Author: I own exactly one character. Subaru belongs to Clamp.
4. Inconsistently
"What do you know of Seishirou-san?"
Kioku was sitting in the Sakura tree catching petals in her hands. The Sakura was quite content for the moment and did not mind in the least that someone who was neither victim nor the Sakurazukamori was sitting in the tree.
"No more than you do. Probably less."
"You mentioned him when we first met."
"I also said I don't remember much about myself."
Kioku tilted her head slightly, amused by the petals. Subaru was sitting down, back against the tree, and examining his bloody hand. Another victim for the tree, a homeless man. He was one of those fools who raved and ranting about the Second Coming, not realizing how close to the truth he was during 1999. Nobody cared about him. Not like Subaru, who turned his back on the people who cared. With the exception of a ghost.
"Blood doesn't stain black as well as white," remarked the ghost.
She was notably more talkative today. She also made it apparant she was observant.
'Black is void of any light reflecting off it,' Subaru thought.
A breeze caused the branches to sway and scattered petals, as though affirming Subaru's thought.
"You wear white."
"Ghosts can't be stained with blood."
"They can't kill anyone either."
"Then why do you exorcise them, Sumeragi Subaru?"
Why did he continue to exorcise spirits? Maybe it was to please his grandmother. Or perhaps it was for the income. Assassins weren't in high demand these days, at least in Tokyo.
"Why can't a ghost be exorcised, Ayafuya Kioku?"
Kioku had caught enough petals so that when she released them from her hands, they rained down on Subaru's head.
"Sakurazuka Seishirou-san was the former Sakurazukamori," she said, "He killed his mother and worked as a veterinarian. He smoked. He killed your sister. He was a Dragon of Earth. He gave you your right eye."
So she decided to finally answer his question.
"Is that all you know?"
A cherry blossom landed in his hand.
"No."
"What else did you know?"
Kioku didn't answer. She gracefully leapt down from the tree, scattering cherry blossoms everywhere.
"I won't say and I can't say," she replied, "except he was killed by someone who loved him."
Subaru grimaced at her comment and wondered if that was true.
"You are very inconsistent with what you know and don't know."
"I suppose."
She was staring at the branches of the tree. "I wonder if he's the reason why I'm dead. If that were the case though, I would be just another victim of the Sakura, wouldn't I?"
Her eyes suddenly fell on him instead and Subaru noticed for the first time that her translucent eyes were black, or something like it.
"Some say that Death is cold and emotionless," she remarked, "I used to wonder, maybe the Sakurazukamori was the embodiment of that, the previous one, I mean. But even though he acted like he was like that, he wasn't quite like that. He didn't seem to fit that stereotype. He was really selfish, wasn't he?"
That was question with a somewhat obvious answer. It still didn't explain the question Subaru wanted the answer to, nor did it answer the question beneath it. He found himself oddly curious today
"Who are you exactly?" Subaru asked.
She didn't answer and only sighed. She disappeared, leaving Subaru alone. Alone, like he was so often in his life now. No Hokuto. No Kamui. None of the other Dragons of Heaven. Most of all, no Seishirou. Another blossom drifted past his eyes.
'How does she know about Seishirou?' Subaru wondered to himself.
He supposed she would only tell him on the day she moved on. He got up and disappeared himself, in a cloud of petals.
Author: Thank you to helo for the review (you are wonderful). It made me very happy to know that my story isn't really bad. I'm afraid the character development is still in... for lack of a better word, development.
