The Clover You Found, a x/1999 fanfic

Title: "The Clover You Found"
Author: J.J.
Warning: It's BASED ON THE MANGA. It requires knowledge of the 'Tokyo Babylon' and of the 'X' manga. It contain some Japanese words (the Dictionary is at the bottom), some OOC, a bit of sappiness, some spoilers...
Notes: If you wander through 'X' fandoms one of the most popular type of fics are the 'Reincarnation' ones. However, while reincarnation is mentioned in CLAMP manga as far as I know they never actually did a series based on it (unless you consider the characters from 'RG Veda' reincarnations from their version in 'Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles' and Takamura Suoh, Azusa Nagisa and Kigai Yuto reincarnations of the characters they played in 'Hagun Seisenki'). But… what if CLAMP had written a reincarnation manga and no one noticed it? Maybe I'm simply too obsessed but that's my interpretation of 'Clover' as a reincarnation fic. Who's not familiar with 'Clover' shouldn't have problems to read it while is necessary to have 'Tokyo Babylon'/'X' knowledge. Don't expect a new plot for 'Clover'. That's just another interpretation of the canon story.
Warning over notes: This fic has notes. You will find them at the bottom. Each time you see a number between brackets it means there's a note connected to the word/sentence that preceded it. However I suggest you to read the notes AFTER you finished the fic unless the word/sentence connected to the note is really troublesome for you to understand. Anyway the fic should be still understandable without the notes. Notes are merely extra explanations for who wants to know more.
Disclaimer:
"Clover", "Tokyo Babylon" and "X" belong to Clamp. I'm merely using their characters because I love them... especially Seishiro and Subaru...
Ehy, Do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensible heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews... so please be honest but nice ok?
Thanks: To Ruth for betaing this! Thank you a lot!
Summary: What if 'Clover' was a reincarnation story?

There were always Sakura petals in his dreams.

Sakura petals and eyes as green as clover leaves.

Sometimes those eyes were sad, sometimes happy, it didn't really matter as long as those eyes were staring at him. They were eyes he could never grasp, could never own. Then he would awake to his ordinary life as Gingetsu, lieutenant of Hisoku army. He would stare at the mark on his wrist, a mark printed on his skin that identified him as a Two-Leaf-Clover for a half second and then he would get up and continue living as if nothing had happened, in that ordered, cold manner he favoured.

Nothing could touch him and he cared for nothing.

Well, things had changed marginally when he had found himself dealing with Ryu Fay Kazuhiko. The man wasn't that much younger than him and yet he had something that reminded him of a bratty, cheerful teenager who believed to know what was better for him. Somehow he had the feeling the two of them had known each other, long, long ago but he didn't really care that much. Anyway, Ryu was a friend, in a fashion, a friend who tended to try to bring some light into his grey life. A friend that currently was in love with a girl and stressed him almost constantly about how beautiful his Oruha was.

It was mostly in order to shut him up that he accepted to follow him to the live-house.

Oruha was a beautiful singer with a soft voice but that wasn't what caught Gingetsu's attention. What hit him was the tattoo that the woman had on her chest. A clover. An One-Leaf-Clover. She was like him, only less powerful.

A clover tattooed on the skin meant you were part of the Clover-Leaf-Project, meant that you were someone gifted with magic. The leaves ranged from one to four. Who had four should have been the most powerful among them. A Four-Leaf-Clover was considered the stuff of legends. He however knew that a Four-Leaf-Clover actually existed. Not that it mattered to him.

Ryu smiled at his fiancée, oblivious to all of this.

One-Leaf-Clover.

She wouldn't live long, he could sense it and yet he could be almost jealous of the gazes the two lovebirds were exchanging. Almost. He was too used to being alone to really care. He tried to pay attention to her song, observing her sinuous body moving from behind his omnipresent sunglasses.

"… To be born again for your sake / Blowing the past away on fluttering clouds / Letting the future ride on flowing winds / Fearlessly, unceasingly, patiently / To be born again in your arms…"

Born again for another's sake, born again in another's arms. Romantic. Silly. Stupid. Everyone was born to be alone; he was the living proof of this. Oruha, having finished her song, came to greet them. She looked vaguely familiar with all that curly hair and the frail look but he couldn't really place her. He didn't manage to really talk with her; he was immediately summoned for a job. A Three-Leaf-Clover had escaped. He was supposed to track him down. It was a job he had to do alone and before the Azlight Army tracked him down. The Clover couldn't fall into their hands.

It was raining. He disliked being wet. On his electronic sunglasses he could see the movements of the Clover. A sudden surge of power caught him by surprise. The Clover was using his powers. He was close now and likely engaged in a battle. However, when he reached the place what he saw wasn't what he had expected to see.

Bodies were hanging suspended in a web made of electric threads, bodies of soldiers from their government, likely sent there to get rid of the Clover if he couldn't be captured. For a second those threads reminded him of the branches of Sakura trees, he had no idea why. And then… green eyes, eyes green like clover leaves, green eyes of a child stared at him through wet dark bangs of hair.

Somehow in the back of his memory a door opened and another pair of green eyes, green eyes filled with tears, green eyes framed by wet dark bangs stared at him.

'I'm sorry, but I can't stay for dinner… I have to go home… to think…'(1)

Then that flash of memory disappeared and he was left staring at the frail looking child again. What was going on behind those green eyes that were staring at him with an expression of pain and longing? The moment didn't last long. The green eyes began to close and the boy's body fell forward.

"I'm not going back…" the boy managed to murmur before fainting. He looked down at the frail, wet creature.

Appearance was deceptive.

The boy was a Three-Leaf-Clover.

In that minute body there was much more power than in his own. Much more power than the one the Magic Masters owned. He should grab him and take him back to the Institute immediately, taking advantage of the fact he was unconscious. And yet… he looked so tremendously familiar and defenceless and he… He heard the joking voice of an adult male, a voice so different from his own and yet so similar, echoing in the back of his mind, something similar to a memory and yet… different.

'If I let you go in this state, you might catch a cold and Hokuto-chan would kill me!'(2)

He pushed that odd 'memory' back as he made up his mind and picked the child up gently in his arms and carried him to his home.

Once back he was informing the council he had found the Clover when the child woke up again.

"I'm not going back," the Clover stated firmly, water still dripping from his wet hair. None of them had had the chance to dry up yet. Gingetsu looked at him. He knew that firm gaze, he knew he wouldn't be able to change the child's mind and he knew that, with his power, he couldn't force him to and, for a moment, the lingering echo of other words, spoken with the same firm tone, with the same determined eyes, returned to his memory.

'Hokuto-chan, this is my job. I'm paid with money, to do this job. If so, then I want to do this properly.'(3)

Gingetsu frowned. It was the third time it had happened. He had remembered something he had never seen, something he had never heard. It had never happened before. He wondered what those flashes, those visions, those voices were and if they were somehow connected to the fact that he was a Two-Leaf-Clover facing a Three-Leaf-Clover, to their respective powers reacting in an odd way. After all he had started having them after he had seen the Clover…

It didn't matter.

He chased them away. There wasn't space for them in his rational mind and they were extremely unpractical.

"Where do you plan to go then?" he asked the child rationally, coldly. The Clover didn't reply, merely lowered his gaze, sadly, as if about to cry. Apparently he had no place to go and the loneliness he was emanating was almost drowning Gingetsu too. He was disturbed by the resemblance the boy's eyes shared with those green eyes filled with tears he'd seen in his first hallucination and something inside him rebelled at this. He wouldn't let those eyes fill with tears too. Impulsively he grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him to the bath. The boy followed him, unresponsive, like a broken doll.

"Do you want to catch a cold?" he asked simply before leaving him alone in the bath. He had never been much of a talker. Hopefully the boy would take the hint and have a warm bath. Speaking of which he could have an use for it too… he too was wet but first things first. He had to find dry clothes for the child to wear.

The clothes he had given the Clover were obviously too big but the young boy had put them on anyway, even if he was now looking at them doubtfully.

"Do you want to wear those wet clothes again?" Gingetsu asked tonelessly. The boy didn't reply directly.

"Hum… Is this yours?" he asked hesitantly, as if he already knew the answer.

"No," he said curtly. "Do you want to stand?"

"May I sit?" the boy asked politely. Somehow that politeness, that hesitation was familiar as well, as that sadness in those green eyes.

"Do as you please," he replied simply. It really didn't matter to him if the boy stood or sat, and yet…

The boy sat down composedly and stared at him. He bore the green gaze in silence.

"You're a soldier, aren't you?" the young boy asked then, again in a polite, hesitant tone.

"Yes."

"What do you plan to do about me?" the child asked, going straight to the point.

What did he plan to do about him? He had no idea. He should have already carried him back to the Institute and instead…

"What do you want to do?" he asked, returning the question to the child. The green eyes widened a bit in surprise and then lowered sadly. Evidently in his life he hadn't had many opportunities to choose what he wanted to do.

"I don't want to return to that Institute again," he repeated quietly, and Gingetsu noticed he had chosen to reveal not something he wanted to do but something he didn't want. Didn't want or…

"Why?" he asked.

"Because A is there…" the boy replied in a soft whisper, eyes still lowered, answering Gingetsu's suspicions. It wasn't something the Clover didn't want to do but something he felt he couldn't, shouldn't do. "I've got some things I have to say to the Magic Masters…" the boy said then in a tired but determined tone, as if making a decision he didn't like but couldn't avoid. Something he didn't like but couldn't avoid… And somewhere in a corner of his mind a voice whispered…

'Any Onmyouji would do that kind of stuff, I'm not standing out specifically…'(4)

Gingetsu frowned. Those flashes of déjà vu were starting to become annoying.

It didn't take long for him to contact the old Shu, the chief of the Supreme Council. He was however amazed to see the child transforming the auricular he offered him into a visor with a connected microphone with impressive ease. The boy wore it nonchalantly, as if what he had done was a normal occurrence, not even worth a second glance.

Gingetsu stared. The powers of a Three-Leaf-Clover were really impressive, he knew it, but seeing it first hand…

He was planning to leave old Shu and the child alone but the old man invited him to remain.

"It's been a long time since our last chat… would you like to talk with me?" the old man asked the child politely. He was normally a kind old man, but Gingetsu suspected most of that politeness was due to the boy's amazing powers.

"I don't know…" the boy replied tonelessly, completely unaffected by that kindness. "In the Institute time never seems to pass…" he admitted. Gingetsu knew. He'd been in the Institute too, even if only for a short time. He knew it and yet he had done his best to forget. Being reminded of it by that child…

"Do you know B is dead?" the old man continued. Gingetsu frowned. B was another of the Three-Leaf-Clovers. Ironically there were only three of them, A, B and C. If B was dead and A was in the Institute, the one in front of him should be C. To kill a Three-Leaf-Clover… He wondered who had managed to accomplish it.

"I know. I know why, too…" the child replied in that same empty tone. "If I stay with A I'm sure he'll kill the others too. Even you all…"

"Was A the one who told you so?" old Shu inquired.

"No…" C replied in his quiet, yet firm tone. "But I know. We're the last Clovers in the world. A said we could get out from the Institute if we tried it together."

Getting out. Being free. It should have been a tempting thought for someone condemned to be trapped there forever.

"He's right," old Shu agreed. "If you two use your powers together, not even the five of us would be able to stop you."

"I don't want to do something like that," C affirmed, determined. "But I can't change A's mind," he added, his tone moving to firm resignation.

'I feel so powerless… Whenever I see a temple being destroyed, I feel horribly uneasy…'(5)

Again. Another flash. Who was this child? Why did he awaken such memories in him? A side of Gingetsu longed to know, another simply wanted to keep out of that story, as far as possible from the Clover. He liked his life as it was.

Liked.

Well, more like accepted. He had the impression that, if he were to let himself get involved with the Clover, nothing would be the same anymore and yet, the more he was in the Clover's presence the harder it became to leave him, as another voice in the back of his mind kept whispering with an odd sense of satisfaction 'Mine… only mine…' every time he gazed at the child.

"A is your twin, isn't he?" old Shu continued. "You are alike in magical power and looks. Doesn't it pain you to be separated from him? And… away from the Institute you won't be able to live for…"

"I know this, too," C interrupted him decisively, dismissing whatever the old man could have been saying as unimportant. Gingetsu wondered if it really was unimportant. Somehow he had the feeling it wasn't. But well… that wasn't his business… and yet he couldn't stop himself from wishing to know what the man was saying… Why was he getting so involved in the Clover's business? 'Mine, only mine…' the voice in the back of his mind whispered again with a hint of childishness. He ignored it.

"But all I can do is to leave A," C continued in the meantime.

Old Shu agreed with him. Apparently A was unstable and it was better if the two were kept parted.

"C… where would you like to go?" the old man asked him then, gently.

"Anywhere," the boy replied, his voice sounding impossibly empty. "Because I haven't a place to return to…"

"I understand…" old Shu murmured before giving to Gingetsu the duty to take care of the boy. Gingetsu caught C's green eyes looking up at him, in between surprise and hope. Green eyes so familiar and yet so foreign… They twisted something inside him, awakened instincts, feelings and memories that he wasn't supposed to have. And that odd voice in the back of his mind now whispering 'Mine, only mine…' in such a satisfied tone… Absently he decided he hated it, hated its confidence, its stubbornness and childishness and more than everything else he hated how it implied ownership over the Clover, as if the boy was its personal toy. As if the boy was really its. Rhetorically, old Shu asked him if the order bothered him.

"Yes," he stated. He didn't want that weird kid there, in his house, in his space, disturbing his quiet and his ordered life with all those strange flashes he was able to summon, with all those weird… sensations and memories he awoke in him, with that possessive voice always whispering ownership on the boy, a voice that wasn't his and yet was in a way he couldn't explain to himself.

He didn't want the Clover around.

For the first time in his life he was afraid, deadly afraid. Deadly afraid to have a child around.

It was ridiculous but with that child around… he feared he could lose himself, it was like dangling from the edge of a cliff, looking down and seeing the abyss looking back at you and he was afraid, afraid that what he would have seen would have scared him. Afraid to discover that what whispered in the back of his mind was really him.

As he caught the boy at his side lowering his gaze sadly one side of him immediately regretted saying so in such a firm, cold way. The worst part was that the child wasn't blaming him. The Clover had expected him to not want him, he seemed to find it reasonable that he might not want him. Somehow that understanding… hurt, opened old wounds that he didn't know he had. He felt guilty as if he had already hurt the Clover and had to make amends with him and yet, he had never seen him before, had he?

However Gingetsu had no choice, of course. Old Shu ordered him to take care of the boy. Once the communication ended Gingetsu looked down at the surprised face of his charge and wondered how all this would turn out. He had the nagging feeling he had involved himself in a complicated mess and yet this time he couldn't shut up that voice that now whispered 'Mine, only mine…' with defiance and childish enthusiasm.

Later, C was left alone in the room Gingetsu had assigned to him.

Gingetsu preferred it, preferred to be distant from the kid. He didn't want to be with that strange child who was capable to turn his ordered, quiet life into a mess with just a glance. He didn't want to and yet… yet he couldn't free himself from the boy's image.

He felt himself strangely attracted to him, the boy was familiar to a side of him that had been buried for so long he had forgotten it and that side… was awakening again, responding to the boy's presence loudly, searching for him, only him, wanting him, only him with the stubbornness of a spoiled kid.

It was uncomfortable. It was like not owning his body and his mind anymore. It was like being drawn by a foreign force, a force that wanted to be close to the boy, a strong-willed, stubborn entity inside his own mind that was trying to claim the boy for itself.

Gingetsu didn't believe people should own other people and didn't want to be involved with another living being. He liked to be alone. No matter what that side of him was trying to get, he wouldn't help it, or so he believed.

The boy was none of his business and if he kept repeating it firmly to himself, he might end up believing it.

The boy was none of his business, the boy was none of his business, the boy was none…

'That boy is on the first place in our list of business, you idiot!' that annoying voice that had started residing in his head spat as soon as he heard something crashing down. It wasn't completely wrong, the boy was his charge after all and so he walked with fast strides straight toward the boy's room wondering why all of sudden he felt all that… concern?

He opened the door and found himself staring at the boy's surprised, guilty face then his gaze moved down to the boy's bleeding hand that was collecting the broken pieces of the room's mirror.

A broken mirror… He saw a reflection in it, but it wasn't his own, it was the reflection of another man, young, handsome, with dark hair and glasses, another man in another broken mirror, another man staring at it… talking…

'If things continue like this, I'll be winning the bet… Subaru-kun.'(6)

Then that reflection disappeared, replaced by his own, as if it had never been there and in fact it hadn't.

Again. Again a flash, again a memory of something he had forgotten, of something he had lived and yet hadn't. Again. And no doubt it was connected to that child who was collecting pieces of glass from the floor without caring for his cuts…

"I'm sorry… I broke the mirror… with my hand…" the Clover explained in an apologizing tone, startling him from his inner contemplation, head lowered in shame as he was kneeling barefoot on the glass-covered floor.

'C… where would you like to go?'

'Everywhere, because I haven't a place to return…'

Lonely. So lonely… With such empty, sad eyes… Empty sad eyes that he had already seen long, long ago, empty, green eyes that once had said even emptier words that had caught him on surprise…

'… I do not have any interest in the future of the Earth…'(7)

Gingetsu frowned, confused. No, the ones in his memory weren't the eyes of a child or of a teenager but of a beautiful, young man with no hope for the future. A young man he had never met and yet… knew even better than he knew Ryu. He knew that young man from a lifetime ago, even if he had never seen him before. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice inside him echoed, pleased, as if that was the explanation for all his questions. He ignored it but wasn't capable of forgetting the image of the young man as well. Eyes staring at him, only at him, as if he was the answer to the young man's prayers… Green eyes, so green like clover leaves and so empty… the eyes of someone who'd been abandoned and had no reason for living anymore…

Abandoned.

The child had been abandoned to himself like that young man and he couldn't allow it. Not again. That child wouldn't grow up to become like that young man. He would never have such an empty gaze. Gingetsu wouldn't allow it.

He offered C his hand to help him stand up. The child looked from him to his hand hesitantly and then, almost shyly, took it, accepting his help and Gingetsu knew he had already felt the warmth of that small hand, its smoothness, he had already felt it, long, long ago. Long, long ago he had kissed it and made it his(8) but he didn't want to think of that, he refused to think of that, the only thing he wanted to think of was that holding it again was like a blessing, as if a barrier had been broken and it was a surprisingly good feeling. That hand felt right in his own, as if it had always been meant to be there and when the voice in the back of his mind whispered again 'Mine, only mine…' he let it do just so. He didn't want to agree with it, but the temptation was there…

He bandaged C's hand carefully, after he had diligently cleaned all the cuts. He could hear the boy attempting to make conversation in that shy, hesitant way of his.

"Thank you… You're good at bandaging… Do you do it often in your line of work?"

He had no idea what to reply or why the boy wanted to talk with him, wanted to know him. The boy was an enigma, a puzzle to him, one he didn't know how to solve. Plus his question made him reflect. Somehow he had been always good at medical things, as if he knew what to do almost instinctively, as if he had already possessed the knowledge of what to do, even before someone bothered to teach him, but it had never seemed to matter much before… now however… with all the confusion the boy had raised inside him, even this small, little fact was starting to make him wonder.(9)

"I'm sorry if I talk too much…" the boy continued, when he received no answer, his gaze saddening even more. "But it's been so long since the last time I talked with someone who wasn't A or B…" he trailed off and was likely not going to continue talking, as if he didn't feel like bothering him further.

"It doesn't matter," Gingetsu stated when he noticed C growing silent. C's gaze raised again in surprise, a tiny flick of hope in his green eyes. "You aren't talking too much," Gingetsu continued. He wasn't. Gingetsu just wasn't used to talk. He was always alone and wasn't requested to interact that much. No one, except maybe Ryu, cared to interact with him after work. Odd how a Clover of all people seemed interested in talking with him. In fact it was odd how the boy, way more powerful than him, had complied with all his requests and even tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. "If I don't answer back, will you stop talking to me?" he asked quietly. He had no idea how to sustain a conversation but he didn't mind hearing C talking. On the contrary, a side of him was pleased to have the boy talking to him.

"No, no," C assured him, shaking his head.

"Then talk as much as you want," he told the boy. C's head was still lowered, his eyes staring at Gingetsu's hands, as they were fixing the bandages over his cuts but, for the first time, a small smile graced his lips.

A small smile reflected in those green eyes.

A beautiful smile.

A warm smile.

A smile he had known, a smile he had seen long, long ago, he couldn't remember when, but that somehow he hadn't forgotten even if he had believed it had been lost forever. And something in Gingetsu decided that, now that he had found it back, he wanted to protect it, to have the boy smile at him forever.

'Mine, only mine…' a voice echoed in his head and for the first time he didn't know if it was the voice in the back of his mind who said it or him.

"… As old shells crumble off / And newborn tears fall on a cheek / Will your embrace open my ethereal wings / To be born again for your sake…"

From his auricular Gingetsu could still hear Oruha singing the same song she had sung at their first meeting while he had been talking with Ryu. The man was enjoying his holidays, spending them with his beloved. He had called Ryu merely because the man had flooded him with messages asking about his conditions.

The concern of his colleague was strangely touching.

Gingetsu wasn't used to having people honestly caring for him.

He hadn't, of course, told Ryu what his mission exactly was but the man had offered his help just in case he needed it. Gingetsu had turned the offer down. He could handle things with C just fine and there was no need to involve Ryu in that matter. Annoyed, he shut up the voice in the back of his mind that was growling 'Mine, only mine…' in an almost jealous manner. He wasn't like that. He wasn't jealous. It just wasn't his thing. It would be absurd if he were to be jealous of…

"It's a beautiful song," C commented with his usual quiet voice as he finished the communication with Ryu. He turned to look at him but, for a moment, he didn't see C but a sixteen-years-old boy with C's same green eyes, sitting on a couch clapping his hands happily in admiration(10) and something in him longed for that teenager. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice whispered almost anxiously as if afraid to lose it but the image faded quickly to show C curled up on the couch next to him.

Recently the child had done nothing but follow him, like a lost puppy would do.

He talked sometimes; other times he just remained silent, as if afraid to bother him.

He hadn't smiled again.

Gingetsu didn't know what to do about it. He wasn't good at getting people to smile.

"I'm sorry," the child hurried to apologize. "When I'm next to an audio implant I can hear even without amplificatory…" Gingetsu didn't reply. He had no idea what he was supposed to say. "Is she a famous singer?" the child asked tentatively. That was a question which he could answer.

"She hasn't debuted yet," he replied. Should he elaborate his answer? But what could he say to C about Ryu's girlfriend that would interest the boy? 'Mine, only mine…' the voice in the back of his mind whined, as if complaining about C's interest for someone else. A side of Gingetsu almost sympathized with it, another wondered how you could murder an annoying voice.

"No? But… it's a beautiful song…" C murmured softly in the meantime, almost dreamingly, finally smiling as he closed his eyes and let himself be lulled by the melody.

"… To be born again in your arms / To be born again…"

The boy seemed to like that silly, romantic nonsense. The first time Gingetsu had heard it he had found it stupid and yet, now that he looked at that child, he wondered…

It really didn't require much effort from him to connect the audio implant to the amplifier. C turned to look at it surprised as it projected the image of Oruha and allowed her voice to be heard in their room.

"Thank you…" the child murmured, walking next to him, turning his smiling, grateful eyes toward him.

"… To be born again…"

Oruha repeated and for a moment Gingetsu wondered if it wasn't what had happened to him too. To be born again. For another person. To have another chance. Meeting again. He stared for another full second at C's beautiful smile, then decided all that silliness wasn't worth his attention. So why couldn't he push it away from his mind?

"… To be born again in your arms / To be born again for my sake / Letting me forget with your voice and your touch / Breaking off the chains that bind my heart and feet / To be born again in your arms / To be born again for your sake…"

As Gingetsu was making his report to the old Shu, he could hear C still listening to that song, could see him staring at the rain from the window in his room, a melancholy expression on his young face. A side of Gingetsu couldn't stop paying attention to the child.

The old Shu was warning him about A, the other Clover. A was instable and, in the man's opinion, he would surely try to take C back. It didn't matter much to Gingetsu. His duty was to protect C. He was sure he could do it. A girlish voice echoed in the back of his mind, superimposed over old Shu's voice.

'We are fighting to save the Earth! We were given special powers to fight you demons! Even when the Earth is destroyed, we will survive! And we will save the people who remain! We're different from those ordinary people! We're different from those powerless, useless people!'

'Whether you talk about such foolish nonsense, or make trouble for others, it neither concerns me, nor do I have any interest in it. But I won't forgive you… for hurting Subaru-kun.'(11)

He grimaced at the new flash. They were getting always more frequent, more detailed and always when C was involved. The voice that had answered to the girl was the same that called C 'his', the voice of the man he had seen in the mirror. It was a voice nothing like his, it was soft and smooth and confident and yet it oddly… matched his as if it was just the same. The voice called C 'Subaru-kun'. He wondered what that could mean. Once it had also mentioned a 'Hokuto-chan'.

"… Plus a Clover can't live for long away from the Institute…" the old Shu went on talking, oblivious to the little flashback that Gingetsu had experienced. That sentence caught Gingetsu's attention fully. C couldn't live for long away from the Institute? That would mean…

He turned to look at the boy, still staring at the window with the same expression of longing on his face. The boy wouldn't live for long. The boy…

Once done with the report, Gingetsu walked next to C, quietly. His gaze fell on the window and for a moment he didn't see his and C's reflection but the one of the beautiful teenager he 'had seen' the first time he met C and of the man with eyeglasses and an expensive suit that he 'had seen' in the broken mirror. Both were talking as they were looking out of another window, a window much more larger and placed in a place much higher than Gingetsu's apartment.

'T… then, why do humans have sentiments such as like? Why do we like things if it's not of much use?'

'Because we are lonely. To have the sentiments of liking is to see a dream. Humans cannot be strong without dreams.'(12)

Then, as the man said so, the reflection morphed again, once more showing C and his figure. The two had been talking about dreams. Dreams. Did C have dreams? Wishes? Could he fulfil them? Why all of sudden did he feel the strong need to make the boy happy, to fulfil his wishes?

"Do you want to go out?" he asked, starting a conversation for the first time, knowing well he would never be allowed to let the boy out and yet…

C made a denying sound.

"There are so many lights, but not even one is for me. It'll be like that forever," the boy stated in that empty, hopeless tone he used so often. Gingetsu frowned, wishing he knew how to talk the boy out of that depression, out of that hopelessness and yet unable to do so. The man in suit in his visions was quite a talkative one, someone who seemed to know all the answers and sustain any type of conversation, but Gingetsu was nothing like him. He had wondered once if that was some sort of compensation, but right then some eloquence would have been useful. He didn't know how to comfort C and somehow all he remembered that the man in suit had said to the teenager to comfort him sounded… useless, false, as if who had said it hadn't really believed in it, had merely said it because… it sounded pretty, it fulfilled his purposes. No, he was nothing like that man and a side of him was truly happy for this. His thoughts were interrupted when C gripped his own shoulder as if in pain.

"A is coming here!" the boy screamed, eyes open wide and, as he said so, a figure appeared in front of them, a mirror copy of C.

It was A.

He looked familiar and not just because he was the mirror copy of C. There was something else in that boy, something he had already seen… long, long ago but he wasn't the type to dwell on that line of thoughts. He had believed that his apparition in the room was merely a projection but A assured him that he was really there.

The other Clover.

An instable boy that had already murdered and that threatened to murder again.

An instable boy that wanted C back.

Gingetsu instantly placed himself in front of C, preparing himself to fight A. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice in the back of his mind whispered darkly, threatening and, even if he couldn't agree with the words it said, he fully share the same feelings. He would never let A touch C.

Never.

C stopped him. He wanted to talk with A.

He didn't want C to talk with A but he wasn't capable to deny it to the boy.

"Why aren't you sad without me?" A asked to C in an accusing tone.

"I'm sad," C repeated quietly as he walked next to him.

"So why?" the other asked again, his irritation increasing. "Is it because he is with you?" and saying so he turned to look at Gingetsu with hate in his eyes. "Since you have him, you don't need me anymore?" A almost screamed in accusation, his gaze still on Gingetsu as he concentrated his power, ready to strike. C screamed for him to stop, Gingetsu tried to go for his sword when…

'Tell me, doesn't this bother you?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well… I meant the fact that Subaru-kun is falling for someone like me…'

'Not if it makes him happy! But… if you ever make him suffer… I will kill you!'(13)

It wasn't the right moment for a flash since it slowed his reflexes so that A managed to strike before he could defend himself, cutting his uniform, his hand and even the wall behind him with his power. There was a new flash, a new surge of memories that suggested that his pain was misplaced, that his right eye should have been injured and not his hand, but it faded as soon as C placed himself in front of him protectively.

"Move away, C," A said coldly. "I'll kill him like I did with B." And as he said so the white-dressed figure of A morphed again in his eyes into another white-dressed figure, a female figure who stood in front of him glaring at him firmly, a female figure that was the mirror copy of the teenager that he saw in those… 'flashbacks'.

'Haven't I asked you before to not take Subaru away from me?'

'Subaru-kun is still in his room.'

'But… you took his heart away, it can't be recovered. So… I will bind you with a curse. Simply because of the fact that you are the Sakurazukamori… any prey that you have spotted must die. However… I will never… let you… kill Subaru! I will never let you kill him!'

'With your strength…you can't kill me!'

'I know! But… I have a spell that only I can use! I know Sakurazukamori's real face, so now… hurry up and kill me!'(14)

For a second he heard a sickening sound as his hand that wasn't his hand went through the girl's chest, for a second he saw the girl's blood on himself, her body leaning on him, then… it faded again, returning him back to the present.

"It's your fault, C. You didn't look at me only, you were kind to B too…" A accused him but in that sentence there was so much of what the man in the suit he saw in those flashes always seemed to imply that he felt almost breathless. How could that man have been like that? So egoistic, so possessive, so… desperately attached to that green-eyed teenager? Was he too as instable as A to feel such a sick love toward someone else? He didn't want to think of that, didn't want to think of that because he always felt an affinity to that man as if they were one and the same and he didn't want to be the same as him…

"If you ever dare to kill another person again, I'll kill myself, too!" C stated in a firm voice that admitted no discussion. A firm voice he had already heard… A green-eyed teenager's voice…

'You think you understand what that girl has endured? You don't have the faintest idea of what her classmates subjected her to! Do you think you could forgive someone who beat and insulted you everyday of your life! You can't understand what you've never been through! She'll carry that wound on her face until she dies! And you dare to accuse her of not praying enough? I don't doubt that you have spiritual power, but you have no love for others… you seem to help them, but in reality, you are a monster!'(15)

"NO!" A screamed and ran to hug his twin, tears in his eyes. He had already seen twins hugging, black heads one against the other, green eyes staring into green eyes. He had already seen it and yet hadn't and it didn't make sense, it didn't and yet…

"Listen, A…" C's soft voice was saying, oblivious to his inner torment. "We were always together because we were trapped in the Institute… but if we live separated we don't need to stay in the institute."

The two broke their hug and stared at each other, mirror copies of each other and mirror copies of another pair of twin…

"… I understand what you're thinking, C. If I take you away from here by force you'll die and you'll leave me alone, won't you, C?"

'Promise me something. Please, never take Subaru far from me.'(16)

A teenage girl's voice echoed in Gingetsu's mind almost in reply to those words and there was the same fear of being left alone that he could hear in A's voice and somehow he knew that that promise hadn't been kept and that that had led to a tragedy… A tragedy of which he was responsible… responsible even if he had never met the girl who had said those words…

"Do you love me?" A was asking in the meantime to C.

"Yes." It was an expected reply. Gingetsu had expected him to say that and yet… He ignored the voice complaining in the back of his mind. He didn't care about it. Right then his own feelings at those words were all that could catch his attention.

"More than anyone else?" the boy insisted.

"Yes."

Gingetsu frowned, not understanding why that 'yes' had hurt, why his whole being was rebelling against that soft-spoken three letters word…

"Forever, even in the future?" the boy prodded. There was a pause of silence.

"… Yes…" C said in the end. It sounded forced in Gingetsu's ears. It should have been forced. He wanted it to be forced. Even if he didn't know why. The voice in the back of his mind whined pitifully for him to do something, like a child who sees his favourite toy being stolen. He ignored it. Possessive behaviour wouldn't have solved a thing. Not until he didn't know what C really thought. C's feelings were all that mattered. He could squish, suppress his own, somehow. He hoped. He only wished they wouldn't hurt so damn much…

"If you love someone else more than me I'll kill that person. Even if you kill yourself I won't forgive him," A stated, then hugged C again, tightly. There was something sick in that possessive love, something wrong and yet… he could understand it as if a side of him had felt it. "Even if we're apart I can feel your emotions, C. It will be like that forever… We're the only two Clovers in the world. We're destined to be together… Goodbye… brother…" A murmured before releasing his brother.

"Goodbye…" C replied as A's body started to disappear.

Gingetsu let his body slide to the floor and sat there, his back against the wall, watching C, wondering what he should do. Somehow something inside him hurt more than the wounds A had inflicted on him, something inside him that had started throbbing in tremendous pain at each 'yes' C had said. In the meantime C had let himself fall to his knees, his small body trembling in an effort to suppress his tears.

He'd been left alone. Again separated from his twin. He had had no choice. It was always like that, even if this time he had been the one who left. Apart. Alone. All alone in the world. No one would care for him.

Tears came to his eyes and he started sobbing as he crawled toward Gingetsu and hid his face against his shoulder, searching for comfort he didn't seem to hope he could get.

"I'm sorry," C murmured to Gingetsu in a broken, desperate tone. "I'll stop crying immediately …" A desperate tone that Gingetsu had already heard, already known…

'I'm sorry… Please forgive me… I'm sorry… I'm sorry! Forgive me… Seishiro-san… your eye…'(17)

He remembered that day, clearly as if it had been yesterday now. He remembered Subaru-kun apologizing to him over and over, holding his hand tightly.

Subaru-kun.

Crying.

Subaru-kun.

The boy that was always in his dreams.

Subaru-kun.

The boy he had met a lifetime ago, the boy he had met when he had been the man in suit he so despised, Sakurazuka Seishiro, the man that had killed the boy's sister, Hokuto-chan. The man that had broken the boy's heart all to leave his mark inside him so that he wouldn't be forgotten, so that he would own him forever.(18) He knew now what those flashes meant. They were past memories. Past memories of a past life. And now they all were starting to place themselves together, as pieces of a puzzle and yet, of all that life only a thing mattered to him.

Subaru-kun.

The boy that now was a Three-Leaf-Clover, the boy that was now leaning against him, still sobbing, small hands clinging to his uniform as if asking for help, as if he was asking for comfort, as if he was asking for forgiveness. Gingetsu wasn't like his past self. He wasn't good at words. He could have used the ones he remembered being said in his memory but… but they had felt empty. They had stopped the boy's tears but they hadn't erased the guilt… the guilt for an action that hadn't been the boy's fault. Tears for something over which Subaru-kun had had neither responsibility nor control… Tears for something over which C had neither responsibility nor control… Maybe… Maybe words weren't what the boy needed. Maybe…

"If I don't reply will you stop crying?"

"… No…"

"Then cry as much as you want," he said circling the warm, small body of the boy with his arm and then… then it crashed all down on him. The whole flow of memories of a life, a past life, his life, a life he had spent murdering, following his whims, uncaring of people and rules and a boy, a boy he had destroyed, hurt beyond recognition and forgiveness, a boy who had hugged him in his last moments, the only one he had cared for, the only one who had meant something.

'You… killed Hokuto… and vanished from before my eyes… I… wanted to kill you… I… from the bottom of my heart… wanted to wipe away the you in my heart… to continue living… but… I couldn't do it… Even if you treat me… as a stone… like stepping on withered twigs… without any feeling… Even then… I still… wanted to be killed by you. Even if you immediately forgot about killing me…even if I am one of the many sacrifices to the Sakura tree… at least… you would have…'(19)

A boy who had loved him until the end despite everything he had done to him.

Subaru-kun.

As the last wave of memories crashed down on him finding its place in his mind and finally completing the puzzle that had been started long ago allowing him to finally see the whole picture of the man he had been, he felt the boy's grip on his shirt becoming more relaxed as thin arms were wrapped around his neck as if they had finally found the place they belonged.

"Thank you…" C murmured softly, almost affectionately. Gingetsu didn't feel like he deserved thanks. He had done nothing to deserve them. However… he felt at peace as if he had waited all his life for that moment and it had finally arrived. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice in the back of his mind murmured, but this time there wasn't satisfaction or defiance or possessiveness or jealousy or childishness, just a deep affection and a sense of peace, of rightness. He tightened his hold around C's form and the boy leaned into it, nuzzling against him. Somehow Oruha's song came back to his mind.

"… To be born again for your sake / To be born again in your arms…"

He'd been born again. They had been born again in each other's arms and finally they were back together. And this time, this time he would make sure things would go right.

C cried himself to sleep. Gingetsu managed to stand, pick him up, put him to bed and cover him without waking him. He now remembered a similar scene.

'Subaru, you had only good intentions. We can't condemn someone who acted badly by mistake, can we?'

'No…'

'So… you have to forgive yourself! If it makes you feel any better, I think you were right to lie to her. Now you aren't the only one who was wrong… there are two of us…'

'Seishiro-san…'

'I think you need to rest… In any case, don't worry, I'll be right here, and if someone dares to accuse you of lying, I'll be here to defend you.'

'Seishiro-san…'

'Yes?'

'Thank you…'

'Good night.'(20)

Another time, another life, other feelings. He gently brushed the child's dark bangs. He wasn't Sakurazuka Seishiro anymore. C wasn't Sumeragi Subaru anymore. Yet the boy had found his way to him again and he would stay there. Gingetsu would protect him. Things would go well this time.

He contacted the old Shu short later, to inform him about what had happened. About A's little visit.

Hokuto-chan.

Unstable.

Obsessed with C.

The Sakurazukamori had killed her. The souls of the Sakurazukamori's victims didn't have a nice destiny. Was that why A was unstable? Was that why A was obsessed with C? He didn't know. He wasn't sure he wanted to find out and anyway it wouldn't help make matters right. He couldn't change the past; he could only try to give a better future to Subaru-kun, to C.

Old Shu seemed pleased about how the little 'scuffle' between the three of them had ended. If C and A were apart it was easier to control them and C was a perfect subject to be studied.

"Where do you plan to take him?" he asked, understanding where the conversation was heading. 'Mine, only mine!' the voice in the back of his mind yelled in protest. That annoying voice should be all that remained inside him of Sakurazuka Seishiro. The voice and the memories. And the attraction to C. Despite the dislike he felt for the man he was inclined to sympathise with his feelings right then.

"To an Institute where he won't be able to have contact with the outside, like the Four-Leaf-Clover," the old man replied.

An Institute.

Another institute.

Forever trapped inside it.

Never able to get out.

Alone.

C would never see him again.

And he would never be able to see C again, as well.

No.

No.

"To you it's enough if he has no contact with the outside, isn't it?" he asked. "This room is for my personal use only and has a perfect Security System," Gingetsu said, implying that the child could stay there. Implying he wanted the child to stay there.

"You're a Two-Leaf-Clover," the man reminded him. "We can't allow you to live with a Three-Leaf-Clover."

Gingetsu knew it. If they were to join powers… they would be too powerful, but… but they wouldn't be divided again. He wouldn't allow it. Never again. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice whispered stubbornly in agreement. He might not like Sakurazuka Seishiro, but he had to admit they shared some common traits. Stubbornness was one of them.

"I'll insert a self destruction implant in my body. I'll give you the interrupter. Should the Three-Leaf-Clover or I misbehave you could get rid of us immediately," he countered in reply to old Shu's opposition. There was no protest at this from his 'Seishiro side' but that had to be expected. In his past life he hadn't cared much about his survival. He still remembered the words of the man's mother…

'Oh? You are not troubled about dying. You wouldn't be troubled, right? You have nothing to fear about death, right? That's because you have nothing precious. Nothing you would regret losing. You have nothing that would be painful if you left in this world.'(21)

No. He had nothing back then. Not even Subaru-kun. Subaru-kun had been precious to Sakurazuka Seishiro but the man couldn't own him the way he wanted. Gingetsu suspected that the man didn't know how 'to have' Subaru-kun, that he had believed that possessing him would do, when instead it would have probably been enough if he had just loved the boy and kept him close. However Sakurazuka Seishiro couldn't have Subaru-kun and so the man hadn't wanted anyone else to have him, had made sure that he would be the one who could own the boy's heart, even if he had never learned how to enjoy it. But now… now things could be different and…

"It would be inserted in your head. We can't rebuild a head," old Shu informed him. As if one of them cared.

"I know," he replied simply.

'Now you are the Sakurazukamori. The next Sakurazukamori will be the one who kills you.'

'So I shall be killed as well?'

'Yes… by the one you love most.'(22)

He had already died and he wasn't scared at the idea of doing it a second time. Well, that had been another life but he had died all the same and all to obtain a piece of Subaru-kun, all to be with him, even if in a twisted, sick way.(23) In retrospect it had been a stupid, egoistic plan, but his past self had been like that. He wasn't Sakurazuka Seishiro anymore and yet… he could feel his past thoughts and feelings inside him, as if he'd been the one feeling them, as if now there were two entities living in his body. He knew he would never have gotten along with the man or agreed with his way of thinking and yet… he could understand him. Dying to have the chance to be with Subaru-kun had been worth it. To be ready to die to have the chance to be with C would be worth it as well.

"Why are you doing this? Because you too are a Clover created by the Clover-Leaf-Project?" old Shu asked him. The man couldn't even begin to picture why he was doing this and Gingetsu was fine with it. He'd never liked who stuck their noses into his business, not now, not in his past life.

"No. It's just that I think that this way we'll fix the situation definitively," he said curtly. They would fix. He would fix it. C was his charge. He would take good care of him. He would never allow someone else to take the boy away from him, to trap him in an Institute to study him like a lab rat.

"Once you wouldn't have talked like that. You've changed, since that underling joined Hisoku Army," old Shu observed. Ryu. Of course Ryu had changed him, he too was involved in that reincarnation business even if he doubted Ryu had realized.(24) Maybe it was better that way. Ryu wouldn't like to know what they had done in the past. "The Three-Leaf-Clover can't live far from the Institute… since he ages quickly he'll live at best five more years," old Shu added as if that could stop him.

"I know very well…" He knew. He knew very well. They would have at best only five years. Five years together. Just five. But as he watched C's sleeping form he knew they would be worth it, he was sure…

The morning after C was awake, dressed and with a plan of action in his mind.

"Thanks for what you did for me," the boy said politely to him, his head lowered but his voice firm. "I want to contact the old Shu. I must ask him what to do from now on."

"You'll stay here," Gingetsu stated firmly.

"What?" the boy exclaimed, wide, green eyes raising immediately to meet his, filled with concern and surprise.

"If you don't get out of here the Supreme Council will let you be," Gingetsu continued as all of sudden a nagging sense of dread hit him. He had no idea if the boy remembered his past life, if the boy had recognized him for who he had been and anyway he wasn't Sakurazuka Seishiro and C wasn't Subaru-kun anymore. It might be that the boy simply didn't wish to be with him. After all he wasn't the best host one could wish for…

"But… but you're a Two-Leaf-Clover, aren't you!" C asked gripping Gingetsu's arm to stare at the tattoo that marked him. "If you'll stay with me you'll have problems!"

'Oh, I'm sorry… I've gotten in the way of your work again…'(25)

Odd how he had changed so much and the boy hadn't. He still held inside him the same generous heart, the same care and kindness. Sakurazuka Seishiro would have probably waved off his protests as meaningless but he wasn't that man anymore.

"Do you plan to give me problems?" he asked instead.

"No but…" the boy replied unsure as if his mere existence could be a problem.

"Do you want to go some other place?" Gingetsu asked then. It wasn't a question he wanted to ask but he knew he had to. If C wanted to go some other place… 'Mine, only mine!' the voice complained immediately. He rudely ordered it to shut it up, even if he could still feel it sulk. C deserved happiness. He would find a way to give it to him even if that meant to be parted. Even if that meant to…

"I want to stay here!" C almost screamed in desperation, holding his hand tightly with both of his as if he too felt the same desperate need to be next to him and that felt so good he had no words for it.

"Then do as you please," Gingetsu said simply.

"Okay…" C replied, softly smiling at him and Gingetsu knew that meant the boy would stay with him. They would be together. And he would make sure they would be happy. From now on C would never have to worry again. 'Mine, only mine…' the voice repeated in childish happiness, a happiness that was almost contagious, Gingetsu realized.

'Mine, only mine… it'll be like that forever…'

A few days later C was acquainted with a hurricane named Ryu Fay Kazuhiko.

Ryu showed up at his doorsteps with a bag filled with groceries and invited himself in, complaining about the extra work he had to do due to Gingetsu's absence and stating that, as punishment, Gingetsu would have to eat a dish of his own creation. Ryu planned to have Oruha try it but first he wanted to test it on Gingetsu.

C stared at the man with wide eyes. He had probably never met someone like Ryu in this life. Gingetsu stood next to C protectively. He didn't believe Ryu could try to hurt C this time and yet… when the man bent down, noticing C staring at him, he couldn't help but tense.

"Well? What's your problem now?" Ryu asked the boy in his usual informal way. "My name is Ryu Fay Kazuhiko. Call me Kazuhiko. What's your name?" Gingetsu saw C hesitating, green eyes lowering for a moment. Obvious he couldn't tell Ryu he was named C. They should have thought of this sooner but then the boy raised his head again, all the uncertainty gone.

"Ran," he said firmly looking to Gingetsu as if in search of approbation. Gingetsu just stared back, surprised.

"It's Hisoku Army's colour," Ryu observed.(26) "Pleased to meet you Ran. I'll immediately start cooking," he said dismissively as he walked toward the kitchen.

Gingetsu ignored him as he was still staring at the boy, now called Ran. Of all the names C had chosen the one that was also the colour of Gingetsu's army. His colour. Indigo.

'In order to recognize you when we'll meet again… I'll engrave these marks on your hands. These marks signify that you are the property of the Sakurazukamori.'(27)

That was what Sakurazuka Seishiro told Sumeragi Subaru so long ago. Now C had picked up a name that still connected him to Gingetsu. Had it been a coincidence? Or should he read something more into that choice? He had no idea, however, there was something he could do for the boy…

"If there isn't a light for you, light it with your hands," he said handing him a lamp. A light. All for C. No, all for Ran. He could give him that much. A place to return to. A place to call home. A place for him to stay. A place in which he was welcomed.

He saw the boy taking the lamp in his hands hesitantly and left him with it, free to ponder the meaning of his words. When he returned to watch Ran again, the boy was sitting on a chair, the lamp lighted and carefully held on in lap, a smile on his lips.

Ran had understood him.

Ran would stay with him.

They would stay together this time because that was the reason for which they had been reborn, he was sure of it.

In the background Oruha's song played again.

"… To be born again in your arms / As ember that just caught / Should not be put out or misplaced; / My thoughts just born should not be dissipated or broken apart; / In this cradle you guard over;/ To start again from scratch. To be born again in your arms…"

JJ's Notes:

1. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Crime'.

2. Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Crime'.

3. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 3 - 'Call B'.

4. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 3 - 'Call B'.

5. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Crime'.

6. Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Crime'.

7. Sumeragi Subaru from 'X' Vol. 8 - 'ShinKen II'.

8. 18 year-old Sakurazuka Seishiro kissed 9 year-old Sumeragi Subaru's hands in 'Tokyo Babylon' to mark them so as to declare that the boy was his prey...

9. Sakurazuka Seishiro was a veterinarian. In 'Clover' it isn't explained how Gingetsu got his medical knowledge or why, so...

10. Sakurazuka Seishiro carried Sumeragi Subaru to a Karaoke box in 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 5 - 'Box' and when he sang a song with Sumeragi Hokuto Subaru clapped his hands at them.

11. A girl and Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 3 - 'Call B'.

12. Sumeragi Subaru and Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 1 - 'Babel'.

13. Sakurazuka Seishiro and Sumeragi Hokuto from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Save B'.

14. Sumeragi Hokuto and Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'X' Vol. 16 - 'Kekkai VI'.

15. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Save B'.

16. Sumeragi Hokuto from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 6 - 'News'.

17. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 6 - 'News'.

18. That's the explanation for Sakurazuka Seishiro's actions that CLAMP gave in an interview. Seishiro's such a jerk...

19. Sumeragi Subaru from 'X' Vol. 16 - 'Kekkai VI'.

20. Sakurazuka Seishiro and Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 4 - 'Crime'.

21. Sakurazuka Setsuka from 'X - Character File' cd 6 - 'Yuto & Seishiro'.

22. Sakurazuka Setsuka and Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'X' Vol. 16 - 'Sakurazuka Seishiro'.

23. Since Sakurazuka Seishiro left his eye to Sumeragi Subaru technically they were together...

24. No, I'm not going to say who Ryu was in his past life... however it should be fairly obvious... if you want you can have fun trying to guess who Su and Oruha were as well...

25. Sumeragi Subaru from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 5 - 'Rebirth'.

26. 'Ran' means 'Indigo'. The name is also a pun since it can be read Lan as well and L.A.N. is the short for 'Local Area Network'.

27. Sakurazuka Seishiro from 'Tokyo Babylon' Vol. 7 - 'End'.

JJ's Extra Notes:
Yes, this proves I'm obsessed with Subaru and Seishiro since I can see them everywhere... however it was fun to write.
It all started when I noticed a resemblance between the characters from 'Clover' and the ones of 'X'. Of course Gingetsu is nicer to Ran than Seishiro to Subaru (even if, I don't know why, I suspect he was the one who killed Oruha because she knew Su...) but there are some common traits.
Originally Gingetsu's past self was planned to have a bigger role than he ended in the background as a voice whispering in Gingetsu's mind. I find deliciously ironic that talkative Seishiro is now silent...
I've been tempted to say if Ran remembers or not his past life. I've decided against simply because I wanted to let Gingetsu in the dark.
Why is Hokuto-chan now a boy? Well, in reincarnation stories it's not infrequent that a character finds himself or herself with a different sex from the one he/she had in life.
Why is Hokuto-chan insane? As Gingetsu said being killed by the Sakurazukamori wasn't exactly healthy for her soul... as result she's morosely attached to Subaru's reincarnation.
Who was B? Not that it really matters but for some weird reason I decided B was Subaru and Hokuto's grandmother...
You can consider this as an One Shot. I would liked to continue it but I guess I'll have to wait until CLAMP writes another 'Clover' volume...

Dictionary:
-chan: Name ending used to express affection and familiarity or to talk with a child
-kun: Young
-san: "Mr." or "Mrs."
Hisoku: Secret Colours
Onmyoudo: "Way of Yin and Yang". Yin and Yang are the male and female forces underlying the movement and changes of nature. Onmyoudo is based upon the Chinese arts of astrology, divination and Taoist magic and also represents a mystical way of living in harmony with the forces of nature
Onmyouji: "Person who practices Onmyoudo". Basically a magician, sorcerer, diviner and astrologer
Onmyoujutsu: "Art of Yin and Yang". The ability to use Onmyoudo spells
Sakura: "Cherry Tree" or "Cherry Blossom"
Sakurazukamori: "Guardian of the Cherry Blossom Burial Mound". The assassin who uses Onmyoujutsu to kill who threatens Japan

Don't grumble silently, please let me know what you're thinking of this!
Send me your comments!