Title: Dead to the World

Author: Genesisuc

Fandom: X/1999, Tokyo Babylon

Pairing: Seishirou/Subaru

Summary: Seishirou Sakurazuka sure had one hell of a day. After being killed off he cannot enjoy afterlife in hell, but instead must remain in the world of the living. With Hokuto – whom he murdered 10 years ago – at his side he soon realizes that not everything is over yet. And who is he to pass a chance to secretly stalk his all time favourite prey Subaru-kun?

Warnings: Spoilers for TB and all of X, random angst and darkness mixed with my stupidity. Not all references about the Grim Reapers are correctly taken from "Dead like me", as I sometimes changed a few facts and circumstances. Oh, and I threw in a couple of other CLAMP characters just for the fun of it. Don't worry, they're just extras or supporting characters.

Note: So, this is the first chapter of my new story. It's been lying around on my computer for a year now and I figured I'd try and upload it. Hope you guys like it. Please excuse my English, I'm not a native speaker. And if you're too confused about the Grim Reaper thing, just ask me, I'll try my best to explain.

.::First Step – The Beginning of a Journey::.

He hadn't imagined his Final Day to turn out like this. Most certainly not. Although he had to admit it was quite interesting to watch the Rainbow Bridge tumble down and crash into the river after Subaru-kun's kekkai had fallen apart. The explosions were quite a nice view and observing the whole spectacle from his position far away felt a little bit like the upcoming millennium had been advanced just for him. He was flattered, really. Other Seals were coming to the Sumeragi's aid and Kamui (the cuter one that is) was screaming Subaru's name. Seishirou felt a tiny little twinge of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach but pushed it away before he was even aware of it. He tried to keep his feelings to a minimum and he was pretty successful. Steel and broken glass plunged into the water and the splashes as they hit the surface halled through the chilly night air. Seishirou couldn't stop himself from pondering his prey's fate as he still was on that collapsing bridge. But Kamui and the others were carrying the disturbed Sumeragi off and saved the 13th clan head from going down with his kekkai. So his Subaru-kun wasn't going to die just now. He really was glad for that, as glad as a seemingly emotionless man could be. He took a drag from his cigarette and wrapped himself in his trench coat. The night really was a bit chillier than usual.

He almost turned to go home and maybe get a little amount of sleep as something was drifting towards him on one of the greater waves that had been caused by the downfall of the bridge. Pieces of steel and concrete might have sunken to the ground immediately but the dark figure that was thrown around by the cold water, like a ball between a group of playing children managed to get all the way to him. His own bloodstained corpse was lying by his feet.

"Peachy", he muttered and lit another cigarette. The nicotine couldn't calm his nerves this time whatsoever, not that he would admit it. Just what he had needed to end this marvellous day with. First his victim had known his true identity and had had an interesting if not somewhat unnerving chat with him about the preciousness of human lives until he was kindly allowed to rip his heart out, than he and Subaru had had one hell of a fight and now here he was, staring at his own lifeless body.

'Right', he reminded himself after a good amount of staring at his soaked mop of hair. 'It had been a quite expensive haircut' He sighed to himself. He realized that he was dead which really didn't take him by surprise at all. He had planned on dying at Subaru-kun's hands and obviously his spell had worked just fine. What was eating him up though was the fact, that he neither had moved on, nor was he with the tree. He didn't understand this. Why was he still in the world of the living? Had he become a spirit with a mission to accomplish as he still had something to do in this world? Had he gone crazy?

But the most frequent question right now was, what the fuck his Kamui was doing to his body! He had been so busy with musing his existence that he hadn't noticed the approaching teenager at first. But now he was very much aware of his ministrations on his dead face, of whatever kind they were. He knew that the Dark Kamui was a twisted little sucker, but he hadn't been aware of just how perverse he was.

"So, would you mind stopping staining my memory and giving me back my remaining eye?", he asked with a pleasant smile but his Kamui chose to ignore him. Instead he pulled some kind of vessel out of his pocket and stuffed his eyeball into it. What did he want that for anyway?[1] It wasn't that they had been that close. Fuuma didn't have to keep a reminder of him, really.

The Dark Kamui got up from his kneeling position and smiled at no one in particular. He re-pocketed the vessel and walked past Seishirou, not giving him as much as a glance, not to mention an explanation. Seishirou suppressed a groan of annoyance, simply because it just wasn't his way of dealing with others and himself.

"He cannot see you, you know?" an amused voice sounded behind him. As much as he would have preferred to stay cool, Seishirou couldn't stop himself from swirling around and staring at the grinning girl behind him. He rubbed his eyes, hoping he had not lost all of his sanity but she was still there.

"Hi, Sei-chan! Long time no see." Hokuto greeted him and flashed him one of her sweetest smiles. Okay now he knew that he'd completely lost it. Pushing some stubborn strands out of his eyes he was glad that he remembered how to breathe. And that was rather odd, given the fact that he was dead… somehow. As Hokuto should be.

"I killed you, last time I checked.", he countered and studied her cheerful features. It really was Sumeragi Hokuto, there was no mistaking it.

"That you did." She replied, still smiling.

"What are you then? A ghost? Come do haunt and lecture me about how I could do all these bad things to your precious twin? Or are you here to make sure I reach hell safe and sound?"

The girl stepped closer and took his hand.

"Actually…", she began and he could sense that she was a little unsure herself. "I am here to guide you, sort of. You see, the man you tried to kill today was undead."

He blinked at her, not quite understanding what she meant.

"When Subaru-chan pierced your heart you felt no pain, right?"

Now that she mentioned it, actually he had been surprised that there had been no pain at all, physically that is. He would have expected a little more when the Sumeragi had pierced his heart but he had thought it was due to the spell.

"That was Yuki-kun's doing. Before he let you kill him he took your soul so you didn't have to experience the pain that comes with having another ones hand in your chest."

He still didn't understand. Her explanation lacked all sense that Seishirou so desperately needed.

"And why would he do that?", he asked, not showing his growing discomfort.

Hokuto laughed. "Because it was his job!", she said with a tone that wanted to say 'Duh, how can you be so stupid?'

"As a Grim Reaper he knew when you where going to die and how so he removed your soul that it left your body the moment you died."

"'Grim Reaper'?", he pressed.

"Yeah. We collect souls. Think of us as a kind of shinigami. We are assigned an unknown number of souls we have to take before we get to move on. Because if nobody frees the soul of the body it will remain there and rot. That's not pretty, I can assure you."

He stared at her, not quite believing what he just heard. In all his training he had never known of the existence of said 'Grim Reapers'. He had always thought them to be a myth, made up by stupid fools who believed in God, fairytales and everlasting love. Then he noticed what exactly she had just said.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" A certain amount of suspicion swung with his words and he eyed her closely.

"I mean Me and You. Obviously you were his last and he moved on or whatever you do when you finish. Nobody really knows what happens. It's all a big fat secret. And you kind of take his place now. But don't you think we should discuss this somewhere warm and cosy? Where we can have cake?"

Seishirou was in no condition to object and so he let himself be dragged away by the girl he murdered nearly ten years ago.

Really what a marvellous day.

To be continued

[1] Okay, so Fuuma told Subaru Sei-chan wanted him to have his eye… but I don't think that Seishirou was aware of that himself. As Fuuma sees Wishes I think it could be that he knew that Seishirou didn't want any harm being done to Subaru by anyone other than himself and that he somehow wanted the stains Fuuma has left on Subby to vanish. And Fuuma's solution was to give Subaru a small part of his precious Seishirou-san, which obviously was something that he wished for. But Sei-chan doesn't have any clue at all since he is not aware of his own and Subaru's Wishes.