Advocate

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Rating T, multiple storylines.

Pairings: Split evenly between Seishirou x Subaru and Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, Boy on boy. If you have a problem with yaoi or blood...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: I know it's been a very, very long time. I'm sorry, life just...really got in the way! I've probably lost all my readers by now, but after a new review from Lucia asking me to continue, I realised that there are some of you out there who really want this to be finished! The same goes for Abyssus, so as of now, I'm putting aside time to finish first this story, and then Abyssus. I WILL finish both.

... Advocate ...

Chapter Six: Match Point

Someone knocked softly on Subaru's door, three days after the younger Sumeragi sibling had last dreamt of Seishirou as the Sakurazukamori. He found it very odd and frustrating that suddenly, the dreams had been cut off, and he couldn't help but suspect something, or someone, was controlling what he saw. In fact, he felt it was almost a certainty. Once again, he had that niggling suspicion he knew who it was, as well.

"Come in..." He called, thinking it was Hokuto. In fact, it was Kakyou who entered, holding something in his hand. Subaru blinked at it curiously when the older boy held it up. "It's...a dreamcatcher." He said awkwardly. "Hokuto went and bought it, but she told me to bring it over because it was my idea..." Subaru took the little thing, which was delicately woven, and an incredibly thoughtful little gift. He grinned and blushed. "Thank you...that's sweet. Come and sit down."

Kakyou did so, gratefully, sinking into the couch with a yawn.

"It must be frustrating being so tired all the time..." Subaru murmured, playing with the little trinket and glancing up at Kakyou. The older boy shrugged. "Not so much when you're used to it...Hokuto's been so good, getting me up and making me walk everywhere." The grin on Kakyou's face when he said Subaru's sister's name spoke volumes. The younger twin could tell straight away that the other boy was completely and utterly in love with Hokuto. He thought he should be more suspicious of anyone pursuing his sister, but there was something so delightfully naive and innocent about Kakyou that both he and his sister found endearing. "Last week, I wouldn't have been able to get over here unassisted..."

"I'm glad you think we – " Subaru trailed off as both boys caught Kakyou's name on the television screen buzzing quietly away in the corner. The onmyouji went for the remote, and turned up the volume.

"...missing now for three days." The reporter was saying, and Kakyou recognised the house behind him with a grimace. "Police continue to believe that the youngster, who is terminally ill and confined to his bed, has been kidnapped, though as yet, no ransom message has come forward."

Subaru could feel the embarrassment radiating from the pale blonde. He saw the boy's face twist into a scowl – or what he presumed was Kakyou's half hearted attempt at one – when his mother appeared on screen with a tearful plea for his safe return, complete with a description of the boy's ill-health. Kakyou sniffed from his seat on the couch. "Like she cares. You want to be careful, Subaru, they know of you, they might come and ask you to find me."

"Ah, that would be awkward...I'm a horrid liar." The two boys shared a nervous laugh, and Subaru mentally started a countdown in his head. Three...two...one...

Sure enough, Hokuto burst through the door, seething. "KIDNAP? Did you hear what that witch is saying about us? We do not KIDNAP, we rescue! And those fake tears, honestly!" She sat down on the couch and huffed, grabbing Kakyou's hand. "We won't let her get you back, don't worry." Subaru covered a laugh at the blatant adoration on the blonde's face as he squeezed his sister's hand gratefully.

... Advocate ...

Hours later, after Kakyou had retreated to her bedroom (she had given it to him, despite his pleas for her to keep it and give him the couch) to nap, and Subaru had been convinced to go back to work – or at least shoved out of the door with a threat – Hokuto relaxed in the living room. The quiet allowed her to think, which was not necessarily a good thing. She groaned, thumping her head on the table as, predictably, she started to worry about Subaru, and the effect her little competition with Seishirou was having on him. The man was playing dirty, and not rolling over and accepting her judgement like a good boy.

Still, she hadn't really expected the assassin to bend to her will. A familiar sound shook her from the fruitless thought-train, and she looked up from her tea in surprise as the door swung open, blinking. "You know, usually, common courtesy dictates that you knock before entering someone's house."

"Aw. What happened to the days when I could walk in and you'd leap off the chair and hug me?" Seishirou responded with his signature winning grin.

Hokuto promptly wiped it from his face with a deadpan, "You happened to them, you arrogant git." The man rolled his eyes, and walked over to her. Irritation registered in his amber eye when again, she didn't even flinch. "What? Still expecting me to quake in fear before your almighty assassin-ness? Think again." A snort of derision. She was consistently smug about her verbal one-upmanship, and that wasn't stopping any time soon. It was something of a benign punishment for his systematic ruination of both her and her brother's lives, but she liked to think she wasn't the sort of person to hold a grudge.

Seishirou let out a grunt of irritation. "You know, I could be happily dead by now. I should be. I wanted to be. You know how difficult you've made my position?"

"Yes. And I don't care. Don't get me wrong, I love you, you know that! But I love Subaru more, and this is about his happiness."

"He doesn't seem very happy right now."

"Well, that's your fault, you're not playing ball."

"I never promised I would." Seishirou reminded.

"I was sort of hoping you'd get the hint. I know you're working it out, don't think I don't. All that's stopping you giving into everything you want is your stupid pride. You don't want to admit that you were in denial ever since you MET Subaru. You've always loved him, I could tell. Just like I always knew exactly who you were."

"Then why did you advocate our relationship right from the beginning?"

"BECAUSE. I wanted to." Hokuto couldn't explain it, not properly. She was just aware of threads of fate tying her brother and this man together, and they were not all about their last names.

"Then you were foolish."

"No! You're the stupid one!"

"...What exactly do you want me to do, Hokuto? Sit him down and tell him everything? That is't going to happen, not least because I'm not keen on being in the room when he finds out how much you...we've been...how much he's been being lied to and manipulated! This isn't fair on him!" Seishirou stopped, turning an odd colour, and Hokuto jumped to her feet.

"You see? You care, you do! Otherwise you wouldn't say that!"

"...That is not what I was getting at." Seishirou salvaged. "I can't just talk to him about all this, it's gone too far. I know what it's like to have your memories withheld, and trust me, it hurts getting them back. Not just emotionally, but physically. It will HURT him, and I only say that because I know I don't want to be on the receiving end of his inevitable anger."

Hokuto clenched her fists. She knew he was right, each day that slipped by was making this lie bigger and bigger. "It would have been so easy..." She lamented. "But you're just being stupid about this!"

... Advocate ...

Subaru blinked at the raised voices, hand poised ready to turn the handle to his sister's living room and enter. He'd never had any intention of following her orders and going back to work, after all. What was Seishirou-san doing in his sister's apartment? When he heard his own name, he frowned, and let his hand drop. Pressing his ear against the door, he listened intently. He knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but what could Hokuto and Seishirou-san be talking about concerning him, and in such bitter voices?

"...being stupid about this! Subaru's going to find out sooner or later, and then what? He'll flip!"

"Don't look at me, this was your BRILLIANT plan." Seishirou was snarling in response. "You're a fool if you don't think he's going to hate you for lying to him."

"Who's the biggest liar here? Oh, yes, YOU, you pig-headed, obnoxious bastard!"

Subaru blinked. He'd hardly ever heard his sister swear. But...Seishirou...he was lying? And so was Hokuto? To him? Anger welled up, but he forced it down so he could listen to their conversation without blowing up.

"Maybe I am, but you, brat, fucked with things that shouldn't be fucked with just to get us back to this point. You're the one whose meddling has changed everything in our lives. Was it really for Subaru's benefit? Or was it for Kakyou's?"

A sharp intake of breath told Subaru that his sister was deeply offended by this comment.

"How dare you?" She snarled. "Everything I've done has been for Subaru, I hardly ever asked him for anything, and now that one selfish thing I asked of him in sixteen years, you're going to call me out on? How is that fair?"

"You tell me, Hokuto-chan. Everything was going just fine for me, you know, I most definitely didn't ask to be brought back."

"You DIED! How was that a fitting conclusion for any of that shit you pulled in our last lifetime? You made him KILL you, I fail to understand how that even constitutes 'going fine'!"

Last lifetime? Made him...

Something clicked in Subaru's head, and suddenly, he could remember, his head searing with agonising pain. It was as if a trigger had been pulled inside his mind, and he sucked in a gasp, covering the scream he knew would alert the two in the living room to his presence. Memories flooded him, overwhelmingly and painfully, and he stumbled, back hitting the wall. He could suddenly remember everything, all those things that had happened in his dreams, Seishirou murdering Hokuto, years of psychological and physical torture, a fierce battle over a bridge that resulted in the older man's death, and his own 'promotion' to the post of Sakurazukamori. He let out a small, dry sob. Finally he understood. The reason his dreams seemed so much like memories was because that was what they were. He felt utterly confused. If he could remember this, and he was in his sixteen year old body again...

Oh God. He moaned as he remembered just days ago being with Seishirou in the hospital room, and how confused he was at the illusion, which he now knew for what it was. Confusion and disbelief coursed through him as he realised that Hokuto had been hiding this from him. For her to be having the argument she was having...she'd kept the truth from him, all this time.

And...Seishirou! The man was a liar! It had been him in the dreams, he'd known it all along, but he'd been so desperately hoping he had been wrong...

Eyes burning with fury and betrayal, he slammed the door open and marched into the room, not noticing how the temperature dropped drastically and the atmosphere seemed to darken as he did so.

... Advocate ...

It was this temperature drop that Seishirou noticed first, and it was with a strong sense of doom that he looked up to see the onmyouji that made his life so difficult surge into the room. Even he baulked from the expression on the boy's face – he must have overheard enough to trigger his latent memories, because that expression, that dark fury, was one that had no place on a sixteen year old's face.

For a long time he didn't say a thing, apparently unable to form the right words. He visibly trembled with a myriad of emotions, all of which were vibrant in his vivid green eyes: hurt betrayal, fear, pain and anger. Such anger, there was a rage there that was responsible for the temperature drop and the darkening of the atmosphere.

It occurred to Seishirou that he'd chosen a pretty good heir in their last lifetime, Subaru, even in this diminutive, adorable form, cut a menacing figure, eyes practically spitting daggers and fire where he stood, fists clenched at his sides. He was dressed in plain jeans and a black button down shirt instead of one of Hokuto's crazy outfits, and this too made him think of the much older Subaru. It was difficult to take his sixteen year old self seriously at times, what with his easy bowing to Hokuto's eccentricities, but right now, taking him seriously was exactly what Seishirou was going to do.

"Subaru-kun..."

"Don't you DARE 'Subaru-kun' me!" Apparently Seishirou's voice had triggered the onmyouji's ability to speak. "I don't think I even know what to say right now." The most terrifying part was that, despite the fury in his stance, Subaru's voice was deadly calm. "I don't know if I can find the words." He shook his head.

Beside Seishirou, Hokuto hopped from one foot to the other. "I wanted to tell you...I knew I should have...but I..." She was interrupted as Subaru enveloped her in a fierce hug. She stopped short, blinking in surprise.

He shook his head. "Don't think I've forgiven you. This is just...I just...remember how much it hurt when I lost you..." Hokuto let out a little hiccup in response, eyes wide, hands shaking as she hugged him back. Seishirou wondered if perhaps even she hadn't quite known the extent of the psychological ramifications of her actions. Eventually, he pushed her away, ignoring her plea and her whisper of his name. He turned green eyes, now horrifically blank, to Seishirou. "You must have been having a good laugh about this."

Ah. Of course, now he knew everything. The whole truth. That was...decidedly awkward.

"I knew it was stupid to ignore my instincts, just because I thought I cared for you..." A brief flicker of intense emotional conflict behind those vivid eyes. "I never should have trusted you." A half-sob, half-gasp escaped his lips, and Subaru turned away, staring at the wall. "If you ever come near me again, I will kill you."

The sound of the door slamming behind the onmyouji as he whirled around and disappeared from sight was loud enough to rattle the ornaments on Hokuto's table. Both she and Seishirou winced.

"...Well. He's stronger than he looks." The assassin said magnanimously. Hokuto, in an eerily similar fashion to her brother, rounded on him with a snarl of fury.

"FIX THIS!" She screeched, actually going as far as to place her hands on his shoulders and shake him. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! NOW HE'S MAD AT BOTH OF US! THIS WAS THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY HE COULD HAVE FOUND OUT, AND YOU HAVE TO FIX IT!" Terror lay behind her anger. She was afraid she's pushed her twin far enough away that he might not come back again.

"Me? What possible reason could I have for wanting to follow your silly, naive little brother out of that door?" He eventually responded.

Hokuto smirked triumphantly. "Because even though you're a cruel, twisted bastard, you KNOW that you've fallen in love with him."

... Advocate ...

Author's notes: SO. Subaru finally figures everything out. And it's about time. I know it's been very frustrating for me having him so wonderfully clueless, so it was bound to end sooner or later...it was also high time Hokuto got to shout at Seishirou some more. She does it so well. :D

Next chapter: Seishirou deliberates, Subaru shows him exactly how pissed off he is, and Hokuto wonders how they're going to fix it, while Kakyou tries to pacify her twin.

A note about next chapter. There will be a brief appearance by Mirei and Miyatake. Those who have not seen the Tokyo Babylon OVA will not be familiar with these two characters. Mirei is a good friend of Subaru's, they worked on a case together in the OVA. Miyatake is her partner-lover-etc.