Moments

Moments

-

You're in my dreams
Even when I'm awake
So full of secrecies
That's shared forever in me
When you are close to me it feels like I could melt away
And in your eyes I see the world in such a different way
So now it seems...

Johnny Vicious 'Moments'

-

Seishirou stood in darkness. Looking around he smirked. "Illusion, huh?"

Nikichan

He spun. Meiun...

She appeared before him, smiling. She was older than she had been though, much older. Her hair fell to her shoulders, she was much shorter than him, and she no longer even appeared to be his age. Subaru's maybe, but not his. Imouto...

She smiled. "Nikichan's all grown up now."

"You too." He might as well play along with this, to see where it went.

"Nikichan's caused a lot of trouble." The darkness vanished, replaced by murders and falling kekkai, a vast sea of death and destruction.

"But...is this what you want?"

"I want nothing."

"Yes, you do."

"Impossible, I'm Sakurazukamori."

"But you do."

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not." He made a face. What was he doing, getting into such a childish fight. A mere specter shouldn't upset him so.

"Do too!" She grinned.

"What do I want then?"

A form appeared between them. He laughed shortly. "Subaru? If I wanted him what would stop me?"

"Baka nikichan. You don't want him as a body, you want him as a person!"

"Foolish. I feel nothing for him."

"Really?"

"I proved that with the Bet."

"Why did you make the Bet then?"

"He interested me at the time."

"See, you do feel for him!"

"A passing interest."

"Which, in Sakurazukamori terms, means you liked him a lot!"

"I feel nothing for him."

"Then why do you keep chasing him? Obsession isn't your style, nikichan."

"He's my prey."

"Then kill him. You've spared no one else, why him?"

"..."

"You want him to be the next Sakurazukamori, is that it?"

"Yes."

A delighted laugh. Meiun 'walked' up to him, smiling. "You admitted it!"

"I admitted nothing."

"What was it mother said, that the one who killed you would be the one you loved more than anything? And the one to kill you will be the next Sakurazukamori. So..."

"Your logic never failed to intrigue me. You could always make something to cold and precise into an emotional mess."

She made a face. "You're so stubborn. Can't you just admit you want to care about him?"

"Even if I did, what would it matter? I haven't felt anything since..." His surroundings blanked out, then...

A little girl stood in a tree watching her brother below. "Nikichan, are you OK?"

No response. The girl leans over, grabbing a hold of a branch for support. "Nikichan!! Hey, nikichan, wake up." She stamps a foot. "What's wrong, nikicha-AHHH?!"

Her foot slips on the petals resting on the branch, sending her sliding off into the air. She hangs by the fingers of one hand for a moment then is inexorably pulled down by gravity, rough bark scraping her fingers raw. She hits the nearest branch feet first, sending her tumbling backwards. The next branch makes solid contact with her head...

With a sickening crunch the girl hit the branch then slipped silently into the mass of flowers below... She does not emerge. The branches seem to converge around the girl, as if they were alive, engulfing her. Except for one raw, bloodied hand.

"NO!!" Seishirou screamed. The image swirled, coming back to the girl on the branch.

"Meiun-chan, don't climb so high!"

The girl pouted down at her brother. "But nikichan!"

"I said come down! You'll get hurt."

"Nikichan's mean!"

"Come down now!"

The girl made a face, then walked to the edge of the branch. "Ne, ne, Nikichan, watch this!"

He yelped as she jumped off the branch, almost seeming to hover for a moment, grinning down at him. She held up a hand and a group of sakura petals floating on the wind began to coalesce into...

"Shikagami?" Seishirou gasped, eyes wide. Meiun had never been able to-

The shikigami shrieked, diving after Meiun. It was a black falcon, with silver highlights. It caught up to her after only a moment, catching the hand and halting its dive. Meiun, now hovering in the air held up by her shikigami, grinned and flashed a peace sign at Seishirou, smiling happily. "Cool, huh?"

Seishirou wavered as the vision faded. "..." He glared coldly at the figure out Meiun, who was standing nonchalantly in front of him. "Meiun is dead."

She smiled. "No I'm not."

"Meiun died a long time ago."

She made a face. "Nikichan! Stop being so difficult!"

Seishirou shook his head. "I've been rather patient, I'd say."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He simply smiled, and summoned his shikigami. "Drop this illusion. I've no interest in a ghost of the past."

The darkness stayed in place. She stared defiantly back at him. He sighed, shaking his head. He hadn't really expected her to give up that easily. "Very well then..." The shikigami flew into the air with a shrill cry. "You're pretty good to be able to catch me in an illusion so easily." He smiled. "But not good enough."

He cast a quick spell, sending the shikigami screaming down at the illusion of the girl. She sighed. "Nikichan, you're such a pain sometimes." She held up a hand and a shield formed around her. The shikigami hit the shield and screeched as it was deflected. Seishirou frowned.

Meiun made a face. "You're just upset because I trapped you here, aren't you?"

He smiled. "Upset?" The bird fluttered restlessly. "You presume far too much, Meiun, if you think I feel anything for you anymore."

She watched him for a moment, then smiled. The silence stretched.

"...I'm not joking. Let me out."

"..."

He gestured and the shikigami attacked. Meiun didn't bother shielding, as the bird swooped past her face. His scowl deepened. "Meiun..."

"What? You aren't going to kill me. I know that and you know that. You just won't admit it." She floated a ways into the darkness. "You never admit anything, unless someone forces you. If I let you out will you listen to me?"

"What do you think I've been doing?"

"I mean, really listen to me."

"Oh?"

She smiled and disappeared, reappearing behind him to wrap her arms around his neck. He stiffened, his training urging him to kill her for touching him even as part of him wanted to hug her back. "You're unhappy, aren't you?"

"I feel nothing."

"Precisely. You aren't happy."

"..." He muttered something that sounded like 'damn female logic'.

"Don't be rude. Anyway...Will you listen to me?"

"What do you want?"

"Oh, now he asks!...I want you to be happy."

"You want the impossible."

"No. I just want something really, really hard to achieve. I can do anything, remember?"

"..."

"What did you see?"

"What?"

"Earlier, after you shouted. You changed it, didn't you? What happened that day."

"...Yes."

"Good, you're finally cooperating. What did you see?"

"You summoned a shikigami and it saved you..." He frowned. "You were being stupid again."

She sweatdropped. "How sweet...You remember I couldn't summon a shikigami at that age, right?"

"Yes."

"Only you could."

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"Because I'm stronger."

"Mother said we were even though, remember? Otherwise she would've killed the weak one early."

"..."

"So it wasn't strength. Do you know what it was?"

"You couldn't figure out how to?"

She hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Nooo..."

"Then what was it, since I'm so pitifully unable to guess for myself."

"Fate."

"Fate?" He sounded amused. "Being dead has warped your senses."

"No, it hasn't. Do you remember what mother said about me?"

"Mother said a number of things about you."

"She said I didn't have a destiny, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"...What pushes people forward is their destiny. Without that they have nothing, exist for nothing. Without meaning people are weak."

"Then why..."

"Why indeed. Nikichan, remember what you heard last in the vision, so long ago?"

"How did you know about that?"

She smiled. "I know everything about you, of course."

"Everything?" The smile returned.

"Mmm. Everything. Even the stuff you won't admit."

"..."

The darkness swam and split. On one side, Meiun fell to her death, the other she summoned the shikigami and survived. The first, Subaru was dressed in the white and black he'd adopted, eyes a dead green...The second, Subaru wore the bright colors and the hat Hokuto had always made him wear. The first, he faced off against Subaru in Nakano Sun Plaza. The second...He was a vet again, eating Hokuto's dinners and teasing Subaru. And enjoying it. Feeling. Happiness.

He shook his head. "Nice, but impossible. Hokuto's dead."

Meiun laughed. "As dead as I am?"

"That's not funny."

"You used to have a real sense of humor. What happened to that?"

"You died."

Silence hung for an eternal moment, then she hugged him. "Well, I'm back. So that means you can feel again, huh?"

"Your logic again. Reality is quite different."

She chuckled. "Oh, no, it isn't. Tell me, nikichan, which do you prefer?"

"Which what?"

"Which choice? The first or the second, the right or the left. Emotions or not."

"Hmmm..." He watched the changing visions for a moment. "What would be the price for the second?"

"You wouldn't be the Sakurazukamori anymore...I would."

"You?"

"Hey, I am your twin sister."

"My little sister."

"Subaru's the little brother and he's the clan head."

"Stay out of my brain."

"No way!" She nuzzled his cheek.

"And the first?"

"I'd imagine nothing would change...are you going to chose or not?"

"..." He tensed slightly. She smiled. "I knew it."

"I said stay out of my head."

"You didn't really expect me to, now did you?" She disappeared again. He scowled and searched, but she didn't reappear. He could hear her voice, though, echoing through the darkness, the reverberations and echoes making the spell unintelligible. A strange symbol began to glow through the darkness...

Then the world shattered around him.

* * *

The Seals, Ruri and Shota stared at the blank space three figures had just occupied. Sorata whistled. "Neat trick, disappearing like that."

"Illusion?" Kamui asked.

Subaru shook his head. "Not quite. It was...different somehow."

"Destiny..."

Everyone turned to look at Shota, "What?"

He sighed, head lowered. "She's gone to change destiny."

"Impossible!" Kamui blurted out. "Destiny is foreordained."

Ruri sniffed. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Destiny can be changed."

Sorata blinked. "Really?" He cheered. "Yes! Then I can stay with Miss here forever!"

Arashi elbowed him in the gut. "What do you mean, destiny can be changed?"

"It's not really changed...more like...modified, kind of twisted..." Shota smiled. "I'm sorry, I can't explain it very well. If you really want to know I could take you to see our mother, Eien. She's the one who found Meiun."

The Seals considered it. Yuzuriha smiled. "I know, I know! Why don't you take Kamui, Subaru, Arashi and Sorata to meet her? I'll go back and tell everyone what happened, OK?"

Sorata nodded. "Sounds good to me."

Yuzuriha waved. "Well then, byebye!" As she ran off Shota could've sworn she had cat ears...

He shook his head. "Anyway, shall we go?"

Arashi hesitated. "I'm still not sure what you mean by changing destiny."

He thought for a long minute. "Well...The simplest way I can say it is that she..." he sighed. "If I say it the simple way you'll get the wrong idea, but...I'll just tell you the point of it all."

"She's now the Sakurazukamori."

The other stared at him. Subaru spoke up after a minute. "So, Seishirou-san is...dead?"

Shota shook his head. "No, see, you're getting the wrong idea already..."

Ruri made a face. "Don't bother explaining anything to them. They won't understand. Let Eien do it, she's much better at it than you are."

"Gee, thanks Ruri."

"No problem!"

"I have trouble believing all this. We know destiny cannot truly be changed." Arashi was adamant. Shota sighed and muttered something about stubborn Dragons. "How about if I show you something physical, as proof?"

"Then I'd go. But what proof have you? The fact they disappeared?"

"Look at Sumeragi-san's hands."

The Seals were confused, but did as directed. They all stared, blinked, and stared some more.

Subaru's hands were clean. The marks that had seemed so permanently etched on the backs of his hands were gone. Subaru was no longer the chosen prey of the Sakurazukamori.