Part 3 - Euphoria

Chapter 3 – Euphoria. Lyrics to Party Night can be found at Dejiko.org

                Sorata woke up with a raging headache, body ache, and general crankiness. He groaned, closing his eyes against the light that seemed determined to pierce straight through his eyelids to the pain centers of his brain. "Ow…"

                "Sorata-san? Are you OK?"

                He nodded slightly, wincing as that movement caused the pain in his head to flare up again. "Yuzuruha?"

                "Yes?"

                "Do we have any painkillers?"

                "Y-Yeah! Hold on, I'll go get them…" He heard her running from the room. Rubbing his temples he tried to remember exactly what had happened.

                Subaru had collapsed, and Kamui had taken him off to the other room. Shota had gone with, in case Subaru woke up needing some medicine. That much he could remember easily. Then…Meiun showed up, all bloody and smirking. She really had the Sakurazukamori act down, he had to admit. Only her brother could rival her for that unflappable smirking attitude, no matter what happened or who they killed. She'd admitted killing Ruri and… He frowned. 'I did have her Destiny to fill'. Whose destiny? Kotori? No, then she would have had Fuuma kill her…

                He winced. Fuuma had been there. He'd come in after Meiun, eating a chocolate chip cookie of all things. They'd made an interesting pair, there in the doorway. Meiun was still wearing the white shirt, black shorts and boots she had been when he'd first seen her, although she was now more than a little bloody. She must've been really close to Ruri when she'd killed her… His mind shied away from that thought. He could handle the thought of a couple of guys being a bit more than friends, didn't really have a choice with the way Kamui was acting around Subaru now. He wouldn't have expected it of her, himself. The way she'd so casually dismissed Ruri as nothing more than an afterthought, even saying she'd wanted to kill her for a long time… Slowly sitting up he turned that thought over in his mind. If Meiun had wanted to kill Ruri why hadn't she? Could it be she really hadn't been herself, that her mind had been broken like Eien had said? Seemed kind of strange to him, he'd never heard of the like before. At least, not in anyone who'd recovered by themselves. Some people would shut themselves up, locking away their hearts, but they remained closed off and hidden unless something forced them to come back to themselves…

                Then again, Meiun was dead. Who knew what rules applied to her. Obviously not mortality.

                Apparently the only sure thing in life was taxes…unless you evaded them. Guess nothing was certain.

                He looked up, one hand shading his eyes, as the door opened. He immediately plastered a big smile on his face. "Neechan!"

                Arashi blinked, obviously not expecting him to be so happy. He pondered standing, but figured he'd let her come to him. "You came to check on me! I'm so happy!"

                She frowned. "…" She walked over to him, setting the glass and bottle in her hands down. "Yuzuriha said you wanted painkillers. These are the strongest we have available."

                He winced, clutching his head. "Neechan, please, don't talk so loud."

                She started, facing him for a moment with wide eyes, then spun away. "Is it too bright in here?"

                "A bit."

                Without a word she walked over to the blinds and shut them. "Better?"

                He sighed melodramatically. "A bit, but now I can't see you as well."

                "…" She turned back to him. "Aren't you going to take the pills?"

                "Hai, hai."

                Grabbing the glass he quickly gulped down the pills, making a face at the bitter taste the water did nothing to hide. So she was going to be reticent today, huh? He watched her as she walked towards him, looking resolutely at the floor. She stopped just in front of him, still not meeting his eyes. He sighed, leaning back against the wall. "You know…"

                "Hmm?"

                "For a girl that's supposed to be just like her brother I noticed a lot of difference between her and Seishirou, didn't you?"

                Arashi blinked. "Pardon?"

                "Their fighting styles are different. Seishirou is a lot more straight forward in his attacks."

                "He overwhelms them."

                "Yeah. But her…I never saw him using the shikigami the way she did."

                Arashi winced, remember. Meiun's first attack had simply used her shikigami to hit them from a distance. But when Arashi'd come in to attack she'd cut through an illusion, blinded momentarily as it dissolved in a burst of sakura. If Sorata hadn't been there, to push her out of the way of the real attack… Meiun had used her illusion to distract them, her Shikigami to come at them from the air, and herself on the ground. They might have actually stood a chance, if Sorata hadn't been hit in both the shoulder and the side on that first attack. As it had been, though, Arashi was only barely able to keep Meiun out of striking distance with her sword, leaving Sorata to handle the shikigami and other magic attacks.

                "She depends a lot on her shikigami." Sorata mused. "If we could get rid of that we'd have an advantage."

                "She'd just summon another one." Arashi ruthlessly pointed out. "And she has her illusions. We didn't even sense the spell last time."

                "Hmm…"

                Arashi sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. "I don't think she's going to stay out of things, the way Seishirou did. No matter what Eien said she isn't her brother."

                "Eien…" Sorata closed his eyes. "She's really…?"

                "The shikigami went right through her heart. She was dead before she hit the ground."

                He sighed. "I hate this."

                "Huh?" She blinked at him.

                "We're Seals. Dragons of Heaven. And we could only watch as Kamui got beaten. Hell, the only reason we even survived at all was Eien blocking that last strike."

                "Why did she leave though? She could have beaten us, and Fuuma had already knocked Kamui out."

                "It's a game, to them." He smiled ruefully. "Who's worse, the one who hurts people out of cruelty or the one who harms without feeling anything at all?"

                "Sorata…"

                His grin got a bit brighter. "Sorry, sorry. I'm always a bit too serious when I'm hurt."

                She turned away from him. "I'm sorry. It's my fault."

                She nearly fell off the bed as he suddenly moved, leaning against her, resting his head against her back, one arm wrapped lightly around her neck. "It's not your fault. I didn't have to help you if I didn't want to."

                She couldn't move… She could feel him breathing down her back, feel the weight of his arm across her shoulders… But she couldn't move. She sat, frozen in shock, eyes wide and mouth open. Slowly, however, her body began to relax as his warm breath seemed to pass right through her shirt, her skin, down into the muscles. She could feel herself relaxing…it would be so easy, so easy, to just lean back and let him hold her, make her forget.

                NO!

                She stood suddenly, hearing his surprised squawk as he fell facefirst onto the bed. She didn't look back at him, grabbing the glass. "I'm…I'm going to tell the others you're OK!" She ran from the room. Behind her Sorata watched her leave, confused. "Didn't Yuzuriha already do that?"

                Making a face he flopped against his pillows. "I don't think I'm ever going to understand you, neechan."

                Out in the hallway Arashi leaned against the wall, breathing hard. The glass lay on the ground, dropped and forgotten, as she tried to catch her breath, calm her heart. Biting her lip she reached over her shoulder with one hand to touch her back. Still warm…

                Down the corridor, out of her sight even if she had been paying  attention to her surroundings, a girl peered through a doorway, watching her. "Arashi-san…" Yuzuriha watched the older priestess, Inuki hanging off her shoulder. She absent-mindedly petted the puppy. "Why don't you let him know you care? What are you so scared of?" She shut the door, leaning against it. "If you don't tell him soon, you might never…" She looked at Inuki, who was now nibbling on her shoes. "You might never get to be with the one you love. If you don't take that chance…" She reached down to pull Inuki away before he ate through her laces. "If you don't take that risk of being hurt, you'll never be happy. You'll never find the one that you care about more than anything…" She held Inuki against her and closed her eyes. "Kusanagi-san…"

*              *                *

                "Hey, Kamui! Let's go get some food, I'm hungry!"

                Kamui frowned at Sorata. The monk had finally been granted permission to move around freely, he'd been  confined to his bed for several days after his fight with Meiun, and so had used his regained freedom and skills of persuasion to convince Kamui that they should go 'Angel hunting'. Since they really had no idea where to look, and the others had all declined the invitation to go as well saying they were busy, they'd ended up wandering Tokyo aimlessly. Which had led them here, to this mall near Shibuya. Kamui wasn't sure Sorata should be moving around so much, he was still recovering from his wounds. In fact, the only reason he'd agreed to go on this was because he was sure that, if he didn't, Sorata would just go on his own. The monk was too restless to stay in his room anymore, and Angel Hunting, as he'd put it, would've been far to dangerous for him alone. "You just ate an hour ago."

                "That was a snack! I'm hungry again." He grabbed Kamui in a headlock. "C'mon, lighten up. I know it's a shame Subaru couldn't come along, but I'm not that bad company, now am I? Can't fight on an empty stomach, you know!"

                Kamui sighed. He knew their chances of actually running into one of the Dragons of Earth was really low, but still… "All right, where do you want to go eat?"

                "Mmm… let's go find a directory!" Sorata ran off, searching the crowd. Kamui obediently trailed along behind him. Before they'd gone too far, though, Sorata suddenly skidded to a halt, staring into the crowd on the floor below them. Kamui ran into him. "Sorata!"

                Sorata ignored him, leaning over the edge of the railing to stare at the crowd below. Kamui frowned. "Sorata…Sorata, answer me."

                Sorata made a weak noise and pointed. "Geh…"

                Kamui blinked, then peered into the crowd below them. "What? What is it?"

                Sorata couldn't put an exact name to what was bothering him so. It all centered on one identifiable thing though. The dark-haired, green-eyed person clinging to the white-suited, since when did he wear white?, Sakurazuka Seishirou's arm. Now, it might have been the perky attitude, the effervescent smile, the almost bouncing walk that disturbed him so. Subaru did not bounce. Subaru was not perky and even champagne was less then effervescent around him. That wasn't the primary cause of Sorata's confusion and distress though.

                It might also have been the faintly upset look on Seishirou's face, the lack of that confident smirk, a certain hesitation in his walk that spoke of a state of mind that was less then happy. That too was not normal. That wasn't it either though.

                It might be the way Subaru, for it had to be Subaru, either that or a mad clone, was holding onto Seishirou's arm, chattering, although Sorata couldn't hear him. He did look happy though. About as psychotically happy as Sorata usually was.

                No, Sorata decided. It wasn't all that. It was the dress.

                Yes, definitely the dress. The black and white, cat-tailed, poofy skirted, belled, fluffy, bouncy, fluttery, your-little-girl-will-love-this-for-Halloween dress. The cat-head hat, with more big bells, and cat paws for shoes and mittens didn't help either.

                Subaru, the poster boy for angst, the only one able to rival Kamui as Prince of Angst, was bouncing around, clinging to a less then happy Seishirou, in a Di Gi Charat Dejiko-outfit with a really big smile on his face!

                Sorata's brain froze and fled in horror. "Gah!"

                Kamui scanned the crowd for a moment. "Sorata, what're you looking at?" Following Sorata's line of sight he blinked, stared, blinked some more then practically fell over the railing. "S-Subaru?!"

                The pair passed out of sight. Kamui scrambled to his feet and, with Sorata right beside him, raced down the walkway towards the nearest escalator. They ran all the way down the escalator, Sorata mumbling apologies to people as they got pushed out of the way Kamui too focused to notice. "What did they do to Subaru? There's no way he'd…he'd…" Kamui's brain shied very far away from the memory of what he'd seen.

                Behind him Sorata wasn't doing too good himself. Angst-boy himself, Mr. Guilt trip, I-will-never-be-happy Subaru was running around a mall in…in… No wonder he hadn't agreed to go with them! Busy indeed!

                They almost missed the pair entering the store. After all, it was a rather small one, set off to the side. They didn't miss it though, so ran over, eyes wide and minds reeling. Inside they stared around, trying to piece everything together. Subaru, in a Dejiko outfit, with Seishirou, going to…a karaoke place? They looked at each other for a minute, bewildered and trying to figure out just which booth the pair had gone into. Peering into the one at the end they all sweatdropped. Success…or was it?

                Subaru, Meiun and that white-haired bioroid from the Dragons of Earth, Nataku, were all standing in front of the karaoke machine, Meiun and Subaru arguing over the song. Seishirou and Fuuma lounged in nearby chairs. Eventually they decided and made their selection, Nataku watching them with a most clueless expression. Sorata and Kamui could empathize.

                The music started up, a bit slow at first but getting more hyper. The trio stood side by side, microphones in hand. Meiun gestured and a swirl of sakura surrounded her. When it disappeared she was wearing a fluffy off-the-shoulder pink and red dress with.. bunny ears and dice on her head? Sorata and Kamui slowly sweatdropped, as recognition set in. That song…those clothes…

                The trio began singing, Nataku looking out of place with its confused expression and rather emotionless voice.

                Hold me baby odorouyo sunday
                Touch me baby kibun wa Holiday

                Meiun stepped forward for the next line "Iya na koto zenbu wasurechaou…"

                Subaru, still in the dress, nudged past her. "Hito ban nemutte mezametara Happy Girl"

                Nataku, still confused, sang the next line. He was quiet, but then again so was Puchiko. "Yume no tochuu de deau fushigi…"

                Meiun stepped in front again. "Akumu mo tabeteru baketachi mo good friends."

                They all took turns for the next line. "Itsumo naraba oshaberimo shinai kyuukutsu na hito youki na rhythm de henshin "

                Sorata and Kamui's jaws hit the floor as the got back in line for the chorus. "Hold me baby noriori party."

                Kamui choked as each of the singers took their turns with the lines between the chorus. "What the hell?"

                "They're singing Di Gi Charat songs!"

                Meiun: hitomi made kagayaite

                All: Touch me baby. Are you ready? Okay
                The person dressed as Dejiko: tanoshimou kimimo
                All: Hold me baby odorouyo sunday
                Nataku: Step wo kumimashou
                All: Touch me baby kibun wa holiday
                Dejiko: Special na toki mo.

                Kamui and Sorata could only watch in shock as the trio sung the rest of the song. Meiun and Subaru kept pushing each other out of the way, lightly,  to get the spotlight. Nataku retained its confused look the whole time.

                Dejiko: tsukaresugite okubyou na hi ni wa
                Meiun: mabutta tojite access shite mite
                All: Have a party night
                       Hold me baby ukiuki Lady
                Meiun: Stress wa tamenaide
                All: Touch me baby kirakira Body
                Dejiko: Refresh shiyou
                All: Hold me baby odoroyou Sunday
                Nataku: kokoro ni mo eiyou wo
                All: Touch me baby kibun wa Holiday
                Dejiko: hoshizora no Melody
                All: Hold me baby ukiuki Lady
                       Touch me baby kirakira Body
                       Hold me baby ukiuki Lady

                The song finally ended, Meiun and Subaru bowing. Subaru and Nataku set their microphones down, going to sit by Seishirou and Fuuma respectively. Meiun remained on the stage, although she did rid herself of the illusion dress in favor of her high-necked, body-hugging black dress. She quickly picked a new song for herself, a much calmer, more seductive one.

                And how I've loved, and I have served, and I have sinned ,but I have learnt
                As long as you are true to the life that you live, this is the time to feel love
                I feel a stirring deep within, slowly picking up momentum
                Like the tide coming into shore
                Over and under in its course
                This feeling emblazed inside
                Every nerve like a firefly
                Hovering above me, glowing
                Glow…Glowing…Glowing …divine…

                Sorata and Kamui backed away from the door, eyes wide. They'd had a few more shocks in the past ten minutes then they were prepared to deal with. They didn't get very far though, running into a small group of familiar faces just inside the stores entrance. Aoki, carrying a small bag, smiled. "Aren't you going to sing?"

                Subaru, standing behind Aoki holding a box, stepped towards Kamui "Are you OK?"

                Arashi simply raised an eyebrow at Sorata, clutched her bag like a weapon. The two Seals stared at them a moment with wide, scared eyes. Then they pounced, Kamui clinging to Subaru, Sorata to Arashi.

                "Neechan!"

                "Subaru!"

                Subaru gaped down at Kamui as Arashi cold-heartedly tried to pry Sorata off. "What happened?"

                "You were wearing a dress! Itai, neechan, don't hit the wounds!"

                "Eh? A dress?"

                Kamui and Subaru look more closely at him. Subaru was dressed in his normal boring black and white outfit, not a hint of the outrageousness the other Subaru had been wearing. Sorata half-collapsed in relief, falling to hug Arashi's waist. "Thank god!" She yelped and hit him. "You're depressed again!"

                Subaru sweatdropped. Kamui released him. "But if it wasn't you who was it?"

                They all looked at the door Kamui and Sorata had been fleeing. Walking towards it Kamui hesitated. "Could it have been a trick by Meiun?"

                Sorata considered. "That would explain why Seishirou was there. And the other Angels."

                "Seishirou-san's in there?"

                "Yeah. The …er…the you in a dress was walking through the mall with him."

                Before Subaru could ask his next question the door opened and someone ran out, knocking into Kamui. They both went down with surprised yelps. "Kamui!"

                The person pushed themselves to their feet, glaring at Kamui. "Watch it!"

                "You ran into me!" Kamui yelled at the surreally dressed Subaru look-alike.

                The other Seals stared. Aoki's glassed slipped partially off his nose. "It really is Subaru in a dress…" He muttered in quiet wonder, looking over at the shocked real Subaru.

                The person hopped to their feet, pointing dramatically at Kamui. "You shouldn't stand outside the door like that! Knock or something! Men like you are a danger to society, uncaring of a ladies safety, lurking around in shadows to try and do evil things to girls like-"

                "H-H-Hokuto-chan!" Subaru managed to stutter through his shock. The girl cut herself off and turned to glare at him. "And you!"

                Subaru squeaked, holding his hands up defensively as Hokuto stalked over towards him. "Me?"

                "Where have you been? What on earth are you wearing? Have you been eating right? Me and Sei-chan have been so worried!"

                "Sei-Seishirou-san?" Subaru was clearly overwhelmed. The other Seals were speechless. Arashi'd even stopped trying to pry Sorata off her.

                "Of course Sei-chan was worried about you!" She frowned at him. "He's been looking for you for days! You just didn't come home! Didn't call or anything! He got so disturbed he actually snapped at Meiun." She said that last as if it was some kind of unforgivable crime.

                "Seishirou-san…"

                Hokuto made a face. "You've been living together how long now, six years?  Haven't you figured out yet that he loves you."

                "Well…umm…" Subaru blushed. Six years? A memory surfaced unbidden in his mind, of him finally admitting he cared about Seishirou, after Meiun and Hokuto had teamed up to force the two of them together on his birthday.

                "Subaru!"

                "Hokuto-chan!"

                "So…" Sorata spoke up. "You're his sister?"

                "What did you think she was?" Meiun spoke up, walking out of the room. It seemed her song was over. "Subaru in a dress?"

                Silence. Then loud laughter, from both the girls. "Subaru in a dress!" Hokuto pointed, laughing.

                "Hokuto-chan! Not so loud! You'll disturb the others!"

                "Meiun-chan, shouldn't you be a bit more quiet?" Seishirou walked out, putting a hand on her head. He chided her just as Subaru tried quieting Hokuto. "Nice timing, nikichan!"

                Hokuto nodded. "Very good coordination."

                "So effortless too."

                "It's a good sign. Although, it can only be expected."

                Meiun nodded. "Being together so long makes couples even more in tune with each other.

                "Especially a couple as good for each other as Subaru and Sei-chan!"

                "You two are more in synch then we are." Seishirou joked, feigning annoyance. Meiun waved him off then went back to teasing Sorata. "If you're leaving, you must not've enjoyed the karaoke." She wrapped herself int eh Rabi-en-Rose illusion again. "Didn't you like our singing?"

                Kamui and Sorata shuddered. It might not actually have been Subaru in a dress singing, but that's what it'd seemed like at the time. Sorata quickly pulled himself together. "I just never expected to see the Sakurazukamori singing in pink."

                "But pink's our color you know. Pink and red and black and all the other colors of the sakura tree." She smiled. Walking past him she pushed Aoki's glasses back up and smiled sweetly. "Careful, they almost fell."

                He blinked, then smiled, sweatdropping. "Th-Thank you."

                Sorata, still clinging to the increasingly disgruntled Arashi beside her, spoke up again. "Hey, miss."

                "Hmm?" Arashi and Meiun both looked down at him. Sorata grinned cheekily at Meiun. "You should wear black underwear with an outfit like that. Too dark."

                Arashi and Seishirou whacked him across the head, Hokuto started laughing again, and the others reacted with varying degrees of shock. Fuuma, finally joining in, walked over to Meiun and lifted the back of the illusionary skirt. "…He's right."

                Meiun pouted. "And I do try so hard to be color coordinated."

                Seishirou casually zapped Fuuma with a quick spell and walked over to Meiun. "Shall we be going. We'll be late for our reservation if we don't head out soon."

                Meiun made a face. "I wanted to hear nikichan sing."

                "Maybe next time."

                "Yeah, next time. We can get all the guys to sing, since they skipped out this time." Hokuto laughed, grabbing Subaru by the arm. "Well, we're leaving now."

                "Hokuto-chan…" Subaru protested weakly. He was ignored and pulled from the room by Hokuto, following Meiun and Seishirou. Fuuma walked a small distance behind, Nataku trailing after them. As they left Kamui asked the one question that was on everyone's minds. "I thought she was dead?"

End ch 3