Title: Far Away

Summary: Sitting in a world far, far away was the one other person besides Subaru who had ever made an impact on Kamui's life. For the first time, he reaches out to her. Kotori/Kamui. Fuuma-centric, as well.

Rating: T

A/N: This is for people who read/watched 'X', loved it, but hated Kotori's fate. XD The greatest thing about 'Tsubasa', I think, is the fact that you can give the characters from other CLAMP shows the happy endings that they deserve, without half of the severed heads. This one is for you, Kotori! By the way, I've been working on this on and off since… March, so I'm sorry if it's a little disjointed. It was a labor of love.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa, because if I did, Kotori would actually be in it.

…

"Don't waste your time on me, you're already the voice inside my head."

-'I Miss You' by Blink-182

…

"Brother! Brother!" It had been so long since she had seen Fuuma's face that her heart was filled with such joy that she could barely stand it. But then… There was something missing from this scene; or really, someone. "Brother, where's big brother Seishirou? You said that you would bring him back."

It was very nice to see his younger sister once again, but she was right. There was a part of this scene that was missing, and had been for a very long time. Really, when Fuuma thought back, Seishirou had never really been in the picture from the beginning. From childhood he had always been chasing some unknown dream. Placing a hand in his sister's noodle hair he ruffled it just a bit. "I'm sorry, sister, but I wasn't able to bring Seishirou with me this time, even though I had promised."

Despite the smile that was on her face, Fuuma knew that Kotori was upset. Kotori had such a kind heart and loved Seishirou unconditionally. Fuuma wasn't sure that his brother had ever really loved anyone, but Kotori would never give up the dream that he did, in fact, care about his family. "That's fine, brother. I'm just glad that you're home." Wrapping her arms around her brother, a few tears fell from her eyes. "It's been so long since you left; I thought you'd never come back." Smiling as well, Fuuma wrapped his arms around his younger sister; it really was nice to be at home once again, even if it was not for a long time.

"What have you been doing since I left, Kotori?" Three years was a long time; things probably had changed.

A proud grin featured prominently on her face. It was like when she had first drawn a picture of a horse and rushed home from school that day to show it to him; that girl was easy to read and darn cute. "I've been going to a university to study."

His mouth dropped. "Really?" Though he loved his sister dearly she was never… The sort that he thought would get past high school in education. For years her dream had been to get through high school and go work on… dying things blue. In a family of treasure hunters, what she really desired was to make things blue. Not a useful application of her time, in his opinion, but still, he was proud. Even after he had left he had thought that she would end up married right out of high school and would have had some kids by the time he returned. "That's wonderful, Kotori. Amazing and wonderful."

Red rushed up to her cheeks, the tearstained face now back to its usual self. "I thought that while I waited for everyone to come back to me, I could at least get a little smarter."

Fuuma took a few steps back to observe the house that he had grown up in. Not much had changed; it had never changed. When he was a kid, things may have come and gone within the house, but the outside remained the same from the moment that he was born. With his life of constant change, something stable to return to was a welcome sight. "Seishirou and I probably won't return for a long time, Kotori, you may want to-"

"I'm not just talking about the two of you." Interrupting him was not the sort of thing that Kotori would do. His eyes flashed over to her, where she stood that blush on her face. "There's someone else who I'm waiting for, as well."

His eyes grew wide. "Don't tell me that you're engaged or something? And I haven't even met the guy to approve of him! Who is this guy? And is he worthy of my little sister?" Pausing, he tried to remember if she had ever shown any interest in someone. Not to his knowledge… Then again, he was already traveling when they were young, so he never knew much about her personal life outside of the basic details. One of his regrets was that he had never really gotten to know her. "You always thought that the kid across the street was cute. Is it him?"

She shook her head slow, as if deciding whether or not to tell him. "No, I'm not engaged." There must have been something really interesting on the ground, because she stared at it as if she would die if her eyes moved from the patch of dirt by her feet. "I'm not even sure if he remembers me; he's been gone as long as Seishirou."

Then it dawned on him. "You couldn't mean Kamui?" Her head shot up. "You do mean Kamui."

"You know him?" The blush on her cheeks grew deeper as she began to pace around. Clumsy as ever, she nearly tripped as she walked, causing her to become more flustered than before. "But you were never here when we were friends! You had already left and-" Once again, she lost her footing, this time falling in a way that was convenient for Fuuma to catch her. So he did, a smile on his face, though the news of her and the vampire was just a bit too shocking. Comfortable leaning in his arms as if the two of them were in some sort of tango, she continued talking. "-you never knew him. Have you met him, then? How is he? Has his travels been alright? He never did tell me why he let. Is Subaru okay, too? I know he and Seishirou were good friends for a while. And… And did he possibly mention anything-"

"He gave me a letter." It had been in his pocket for a few months now. When he had left Tokyo Kamui had given it to him, telling him that it was for someone in his family. Fuuma always had assumed that it was a death threat to Seishirou or something, but maybe he was wrong.

And if he were wrong about the letter being for Kotori then… well…

Her eyes grew wide as she popped out of his arms. "For me, really?"

He shrugged. "I guess. He wasn't too specific. You see, he hadn't taken a real fancy to me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he hated my filthy rotten guts." Laughing at Kotori's shocked face, he continued. "That is, of course, if we're talking about the same Kamui, it could be someone-"

"You're definitely talking about the same person, I know it." Huffing, she stomped a foot on the ground. "It was fate that you guys would meet, I know it."

"I thought that you always said that the future hasn't been determined. When we were kids that's what you'd tell Seishirou when he was in one of his moods." Shrugging, she stared at Fuuma. And said nothing. And continued to stare, looking like a forlorn puppy whose owners had forgotten to feed. "You really want your letter, don't you?"

Though he wasn't too keen on letting his darling little sister get involved with such a, from what he could tell, at least, mean spirited vampire, Kotori did seem to think very highly of Kamui. Through the years Kotori had proved herself to be a good judge of character, except about their brother, of course, but they had tried to keep her in the dark about the whole vampire stalking thing. So, with reluctance, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled up brown envelope. Various stains and rips decorated it; it had been traveling with Fuuma for quite some time.

Eyes wide, Kotori reached for the piece of paper as if it were some sort of holy object. It must have been a treasure to her; it was the same look that he, himself, got when there was something rare and beautiful in his line of sight and he had to have it. But before she could grab it, he pulled it away. "Fuuma-" She began to whine, but he held a hand up to stop her.

"Kotori, I, your darling brother, have been gone for three years and you don't even invite me inside for a cup of tea?" Guilt filled Kotori, and her eyesight was, once again, glued to the ground. "Not a piece of bread is offered to the weary traveler, who has been hauling this piece of mail around for you for ages when he could have easily tossed it aside when my load was too heavy or when it was a burden. Instead I gallantly carried this letter around with me because I love you. But apparently that love is not returned because-"

"Of course I love you, big brother!" She said, frantic again, blushing heavily and waving her arms around making no coherent sort of gesticulation. He smiled; the guilt trip seemed to have worked just as he had planned. "I just got excited, that's all." Shamed and disappointed in herself, Kotori kicked at the dirt. Laughing once again at how adorable his sister was, he messed up her noodle hair for a second time.

"I'm just kidding around, take it." Greedy hands snatched up the letter from his fingers, nearly ripping it apart in the process. As quick as he could he let go, fearful that he may lose a finger or two in her excitement. "You must really like that guy… For some reason."

Pausing in her haste to open the envelope, she looked up at her brother. "Big brother, you don't understand, Kamui is… Something else. He's amazing." Never before had Kotori said this about a boy; a knot formed in Fuuma's stomach. Not jealousy, or anything. Just a protective feeling. If his sister really did feel that strongly for that freaky vampire, then he should at least have the courtesy to not go dimensional hopping and leave her alone, pining for him.

But then again, if that letter was for her, then it must have meant that he felt something for his little sister.

After what seemed like a millennium to her, the letter was out of the envelope and in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she began to read the spidery handwriting. 'Dearest Kotori…'

…

For the first time in a long time, Kamui was alone. It was terrible; Subaru was sleeping and the people here were annoying and loud. But there was nothing that he could do; he was stuck until his brother woke from his slumber, however long that may be.

As he sat awake at the reservoir during the night, haunted by the fear that filled him constantly about Subaru and what would happen if that vampire hunter caught up to him, another thought came into his head that had been gone for a long, long time. Before they had left that world, the one with Seishirou, there had been a person who Kamui had been fond of as well. And as he sat there alone, it was her face that he saw behind his eyelids, haunting him, taunting him, making him miss something when he had promised that he would never miss anything besides his brother.

He missed her.

Without delay he got up and went into the main building to find some paper. Thoughts of her had been pushed to the back of his mind; he had always tried to not linger in the past. Even so, forgetting about her was too cruel to her. And to himself.

Though paper was unusual in Tokyo nowadays, he was able to find some along with a pen in an old, abandoned desk in a room that had once been an office and was now a place where refugees slept and he brought it back down to the reservoir to write. He didn't know when, if ever, he would be able to give her this letter, but to write it was enough. Maybe if he did that act alone, it would somehow reach her.

Sitting down on his usual ledge near the pool where his brother was trapped, he uncapped the pen and set it to the paper. 'Dearest Kotori,' he wrote, hoping that it was appropriate for him to use such an address. Manners changed from world to world; it was a stretch for him to recall what was considered to be appropriate in the world that he had once called home now.

It had been so long since he had been home. He and Subaru had been on the run for too long to even think about the time that had passed. Still, what seemed like a year to them could be an eon to someone else or vice versa; he had no sense of time any more. Immortality was a cruel joke. Subaru had always been the only one that he had cared about because he knew that the frail humans that he knew would grow old, wither and die while he was still in his prime of life. Such was the curse of immortality; such was Kamui's curse.

Yet, this girl with her glittering optimism and constant blushing had wormed herself into Kamui's heart. Her smile had warmed his cold blood and for a short time it seemed like he could have…

That was before Seishirou and before Subaru's mistake. He did not hate his brother for what he did; no matter what Subaru did he could never hate him. Occasionally curse their bad luck and Subaru's poor taste in companions, yes, but hate, no. Even if it meant that he was torn from Kotori, he would run with Subaru to wherever they needed to go. He would do whatever they needed to do. There were no exceptions, no moral boundaries for what he would do for his brother.

It has been a long time since we've seen one another, hasn't it? I cannot promise that I will return to you soon, though I dearly wish that I could. Still, it is the memories of you and your smile that keep me going throughout my long journey. I hope, one day, I may see you again.

It sounded trite. It sounded like a child's love letter to their school crush. He wanted to rip it up and try again, try to maintain the last of the dignity that he had, but there was no paper in this barren wasteland of a world. He continued to write.

A woman, some time ago, told us that there is no coincidence, only the inevitable. You once told me, however, that the future has not yet been determined. That was right before Subaru and I ran for reasons that I do not believe you would find important. I believed that to be destiny. I wonder if you'd agree now that you're older and hopefully wiser.

If it weren't for destiny, why would the two of them have been torn apart? There was no reason for that. Kamui knew that he was cold; he knew that he was incapable of feeling any emotions for anyone but his brother. But Kotori had come so close; for the first time in years he had felt… warm with someone other than Subaru. She was a bright light of goodness. She was irreplaceable. The last thing he had wanted was to be ripped from her side from a cruel trick of fate.

There was little paper left now. His large black handwriting covered most of it in the curling letters that he had been taught as a child, but now, in the age of computers, were considered to be outdated. All that was left of the sheet was enough room for a closing statement and his goodbye.

I will see you again, Kotori. I will make sure of it. And then I will be free from this game of hide-and-seek and you and I will be able to reconnect once again… and forever after.

Love, Kamui.

Did he love her? He was unsure. It was not the same feelings that he had for Subaru, but he knew that the love between brothers and the love between a man and a woman were different. There were times that he felt that without her he would perish but that could have just been indigestion or something.

He folded his note, careful not to smudge the ink and put it in his pocket. There was a chance it would never reach her. That he would forget about it or lose it and it would fester in the garbage pits of some unknown world for the rest of eternity. He didn't know, but its mere presence was enough to keep him at ease as Subaru stayed at the bottom of the reservoir.

The truth was that he did not know if he loved her. He would not be sure until the next time he saw her face. Not the face of some unknown Kotori studying at a library in Piffle World or a passing glance of a Kotori anywhere else. He needed to see her, his Kotori and then he would know.

"Sister, are you alright?" Fuuma asks, putting an arm around Kotori. She hadn't realized that she was crying. Crying because Kamui was so kind to think of her, crying because she missed him more than she could possibly articulate, crying because at the end of his letter he said love. "Did he say something unkind to you? It wouldn't surprise me he was always-"

"No brother, he could never say something unkind. He…" She trails off and a brilliant smile overtakes her features and the tears on her cheek seemed to sparkle rather than bring sadness and pity. "I miss him very much, brother. More than I can possibly say."

He grins at her. "Then I'm sure that you'll see him again, Kotori. It's only a matter of time." He has an idea now, one that he knew would never leave his mind once it had taken root there.

She is unsure; since her two brothers and Kamui and his brother left, she had only ever seen Fuuma once since. Never Seishirou, never Kamui and his twin. But she loves her brother enough to let those thoughts go to the back of her mind and believe him when he tells her that things will work out. "Come brother, let me show you…" She begins, changing the subject, leading him into the home that he has not been to in a very long time.

He was able to stay for three weeks. For three weeks she and him caught up, and their father smiled and they were all happy together, almost like the old days. But almost as soon as it began Fuuma he had to leave once again. He had treasures to collect, debts to pay and people to see.

She wouldn't watch him go; she didn't want the last thing he saw of her, perhaps forever, to be her tears. They said their goodbyes the morning before he was going to go. "You know," he told her as he held her in his arms for the last time. "I have one last surprise for you, but it's going to have to wait until after I'm gone." He tells her and she smiles for him one last time and then, that afternoon, he leaves. And once again she is alone.

For three days she pondered what her brother meant when he told her of the gift that she'd get after he left. And for three days she would read that note that Kamui had written for her more than she wanted to admit and wonder if he would ever return.

And on the fourth day, as she was walking home from the market, she saw something that she would have never expected, not in a million years.

"K-Kamui?" He was standing there in her front yard, even more handsome than he had been in her memories, with his brother at his side. Everything about him was familiar, his face, the way he stood, how, when his eyes met hers, there was something so fierce about them. "Is that really you?"

She drops the bag of groceries that she had been carrying and he looks at her and there's just a small hint of a smile on his face. "Hello, Kotori. I've-"

She runs to him, and wraps her arms around him. Not braced for the impact, he falls over and together they fall to the ground and she laughs out loud and smiles brighter than she feels that she ever has. "I never thought I'd see you again!" She pauses and looks at him, now smiling, and wonders how on earth could she be as lucky as she was. "I'm so happy you're here."

"So am I, Kotori," he says as he hugs her close to him, wanting to never let go.

…

"Was it worth the price?" Yuuko Ichihara asks Fuuma as they both watch the reunion between the vampire and the innocent girl he loved on a magical screen that the witch had created out of thin air.

"Every cent," Fuuma announces as he gets up and hands the witch the object that she had decided would be the price for this favor that she granted. "Take care." He tells her as he puts on his sunglasses and walks out the door to the small house.

With a smile Yuuko looks at the price, the soul, of this young man. Carefully she unfolded the worn piece of paper and read it.

Dear Brother,

Please be safe on your journey. I know you will be going far away, but remember that I will always be there with you, no matter where you go and what happens.

Love,

Kotori

…

Fin