talk," Kazeyume replied. "You used that as an excuse to kill Hokuto. Saya Monou died to give birth to that sword so that my mother wouldn't have to do it. And now you're using that talk to haunt me once again."
Seishirou placed a soft, yet firm, hand on his sister's shoulder. "These cards …" he began. "Our father gave them to me before he died. I was only a child at the time. I think six or seven years old. He told me that it was time for my mother to become the new Sakurazukamori and that I would never see him again." He sniggered. "I was a novice as a Sakurazuka then, Kazeyume, so I felt a degree of pain toward my father having to die. Being the adorable little boy I was, I asked him if there was anything I could do for him. A last wish, so to speak, that I could grant." He paused. "It was then that he told me about you, Kazeyume …"
She looked up at him with an unmoved face. "Surely, you're fabricating a story to trap me," she sneered. She held up her left hand, allowing the back of her hand to face Seishirou. "If you want to keep tabs on me so desperately, then just mark my hands like you did to Subaru and leave me alone."
He laughed. "Now that would be quite the paradox," he said. "The Sakurazukamori marking his little sister as prey! It would also be spitting at the memory of our father!"
"Don't call me your sister," Kazeyume spoke bitterly.
"Then, would 'sibling' suffice?" he replied in a slight jest. To Kazeyume's glare, he added in a serious tone, "Our father's last wish was for me to pass on the powers of our clan to the new brother or sister that was going to be born. It was that day that he gave me these tarot cards, enchanted and fully prepared for use by a Sakurazuka. 'Seishirou,' he said. 'Somewhere in Tokyo you have a newborn brother or sister. I will not be alive to teach them how to hone their powers. Your mother is not responsible to do so. If you truly want to grant me a favor, then when fate brings you and your sibling together, I want you to teach them. I want you to train them to be the best they can be.' Kazeyume, I promised our father that day that I would grant his wish. That is why I have come to Okinawa to find you. I am not doing this for the Seven Angels. I am doing this for our father."
Kazeyume glared at him coldly. She remained silent but finally took the tarot cards from his hand. She glanced over at a nearby garbage can and then returned her gaze to Seishirou.
"This story you tell me is supposed to be why I should believe anything you say, then," Kazeyume scoffed.
"No," Seishirou replied. "I don't expect you to trust me or believe me. But I must provide the option to you. If you wish to dispose of those cards in that garbage can over there, that is your decision. However, I must provide you the option to train with me so that I can go about my life not having shamed our father." He paused and studied Kazeyume. He could tell that although she despised him that she could not recollect a time where he ever lied to her. And that was true. Seishirou was an assassin, a cold-blooded killer, but not a con-artist. As he saw his sister look at the deck of cards in her hand, he added, "I can tell that you are unhappy. I have watched you before approaching you today … you've dropped out of Community College, am I correct? In your heart, you truly do love your powers. I have known that for as long as I have known you. Ever since I saw you helping out Subaru on his missions I could tell that you took great pride in your gift."
Kazeyume remained silent until she finally uttered out a word.
"Subaru …"
"You know, Kaze-chan, if your wish is to avenge Hokuto for Subaru, training with me will give you the strength to do so."
Kazeyume solemnly looked at the cards in her hand. She rubbed her thumb along the black velvet ribbon as she stood in silence. Seishirou was not sure exactly what she was thinking of, but he could easily assume that whatever it was could be related to her love for Subaru. That was another fact about his half-sister that Seishirou was sure of. Kazeyume loved Subaru. She loved the Onmyouji boy who had been her best friend since she was seven years old.
"Your decision …?" Seishirou asked.
Kazeyume looked up at him with strong eyes. She stared into his, her gaze piercing through the lens of his glasses.
"Then I'll approach your offer with caution, but approach it nonetheless," she replied.
Seishirou extended his hand with a warm smile, the same warm smile he wore when communicating with the common folk in public. Kazeyume took his hand. For a moment the time echoed back to three years ago when the two of them enjoyed each other's company. It echoed back to the laughter and innocence that occurred either at Seishirou's veterinary hospital or at the Sumeragi apartment.
"I'm no longer hiding from my blood, Seishirou," Kazeyume uttered.
The two of them began to walk down the street. The sun shone in their path, bright and gleeful despite the dark partnership now at hand. Seishirou chuckled. It was such irony and he loved it. He nearly reveled in it. To him, the irony of life only supported the future cause of the Seven Angels. The world was such a mess. Two plus two was beginning to equal five. The world truly did long for a revolution after the ridiculous pollution human beings had burdened it with.
"Blood is meaningless," he said. "Blood passes, blood changes, blood dies. But cherry blossoms are forever."