Author's Note: I'm sorry for vanishing for so long guys! ^^; Things have been... messy. Anyway! Finally another chapter and the first one in which we get to see a little glimpse of what's going on in dear little Seito's head! :D Enjoy I hope!
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It had been the first time since Seito had come to live with him that this had been necessary and Subaru was loathe to return home with blood on his hands but it had to be done anyway. He could feel the tree's thirst at the back of his mind and he had already learned from experience in the earlier years of his duty as Sakurazukamori that the thirst would not go away if ignored but rather would increase until it consumed Subaru as well.
So he obeyed its silent command and went out for the kill, returning home with a heavy heart. He wondered what Seito would think of him if he knew about this particular side job. He was less afraid of rejection out of disgust or fear and more afraid that Seito would take an interest in it. Subaru was less than keen on the idea of Seito becoming a cold-blooded murderer like his predecessor.
He worried about this even as he stumbled into the apartment, already beginning to feel the effects of the backlash. He still resolutely refused to sacrifice any other creature's well-being for his own, determined that as the perpetrator, he was getting what he deserved, less than really, each and every time he killed.
He deserved it.
That's what he told himself as the room spun and his stomach rolled.
He deserved it.
That was what he told himself once again as he stumbled into the bathroom and into the tub, standing under cold water as diluted blood ran down the drain. He shivered and wasn't sure if it was from the cold or the fever that was already slamming him full-force.
He deserved…
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When Subaru came to he was met by a pair of amber eyes looming over him.
"Are you sick?" A little mouth from somewhere below the eyes inquired bluntly. A small hand suddenly pressed against his forehead. "I think you're sick."
Subaru blinked and tried to speak but only managed a hoarse croak.
"Sei-" But the word devolved into a wracking cough that shook his entire body as Seito watched impassively, waiting for the spasm to pass.
"How come you're wearing all your clothes in the bathtub?" Seito inquired, tugging curiously at the leather overcoat. "Are you hurt?" He looked up suddenly and for a split second, Subaru could have sworn that concern flashed in the boy's eyes.
He shook his head and immediately regretted the action as the room spun and his head felt the need to simulate a roller coaster ride. He groaned and tried weakly to pull himself up by the edge of the tub. Seito watched his feeble attempts for a moment before slipping one arm under Subaru's elbow. Before he realized what was happening, the boy had pulled him to a more or less standing position.
"Wha-"
He looked down and through blurry eyes saw that Seito was shaking slightly with the effort of supporting most of his weight. "You gotta step over the edge." He told Subaru through clenched teeth.
Dazed, Subaru followed but as soon as they made it to the doorway he clutched at the frame, trying weakly to push Seito away.
"Don't be silly." Seito dragged him down the hallway to his bedroom, only letting go to allow Subaru to collapse onto the bed itself. "Hold on." He padded back out of the room and returned a few seconds later with a bundle of towels.
Subaru gratefully pressed one towel to his face and was surprised when he felt another towel draped over his head. He looked up at Seito who had clearly just thrown it over him with confusion.
"Aunt Suzume always said you shouldn't go to bed with wet hair; you'll get sick." He explained matter-of-factly. "And you're already sick so you shouldn't make it worse." He tugged once again on the sleeve of Subaru's overcoat. "And you should get out of these wet clothes. I'm gonna go find some medicine."
"But you don't have to-" Subaru began to protest, but only got a stern look for his efforts.
Even in delirium, Subaru couldn't help but be slightly amused at the bossy tone the boy had suddenly adopted. As soon as Seito was gone, he fumbled with the clinging, soaked clothes, peeling them away from chilled, feverish skin and crawled into bed, sinking almost immediately into dazed dreams.
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When Seito was in preschool he always had trouble sleeping during naptime. He always found himself lying on the mat, bored and wishing for something better to do with his time. He still distinctly recalled amusing himself by watching the other students sleep and noticing their little habits, like who sucked their thumb, who wet themselves and had to be discreetly led out to be cleaned up by the teachers, who talked in their sleep, etc. At first he just enjoyed counting the number of students who did each and figuring out which habit had the most participants but as the school year wore on he began to use the observations to his advantage.
He was never a particularly large child and so bullies thought he would be an easy target. It didn't help either that the fact that he neither smiled nor frowned as a small child freaked them out. So Seito learned to keep them away with the threat of exposure of their darkest secrets. When one bully tried to call his bluff, Seito didn't just tell the whole school he was a bed-wetter. He waited until the next naptime, watched the bully like a hawk until the moment when a teacher took his hand, to lead him to the restroom to get cleaned up, then Seito pretended to wake up from a nightmare with a scream, waking up the entire class to see. No one ever bullied him again after that.
He had continued watching people sleep though, even more intrigued after discovering the power one could hold over an unconscious person. Something else he had noticed at the time was how young everyone looked. Granted, in retrospect they were young but even then they looked more like babies without their cribs. He thought it was just the students in his class but he noticed a year or two later that when Aunt Suzume fell asleep on the couch once that she looked younger as well.
She had had the lines on her face that all adults had; the little grooves that served as the footpaths of time, pooling in the corners of their eyes and around their mouths, wandering across their foreheads and leaving tiny trenches. However, pausing to watch her sleep for a moment, Seito had noticed that they were all far less pronounced when she slept as her features relaxed. That combined with the vulnerability of unconsciousness rendered her appearance several years younger than she really was.
He wondered why when Subaru slept his lines didn't go away.
Sitting on the bed beside him, Seito watched the man carefully as his brow furrowed even more than it normally did when he was awake.
He was a strange person, this Subaru. Seito had long since decided this and he wasn't sure whether or not he liked it still. It made him difficult to read, to predict. He had gotten so good at predicting people that he was not entirely sure what to do with someone this mysterious.
For one thing, he wondered where Subaru had been. He realized based on the clothes that Subaru must have gone out of the apartment the other night when he first arrived home so deathly ill, but how had he managed to slip out without waking Seito up? He prided himself on being so alert normally, it really irked him that something had gotten past his attention.
He supposed it could be because Subaru was an onmyouji. Maybe he had some sort of powers that Seito didn't know about yet that would let him go places without being detected. It was entirely possible, but it didn't explain why Subaru had left in the middle of the night. Or why he had returned smelling faintly of blood although Seito could not find a single scratch on him.
Then there was the illness. Subaru had been perfectly healthy earlier that day as they had run through some more training together. It was possible that the illness had set in later and only hit him that evening but something about it seemed off to Seito.
No, he had a feeling that it was all connected and he had long since learned to trust his instincts. Subaru was hiding something and Seito was determined to find out what.
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Subaru came to in a mess of tangled, sweat-soaked sheets. Judging by the bloody tint to the light in the room , it was late afternoon.
A small dark-haired head poked into the room at the sound of stirring.
"Seito-kun?"
"You're up." The boy observed bluntly.
"How long was I asleep?"
"About three days."
"What!" Subaru bolted upright and regretted it as the room spun, although not as badly as it had done a few nights before. "Three days?"
"Yeah, you were bad off." Seito vanished from the doorway and returned a few seconds later with a glass of water.
"But… what have you been doing in the meantime?"
Seito gave him a confused look. "What do you mean what have I been doing? I went to school and I did my homework and I did the practice spells you told me to do."
"But what have you been doing for food…" Guilt and nausea twisted in Subaru's stomach at the realization that he had essentially left Seito completely defenseless.
The boy merely sniffed though. "Well I'm not a French chef but I can kind of cook." He informed Subaru somewhat defensively.
Subaru stared at his hands, wondering what the hell he had been thinking. He knew that the jobs made him sick like this. He had known that ever since he started. Why hadn't he realized that this time he had someone else he was responsible for looking after, and that he need to make some kind of arrangements? How irresponsible and negligent could he be…
"I'm so sorry Seito-kun."
"Hmph. Then don't get sick again."
Subaru gave him a feeble smile. "Okay." He agreed, but he wondered silently what he was going to do the next time the tree demanded a victim.
