A SAVE TOKYO CITY STORY/ ZERO
Notes: I have done some research on aspects of this fic to insure consistencies and accuracy in my writing. A next to any word will mean that an English translation or clarification will follow at the end of the fic. This prologue is not part of the Tokyo Babylon manga, unlike the other chapters which will be. Meaning this first chapter is made up of all my own ideas coupled with CLAMP's characters and themes.
Warnings: Spoilers for ALL of Tokyo Babylon and some of X (X/1999, both the anime and manga) will be included in all parts of this fic. Which parts of X will be stated in the 'Warnings' section before each chapter.
Shonen-Ai (Subaru X Seishirou). Blood. Death. Betrayal. Spiritual References. Sexual references. Etc. X Volume One (Prelude) and up.
Disclaimer: I don't own Subaru, or Seishirou, or Hokuto, Tokyo Babylon, X…or anything else that may belong to CLAMP.
Credits: ANNEX/ HANAMI is an idea that Kira gave me one day while we were talking about this fic, X, and Tokyo Babylon in general. Also thanks to Kira for beta-ing.
/ Five points on a star. Five elements. Five states of existence. Five words. Five petals on a flower. All of them five. All of them in danger if one is missing or taken away.
A pentagram requires five points, five lines to complete its structure. Each of its five corners have many different meanings. They can be the five wounds of Jesus. Or the image of the five planets of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Venus which make up the Babylonian five directions. Forward and backward, left and right, then above. They can also show the perfect symmetry in the human body. Perfect in theory, but not in life.
At the five points of the pentagram you can put the five elements. Hi, fire. Mizu, water. Tsuchi, earth. Kaze, wind. And kokoro, spirit. The body is made of these five elements. Everything is made of them, some combination of them. If one element is more prevalent then the scale tips and can cause unbalance to everything around it.
There are five points of existence. Five stages that we all will go through, some more quickly than others. Birth. The first is what brings us into existence and into life. Childhood. It follows birth and can be as short as a few years or as long as twenty. Young adulthood. A transition period that bridges gaps of understanding and growth. Adulthood. The second to last stage where everything that you have done is counted and added and then brought to a climax. Then there is death.
Five words. It can be any number of combinations. Any number of variations. Mean any number of things. The five words can be of your choosing. They can be false or true or unfinished. They are: …I… always…you…
Finally, the petals of a flower. Five pink, fluttering, insignificant little petals can only mean so much. Unless you, like them, are tainted by the blood that they drink. /
ANNEX/ BEGINNINGS
Beginnings can be anything. They can seem like nothing. A mark, a petal, a bet; anything. And just like things begin, they can end. Even go unnoticed until something greater happens that causes recognition of the beginning or end of something. And sometimes, when it's too late to go back and change anything, you wish that the beginning you had missed had never, ever happened.
"Obaa-chan…it's hot."
"I know, Hokuto-san."
"But when is Subaru coming back? I wanna see Subaru!" A very young Hokuto sat squirming in her chair while they waited for her younger twin.
"He'll be out in a few minutes. And when he does come out you are to say nothing about anything that may have changed. Understood?"
Hokuto gave her obaa-san a puzzled look. "Wha'dya mean? 'Anything that may have changed' Subaru is Subaru. If he got hurt I would know. He would have told me, and I would have killed them by now." She smiled, "I promised that I would protect him if he ever got hurt."
"Hokuto-san. Don't talk that way. You are much to young too understand that sort of thing."
"No I'm not. I don't care if they're too strong for me. I'll do my best anyway so they don't hurt Subaru again." She turned to her obaa-san, kicking her feet back and forth. "I know that I don't have powers like Subaru, but I'm still his older sister and I have to protect him."
The now former Sumeragi head frowned at her granddaughter. The child was so insistent on things sometimes. "Hokuto-san, you don't need to worry about Subaru-san. He is happy, and kind, like you. He is perfectly capable of—"
Hokuto shook her head in disagreement, "No one gets it! We're different! Subaru is Subaru, and Hokuto is Hokuto! Just because we look alike doesn't mean we're the same inside!"
At that moment Subaru came through the door of the train. He looked tired, but Hokuto jumped up and latched onto her bother, nearly knocking him over, whispering, "You're okay, you're okay!"
He nodded in surprise and hugged her back, a small smile on his lips. His training was over, and he was back with the people he cared for most. "I won't leave again…"
"Good." Hokuto let go. "Oh! Let's go out for parfaits at the park! Obaa-chan, can we, can we?"
They only stayed long enough for Hokuto see the beginning of their obaa-san's nod before she had pulled Subaru out of the train station and was tugging him toward the nearest park. The former Sumeragi head watched her grandchildren as they weaved their way through the streets of Kyoto.
ANNEX BEGINNINGS/ END
/ Many symbols have reversed meanings if they are turned upside down. The pentagram or five-pointed star has been associated with magic since the Greek and Babylonian times, and possibly before. It was most likely brought to Japan along with Onmyodo and Buddhism from Korea sometime in the fifth and sixth centuries. An onmyoji is a Japanese medium who helped shape Japan by influencing the Imperial Court since early Japanese history.
If you look up onmyoji you will find the names of two powerful families. Kamo no Yasunori and Abe no Seimei which both made important advances in Onmyodo during the tenth century. It is possible that even though they were said to have collaborated their works, Seimei being one of Yasunori's students, is it not possible that the trust that Seimei soon gained from the Imperial Court created a rift between the two onmyoji? Thus creating the perfect fiction, two heads of powerful ancient households neck and neck for the highest seat in the Onmyoryo.
One family takes the mystic symbol of the pentagram. The other takes that same symbol and flips it, not wanting to copy the other, but wanting to show that they too are a powerful force to be reckoned with. One up, one down. One right, one wrong. One white, one black. One yin, one yang. One Sumeragi, one Sakurazuka. /
ANNEX/ HANAMI
Spring in Japan is like nowhere else in the world. Millions watch daily reports on the progress of sakura blossoms throughout the country. The Somei Yoshino sakura is native to Tokyo. Its petals are tinged pink at the stem and cause the whole blossom to radiate a pink color. This is the magical thing that pulls hundreds from their small, cramped, Tokyo apartments during the spring. The sakura represents the need to live life while you can, for it is beautiful yet short.
Even though the blossoms were still not in full bloom Hokuto had insisted on going to Ueno Park. "You can go to the zoo the whole time if you want, but I will have my yearly hanami, even without you!"
"Alright, alright. We'll go." Subaru sighed and let his sister pile a bento lunch in his arms and drag him toward the door. They got on the shinkansen at Shinjuku and rode it all the way through morning rush hour to Ueno. It was just past ten when they reached the park and had finally found an acceptable place to sit and talk while they watched everyone in the park.
Hokuto plopped down on the grass and began watching three children playing near some trees. "It's funny how different our childhoods were compared to other kids, huh Subaru."
Subaru sat down next to her and handed her a cold drink that he had gotten out of the vending machine. "I guess. Why?"
"Well, I mean look at those kids for instance." She pointed to the two boys and girl playing with a ball. "They probably don't even really know about dying yet, or politics, or what the government is. But at their age you were almost the head of the Sumeragi clan! Obaa-chan had been training you forever by then, and then you had to go away for a year. I bet they've never been apart. They look like really good friends."
He looked at the children. One of the boys looked in their direction as if he knew that he and Hokuto were watching them. Subaru shook himself; it was like Hokuto had said, they were normal children. The smaller boy with striking purple eyes couldn't possibly have sensed that they were being talked about or watched. The tallest of the three, the other boy, then looked over as well, but stole the soccer ball from the boy with purple eyes. Laughing he regained his focus on their game and continued playing.
"Yeah, they do," Subaru concluded with a sigh.
Turning to her brother, Hokuto poked him in the cheek. "Do I hear a hint of jealousy?"
Subaru turned red and quickly turned to Hokuto. "No! They're only little kids, Hokuto-chan!"
She patted him on the shoulder, "Not in that way Subaru! Although you are kinda lacking in both the friend and lover department. Or is there anyone I don't know about? Any girls…?"
His cheeks turned even redder, "I – no – why would – why would there be a girl?"
Hokuto's smile only broadened. "So there's a boy then?"
"There's no one!"
"Oh fine, don't tell your favourite and only sister about your first love," she said sarcastically, waving away his response.
"Hoku—" He stopped in mid sentence as a black and white checkered ball landed in his lap.
The boy with purple eyes came running up to him. He blushed and bowed, "I'm really sorry sir!"
Hokuto leaned over and muttered, "Great, another Subaru."
"Hokuto-chan, he's only being polite," he whispered back. "Its alright, I'm fine," he said to the boy with a smile.
"Oh good." The other two children had come over to see what was taking so long to retrieve their ball.
The taller boy walked up next to the shorter one and put a hand on his shoulder. "Kamui doesn't have the best aim."
"I do have good aim…" Kamui said and blushed a deeper red. The little girl just giggled.
Subaru handed over the ball to the taller boy who thanked him and began to run back to where they had been playing. Kamui hesitated a moment then blurted out, "What's your name?"
Shocked, Subaru just looked at him a moment before a nudge from Hokuto restored his manners. "Sumeragi Subaru, and this is my sister," he motioned to Hokuto, "Sumeragi Hokuto."
"I'm the Kamui. I have a des…des—tiny." His eyes didn't leave Subaru's.
He laughed a little. "I guess that's good then. Nice to meet you Kamui-san."
Kamui nodded and ran off again.
"Well, that was strange. What kind of little kid goes around calling himself 'the Kamui'? And saying that he has 'a destiny'? What have his parents been telling him? I don't believe in all that! You should be able to choose your fate!" By this point Hokuto was standing up and yelling at no one in particular.
"Hokuto-chan, please be more quiet," Subaru pleaded in a distressed tone, although his attention was still focused on the three children. For some reason there seemed to be something familiar about them, something that he could sense about them. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but when Kamui had looked at the older boy he had seemed to know that there was something different about Subaru.
"Subaru, you need a life. You can't go around only talking to little kids all the time." Hokuto was sitting with her chin cupped in one hand and frowning.
"I don't, I have you don't I?"
She sighed, "You just don't understand, do you?"
'I'm afraid you might break, Subaru…'
Subaru just shook his head in puzzlement.
'I'm afraid that if you go on this way something bad will happen and I won't get to see you anymore.'
"Is something wrong Hokuto-chan?"
'I only feel this ache in my heart when I think about losing you…but for some reason I know that I'll have to, one day.'
Smiling, she said, "Oh it's nothing, just your sister being a worry wart. So don't you have that job this afternoon?"
Subaru jumped up and looked at his watch, "Ahh! I forgot! I have to get to Ikebukuro Station!"
"Calm down Subaru, you'll make it in time. Just make sure you tell me if anything interesting happens, alright." She winked and handed him an onigiri to eat on the way there, then waved him off.
'Be careful Subaru…'
ANNEX HANAMI/ END
A SAVE TOKYO CITY STORY/ ZERO/ END
TRANSLATIONS
-chan: Familiar term of endearment, used mostly toward young girls or by children as nicknames.
-kun: Familiar term of endearment, used mostly toward young boys or by children as nicknames. Can also be used by people of a higher standing toward those beneath them.
-san: Mr. or Mrs. More formal than –chan or –kun.
-sama: A more formal version of –san. Used to mean someone of great importance.
Obaa-chan/ obaa-san: Grandmother.
Onmyodo: A Japanese (Chinese influenced) combination of two Chinese theories, the five elements and yin and yang.
Onmyoji: Someone who practices Onmyodo.
Onmyoryo: The Bureau of Onmyo a section of the ritsuryo system implemented in the seventh and eighth centuries.
Ueno Park: One of the most famous parks in Tokyo, it is used in Tokyo Babylon Volume One when Hokuto, Subaru, and Seishirou go to see the sakura. It is also mentioned in X and is the home of Seishirou's 'tree'.
Hanami: Cherry blossom viewing.
Shinkansen: Basically the subway in Tokyo. The main line makes a large circle around Tokyo, passing through most of the large prefectures, but there are some smaller lines as well.
Shinjuku: One of the prefectures in Tokyo. It is one of the largest, and is home to Tokyo's largest gay district, Meiji-Jingu Stadium, some of the tallest buildings in Tokyo and the Municipal Building.
Kamui: The main character of CLAMP's X (X/1999 in America).
The Kamui: A reference to something that Kamui's mother tells him while explaining the meaning of his name, and he is commonly referred to as the Kamui, referring to the fact that he is the Kamui that has to do with the end of the world.
Ikebukuro Station: Another district in Tokyo, it is four stops away from Shinjuku and is in the middle of one of the largest shopping districts in Tokyo.
Onigiri: A rice ball with a filling like plum or fish.