Author's Note: This was actually a dream that I had and just had to write down...
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Kotori realized she should have headed home much earlier but she had been having trouble finding just the right gift for Fuuma. Then she had noticed the little husky puppy with the bright blue eyes like Kamui's in the window. The pet shop owner had said that huskies needed a lot of space it was difficult to find someone to take this dog because so many people in Tokyo lived in crowded apartment complexes. It was perfect though for Fuuma, Kotori thought, as they had plenty of space at the shrine where the puppy could be free. It squirmed in her arms, trying to bury itself further into her coat against the cold and Kotori giggled, wrapping her arms tightly around it.
Red and green lights sparkled above her, casting a warm glow across the sidewalk and making the snow glisten in its twinkling embrace. She pulled herself to a stop by a home furnishings store and glanced in the window, to check the time in a clock on display. Was it really already that time? She was going to be late for supper! She knew she wouldn't be in too much trouble, but she didn't want to let her family worry as Papa and Onii-chan tended to do as soon as the second hand crept past her usual curfew.
She slipped between office buildings, knowing that there was a shortcut at the other end of the alley that would lead her back home. Completely caught up in her rush she did not notice the man standing in the shadowy overhang of a decrepit doorstep. With a startled squeak she ran straight into him and bounced back, loosing purchase on the icy puddles. She felt her balance completely abandon her as it so often did and felt gravity open up its arms to meet her. Kotori squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the impact of concrete, glad that it would be somewhat padded by her parka.
Much to her surprise though it never came and a breathless second later she opened her eyes, expecting to see a charcoal-smeared sky above her. Instead she saw the a person's face and shoulders, hidden in shadows as they were backlit by the wane lights from the street that drifted half-heartedly into the narrow passage. After a moment of confusion, she realized that he had caught her.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Kotori gasped, as the man helped her find solid ground beneath her.
He gave a friendly chuckle. "Quite alright miss."
The girl seemed clumsy but friendly with an innocently trusting smile and the edge of a school uniform peaking out beneath the hem of her coat. Seishirou was sure that she was popular at school, especially with the boys. He supposed that someone must be looking after her though, shielding her from those attentions that she would be this blindly trusting still.
The tree noticed the girl before him too and thoughts of thirst flooded his brain. It always had had a taste for innocence.
The puppy squirmed, poking its head out of her coat.
"Well, well what have we here?" the man chuckled.
"A puppy! I just bought him today!" Kotori proudly announced.
"Oh? What's his name?"
Kotori nuzzled the top of the puppy's head affectionately. "Kamui." She told the stranger lovingly.
Seishirou tensed. Something about the girl was tugging at a mental sleeve.
"Is that so?" The man laughed. "That's an odd name for a puppy, don't you think?"
"He's named after a friend of mine!" Kotori chirped, like a small bird singing a greeting to the morning sun.
A friend?
Surely it was just coincidence though. She couldn't really be acquainted with The Kamui could she? Seishirou knew that he hadn't met him yet but it was only a matter of months at this point…
The man ruffled the puppy's fur with an affectionate pat on the head. He rested his hand there for a moment, scratching behind the dog's ears before lifting his fingertips to her chin, carefully lifting her face to get a better look at her.
"And what is your name little miss?"
"Kotori!" she chirped in innocent reply.
The name left him with a dizzying swirl of images, the most prominent of which was a bloodied cross surrounded by broken power lines.
The tree nudged hungrily at his subconscious but he pushed it away.
"Not this one", he thought to it.
"Kotori-chan. What a cute name. It suits you." The man drew closer and Kotori backed away slightly, thinking that he was trying to get past her. He moved forward again though until they were in a nook even more obscured from the street than the rest of the alleyway had been.
This one has a fate she must fulfill first.
The man suddenly jerked forward, covering her mouth with one large gloved hand, pushing her back up against the cold concrete of the wall behind her, pinning her to it. In shock, Kotori dropped the puppy, who in fear disappeared down the alley, abandoning her. She struggled as the man twisted her wrists together, holding them in place over her head and gave a terrified scream, muffled by the palm still pressed securely to her mouth.
Who would hear her though in this alley like this?
Seishirou frowned.
A dark shadow swept up behind the man, the movement just barely catching Kotori's eye before the man froze in his efforts to overpower her. She saw the flash of something pale between the edges of the man's open coat then stared in horror as he too looked down and they both noticed the front of his now torn white button-down slowly turning red as a sticky liquid seeped down it…
The man let her go and dropped to his knees, choking as he coughed up blood. Kotori scrambled away but found herself cornered again by someone else whose face she never saw. Before she could cry out once more, a hand shot out and covered her eyes…
Seishirou sighed. "That's two witnesses now over the course of your career that you've allowed to live." He chastised himself.
Oh well. One wasn't going to be alive much longer anyway.
The tree rustled in dissatisfaction as Kotori lay fast asleep and unharmed in his arms.
Seishirou nudged the man's now still body with the tip of his shoe in disgust.
"Too bad." He snapped at the tree. The man certainly wasn't the sort he enjoyed hunting either. There was no challenge in someone with no reflexes or training in magic or fighting.
He sighed and gave the girl a slightly irritated look. He did not particularly like the idea of playing delivery man but he was sure that someone was out looking for her. He wondered if it was Kamui.
Seishirou smiled. He could wait… or take her home and see if Kamui was there, waiting anxiously to see where she had gone. He could get a sneak preview of the person the next few years were going to revolve around.
Ah but that might ruin the surprise.
"Ah well." He said to the peacefully sleeping girl. "I suppose getting you somewhere where you will be found will have to do for now."
She smiled in her slumber and he raised an eyebrow, wondering.
What on earth was she going to do that merited crucifixion?
Oh yes, the next few years were going to be interesting indeed.
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A/N: Yeaaaah what was interesting in the dream was that I actually saw Kotori talking to someone and heard Seishirou's thoughts so even the way I dreamed it made it seem like she was talking to Seishirou at first and then suddenly it became obvious that Seishirou was actually WATCHING the scene. :O Was a fun twist, which is why I wanted to write it. XD