Title: "Enjoy The Moment (A.K.A.: Five Things That Never Happened To Sakurazuka Seishiro Plus One) - Chap 1: 1979"
Author: J.J.
Warning: It's an AU BASED ON THE MANGA, it probably contains some OOCness, uses Japanese words and includes some spoilers.
Notes: It should have been completely different. I've no idea how it evolved into this...
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:
"Tokyo Babylon" and "X" belong to Clamp. I'm merely using their characters because I love them... especially Seishiro and Subaru...
Do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensitive heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews, so please be honest but nice, okay?
Thanks:
To Sami The Creator for betaing this! Thank you a lot!
Summary: What a tiny little change can do...

1979 - Kanazawa - Saiseikai Kanazawa Hospital

It was a hot day. He stared unhappily at the sky out of the window from his position on the plastic hospital chair in the waiting room waving his legs back and forth slowly, while the maid who was supposed to look after him that day was happily chatting with another woman seated next to her. It was so unfair! She was having fun while he was deadly bored. Oh well, at least her fear of blood assured him that he wouldn't have to watch his uncle as he performed another autopsy.(1) Whose were long messy and even more boring and in his five years of age he had witnessed too many of them already to know what went on during them. All in all he was sure humans were toys definitely prettier from the outside than from the inside and that once they were 'broken' they were no fun at all.

"Hey, I'm starving," he pointed out grasping the sleeve of the maid's Yukata in his small hand and pulling roughly, trying to catch her attention. "Go buy me something to eat," he ordered, knowing there was no reason to be polite and formal to her when one of his Ichimon members wasn't around.

The girl turned toward him with a look of extreme patience that didn't make her look pretty at all. In the long series of caretakers he had this one was probably the ugliest. Oh well, soon his aunt would grow bored with her and assign the task to another maid. She always did. He had no idea why the girls never seemed fitting caretakers for him in his aunt's opinion. He couldn't remember one that had lasted more than two months, their faces and names blurring in his mind until they became a meaningless list of faceless people. Maybe it was just because he was a special child. A very precious one who would become the next Ichizoku no Chou. Special children couldn't be trusted in the care of ordinary people.(2)

"I'm so sorry, Seishiro-san, but Danna-sama said we aren't allowed to move from here..." she answered formally before dismissing him again and began chatting happily again. He huffed, hating to be dismissed so carelessly, and pulled at her sleeve again.

"But I'm starving!" he protested knowing he would find an excuse to have the girl fired in the near future. Even if she wasn't going to last long anyway, she should really learn to treat him better. Even if he was only five he knew perfectly well how to exact his revenge on anyone who happened to have something against him. He was a very independent and bright child. Everyone was ready to admit that.

"You can have my Anpan if you like," offered a timid voice next to him. He turned to see another child, around his age, a rosy blush covering his lovely porcelain skin, his gaze set firmly on the ground and his eyes completely covered by his dark fringe. "If you'd like, I mean, I haven't bitten it yet and... well, if you're starving... if it doesn't offend you... I mean..." the child continued babbling in a nervous tone.

"It doesn't," he assured taking hold of the Anpan and biting it with gusto. The boy raised his head to smile at him and Seishiro saw that the child had shining eyes, of a bright green which he had never seen before, and such a gentle, yet beautiful smile. He remained frozen for a second in admiration. He was sure he'd never seen anyone prettier.

"ARGH! What are you doing, eating my brother's Anpan!" protested a shrill female voice. He distractedly turned toward it to meet a face very similar to that of the boy's and yet nowhere nearly as interesting.

"Ho-Hokuto-chan, it's not like that... I gave it to him... he was starving and..." the girl's brother complained timidly, catching the girl's attention.

"What were you thinking, feeding strangers your food?" she reproached, in the same tone she would have used if she had been his mother. "You know you need to eat, you're way too skinny and..." Seishiro observed them while finishing the Anpan, the show offering him an interesting diversion from his boredom. Once finished, he brushed his hands to brush off any remaining crumbs and then stood, taking hold of the boy's arm and forced him to stand up as well.

"Well, I've had enough of this, now let's play together," he decided without bothering to ask the other boy.

"Yes, let's play!" the girl agreed enthusiastically despite not being asked her opinion, immediately forgetting she was scolding her brother in the prospective of having some fun.

"We can't play here," her brother pointed out firmly, looking at the girl seriously and, from the look in the girl's eyes, he could tell she knew the boy wouldn't change her mind no matter what she would do or say. "We're in a hospital and Obaachan said we have to wait here until the purification..."(3)

"You don't want to play with me?" Seishiro asked him, a slightly pouty expression on his face and saw the boy's will crumble like a sand castle under his gaze, as if he was totally unable to tell him 'no'.

"I... of course I want to but..." the child stammered, lowering his gaze and blushing cutely as he realized that Seishiro had yet to let go of his wrist.

"That's great, then we'll play 'Tag'," Seishiro stated, not giving him the chance to finish the sentence.

"But... the hospital... and I'm not good at..." the boy protested timidly even if he seemed to know that he was this was a lost cause.

"GREAT!" the girl cheered jumping in excitement, her loud voice overbearing her brother's quiet one. "I'm the best at it!" she exclaimed while her brother looked from her to Seishiro nervously and looking reluctant.

"I'll help you," Seishiro promised the boy in a soothing, assuring tone, without letting him go. He grinned as he got a shy, thankful smile in reply. Then he tapped the girl on her forehead. "Tag, you're it," he stated and then immediately ran away, grabbing the boy's hand and pulling him along.

"Hey, who said you can decide who's it?" the girl protested as she chased after them. Seishiro laughed and felt strangely pleased as his new playmate clung tightly to his hand, almost afraid to loosen his hold, his hand, even smaller than his, fit perfectly into his.

"I can do anything I want!" he informed the girl, ignoring the voice of his maid calling him now that she had finally realized what he was doing, knowing she would be yelled at if his uncle were to discover she had lost sight of him. 'Too bad for her', Seishiro thought. She should have paid more attention before. She wasn't going to get in the way of his fun now.

"CHILDREN!" an older voice, way more authoritarian then that of the maid who was suppose to look after him, called them in a firm tone, without yelling but loud enough to be heard, causing the three of them to stop immediately.

"Obaachan..." the twins said simultaneously and he felt the boy's hold on his hand unconsciously tightening as an old woman in a traditional white Shikifuku moved closer to them.

"Is this the suitable way in which to act in a hospital? I'm disappointed in you," she said calmly. The girl tried to excuse herself while the boy's gaze dropped. He seemed so deeply wounded by those simple words that... that it hit Seishiro somehow. He just... couldn't let anybody hurt that boy.

"You can't pretend we'll remain here still as statues on such a beautiful day," he stated, ignoring his maid's attempt to reproach him as well, and the boy next to him gazed up in a mix of surprise, thankfulness and admiration. The old woman glared at him but he refused to show he was intimidated even if he was. No one could intimidate him. Especially when that boy was looking at him.

"Your parents should educate you better," the woman calmly informed him in a not too concerned tone, as if it didn't really matter. She was talking to him as if he was the adult which was strangely satisfying. "Children, we're leaving now," the woman stated then, dismissing him and beginning to walk away, expecting her grandchildren to follow her without discussion. He felt the boy's hold on his hand loosening and he turned to look at him, feeling strangely anxious. He didn't want to let him go, though he had no idea why. The boy gazed at him sadly while his sister waved bye-bye to Seishiro, before immediately running after her grandmother. She took her hand and began to chat with her enthusiastically, as if she'd never been reproached. The boy hesitated only a second longer , then their hands weren't holding each other anymore and he began to walk away. He looked like a beaten puppy, turning often towards him before he obediently took hold of his grandmother's free hand as well. He wouldn't turn anymore after this and that just felt so wrong... it was so wrong to let the boy get away from him like that, forever without even the hope of...

"Next time we see each other, I'll offer you something!" Seishiro felt the need to tell to him, wondering why he felt as if he was being abandoned. He felt infinite relief as the boy turned again toward him, green eyes meeting his golden ones for one last time.

"I'll be waiting!" the child replied, smiling brightly and waving at him as best as he could despite his grandmother holding his hand tightly and began to walk away faster, pulling him and his sister along.

Seishiro stared at his retreating figure until the boy was out of the hospital and far from sight. Ignoring the maid's complaints about the way he'd behaved, he felt as if someone had stolen something from him. He had no idea what it was but it hurt and it didn't put him in a good mood.

"Silence," he hissed in her direction. "I don't have to take orders from you," he reminded her as he moved to sit on the chair he had left, grumpily. He had no idea why but he couldn't stop thinking about those green eyes that had looked at him so longingly and how they'd been ripped away from him... It was the first time someone had wanted to be with him, longed to be with him and he...

He would track them down, he decided. He would track them down and the next time he would own them forever.

To be continued...

JJ's Notes:

1. The drama cd says that Seishiro didn't meet his mother until he was nine. I've no idea if Seishiro had been left in his relative's care during that time or what they worked in. Many think he underwent some 'training' aimed at turning him into an emotionless person that would have no problems killing somebody. However, for this fic background I assumed that if he'd simply been used being around corpses and people handling them from such a young age then that would be enough for him to get used to death. Feel free to disagree.

2. Actually, for children it's slightly traumatic to not have a stable person to take care of them.

3. On hospital roofs there's often a small Shinto temple in commemoration of the earth spirits, every year, an Onmyouji of the Sumeragi Ichimon purify it. I've no idea if there's one on the Saiseikai Kanazawa Hospital and I couldn't find this info anywhere. Let's assume there's is.

JJ's Extra Notes:
Actually, I doubt Subaru's grandmother would be the Onmyouji who would take care of the purification rite over at Kanazawa Hospital. I assume the Sumeragi would send an Onmyouji who lives in Kanazawa or somewhere close by. Pretend that, for some reason, this time Subaru's grandmother had to do it while she was taking care of the twins.

Dictionary:
-chan: used at the end of a name to express affection and familiarity or when talking to a child
-sama: "Lord" or "Lady"
-san: "Mr." or "Mrs."
Anpan: A Japanese sweet bun filled with red bean paste
Danna: Master (of the house)
Ichimon: "Family" or "Household" or "Clan"
Ichizoku no Chou: "Family Head"
Obaachan: "Grandmother" or "Old Woman"
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 on 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
Shikifuku: Ceremonial Robe
Yukata: Informal Summer Kimono

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