Warnings: rated M for violent content.

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Clamp.

The story takes place during Vol 4 of the manga.

Execution

It was remarkable, really, how impulsive he got when it came to Subaru.

This had been an odd one too. He could claim it was a coincidence, recognizing the face that had made the front page of newspapers so many times in the past year. But the odd part was why he'd bothered to scan the faces in this upscale neighborhood, or even kill this man in broad daylight, nearly at his doorstep, when this one particular target spent pretty much every night wandering through the streets of dangerous Kabukichō. A man with many vices, certainly, but not insane as the court had ruled.

But Seishirou decided that this was the moment to finish the hunt, just as Mai's non-convicted murderer was the sole passerby in this particular calm street. This was the only circumstance in which the Sakurazukamori was truthfully allowed to kill an unassigned victim. He supposed in another time or place he would have been called before the man could brutally murder a little girl and walk away easily because of his skilled lawyers, but this was Tokyo. While the case had scandalized the population for a few weeks, by the time the judgment came the crime had already slipped everybody's minds except for Mai's family. There was no uproar, no cries for justice when the defendant was declared not guilty. There was just an angry mother trying to hurt the murderer herself and involving his Subaru-kun in the mess.

Seishirou didn't fully understand why he had suddenly decided that the terms of the bet included turning Subaru's lies into truths but, unlike his prey, he took no pleasure in ignoring his urges.

Before attacking, he summoned the little girl's spirit. She deserved to watch. When the tree branches involved the man's limbs, the assassin decided they'd get to do the whole job themselves. The souls in the Sakura always cried for vengeance as much as Mai's spirit, and they'd take it from whoever they could. The girl's cries turned louder and louder as the limbs were split from the body. Then, she became suddenly quiet. Her eyes were wide, but her mouth was twisting into a smile. This wasn't exactly peace; she'd never have it, not after going through such intense suffering before and after death. But it was the closest thing, and Seishirou decided that was acceptable.

And, during that evening, Seishirou made sure to go visit the twins and turn on the TV. He was pleased to notice Subaru wasn't nearly as upset as he usually got when informed of a murder. It seemed even his kind prey had a wish for bloody justice, sometimes.