Chapter Nine

Kamui sat in class with a pencil between his nose and upper lip. His math class had just started algebra and already it was looking bad for him. It was the first assignment, the teacher had just explained how to do it, and his paper was still blank after thirty minutes of staring at it with a glazed expression. He wished that Keiichi was there to help him. The taller boy had always been good at helping him out. But even if Kamui were to find him, Keiichi would be seven years old and have no knowledge of algebra.

The bell rang and Kamui headed out for lunch. He was supposed to meet Hokuto and Ichigo for lunch, but today, he didn't feel like it. Instead, he headed to a small area away from the co-op, where a tree grew beautifully and tall. It was the same tree that Monou Kotori would be buried beneath in nine years. He started climbing and shortly found a branch to rest on. Closing his eyes, he remembered the times he had spent with Fuuma and Kotori before he moved away to Okinawa with his mother. Those times were probably happening to his younger self at this moment.

Kamui hadn't been resting for five minutes before a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?"

Kamui looked down. The blond teen below looked back at him. Something was familiar about this boy. Blond hair, blue eyes…a blue haired boy chasing him, yelling something about paperwork; must be Imonoyama Nokoru. Kamui nearly started laughing.

"Uh, oh," the younger Nokoru said, looking back. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," Kamui replied, grinning.

Nokoru quickly climbed the tree. Takamura Suoh was still a bit far off, so Kamui didn't suspect that he had seen. The blond boy sat on the branch next to Kamui and smiled.

"I don't think I've seen you around before," he said.

"I'm still pretty new," Kamui shrugged.

"Well, then. Welcome to CLAMP Academy. I'm Nokoru."

"NOKORU!!!" Suoh shouted from below.

Nokoru and Kamui looked down. Suoh stood at the foot the tree, glaring up at Nokoru. The blond boy sweatdropped.

"Ah… hi, Suoh," Nokoru stammered. "I was just talking to…"

"You don't have time to talk. I need that paperwork done now."

"But can't I just…"

"No."

"But!"

"Now. Nokoru."

Nokoru hung his head. He turned to Kamui. "I guess I'll see you later…"

"Kamui."

"Okay, then. Later, Kamui."

With that, Nokoru climbed down the tree and left with Suoh. The two of them headed back towards the school as Kamui watched. Once they were out of sight, Kamui jumped down from his branch and walked off as the bell rang.

Sixth period went quick enough. When the bell rang, Kamui left the classroom, only to be tackled from behind by Hokuto.

"How dare you skip lunch!" she exclaimed. "You know that's not healthy and you need to eat!"

"I'm s-sorry," Kamui choked. "I wasn't hungry."

"You will eat something when you get home, Kamui-chan."

Kamui saluted as best he could with Hokuto sitting on his back. Hokuto climbed off of the violet-eyed boy and helped him up.

"So, did you get that flyer from Iyujin-kun?" she asked.

"No…" Kamui replied, blinking in confusion.

Hokuto sighed and pulled out a bright yellow flyer. She handed it to Kamui and the two of them walked off as he read.

"A field trip to Kyoto?"

"Yup! And everything is possible because of the profit the recital made!"

Kamui groaned at the reminder. He never wanted to be put in drag again. Koame Kumo's costume had been very uncomfortable, despite the fact that Hokuto had made it in a boy-ish fashion for the boy-ish Kumo. And when the younger student had heard about the recital, she had cracked up. Besides, someone on the dance team had videotaped the recital, so on the day the instructor had returned, the class had watched it. Kamui had stuttered and turned red when the instructor looked at him after the tape was over.

"So, you wanna go?" Hokuto asked, pulling Kamui out of his thoughts. "We can go anywhere in Kyoto as long as we're in groups. We should ask Ichigo if she can make it."

"Yeah," Kamui agreed. "I think Ichigo deserves to visit Kyoto with us."

"And they hired a new guy at the bakery, so she has more free time now. I'm sure her mother wouldn't mind letting Ichigo come with us."

"She's over there, why don't we go ask her?" Kamui said.

The two of them ran over to where Ichigo waited for the bus the three of them rode. The taller girl was looking at a bright yellow flyer, which had to be the Kyoto field trip flyer. She turned her head when she heard Hokuto call her name.

"Hi, Hokuto! Hello, Kamui!" Ichigo smiled. "You guys going on the field trip?"

"Yup!" Hokuto beamed. "What about you?"

"I think I can make it," Ichigo said, as the bus arrived. She and the others got on. "Hitake is doing a good job at the bakery, so my mom said I can have some extra time off."

"That's great!" Hokuto said.

"Yeah! Hey, did you hear who the chaperones are going to be?" Ichigo asked.

"No, I just got handed a flyer."

"Iyujin-kun told me who they were. There are three: his mothers and one of their friends, Magami Tokiko."

Kamui started. "Magami Tokiko? She's going to be chaperoning?"

Ichigo and Hokuto looked at him.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Magami Tokiko is my aunt."

Hokuto blinked. "Oh, no. We can't let her know that you're here. She'll probably know, wouldn't she?"

"She's of the Magami Clan. She can probably sense that I'm of the same bloodline. And since the only ones left of the clan are her, my mother and me, she'll probably be curious to know why there's a fourth."

"Well," Hokuto said. "We can try to avoid letting her know that you're Shirou Kamui."

"And how?"

"We could dress you up as a girl again," Ichigo smiled.

"No!"

Ichigo laughed. "I was joking."

They reached their stop and soon the three of them were settled into Hokuto's apartment, studying, chatting, and plotting. There was a knock outside in the hall and Hokuto got up to see what was going on. To her surprise, it was a young delivery boy with short burgundy hair, long bangs covering his eyes.

"No one's home," Hokuto told him.

The boy turned and looked at her quizzically.

"My brother is at work and his roommate is in here," Hokuto explained. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, I was told to deliver these to a Shirou Kamui," the teen said, holding up a bouquet of pure white roses. "Could you give these to him?"

"Sure," Hokuto said, slightly confused.

"Have a nice day," the delivery boy said, bowing.

Hokuto nodded and went back inside. Ichigo and Kamui looked up.

"Who are those for?" Ichigo asked.

"They're for Kamui," Hokuto said, handing the bouquet to the amethyst-eyed teen, who immediately picked up the card hidden in the flowers.

"So, who are they from?" Ichigo asked.

Kamui turned pale. "I…I think they're from…Tokiko."

The note in Kamui's hand fell; Hokuto and Ichigo looked at it. It merely said "Great job at the recital, Shirou Kamui."

"What makes you think that Tokiko sent them?" Hokuto said. "It could be from any number of the girls on the dance team. Ishtar-chan could have been the one who sent them for all we know."

"But don't you think that they would sign it?" Ichigo asked.

"No, I don't think it's from the girls," Kamui gulped. "I'm pretty sure it's from Tokiko."

"So, you aunt saw you at the recital?" Ichigo asked. "Then we probably won't have to worry about her saying anything during the field trip."

"I guess," Kamui said.

He set the roses in a vase and went to sit with his friend. They chatted about the trip for a while. Hokuto offered to find out if the three of them could visit the Sumeragi main house. Their conversation ran until the time when there was a knock at the door. Kamui got up and found Subaru standing at the door.

"Hi," Subaru said, sleepily. "Tell Hokuto-chan that I'm home and am going to bed, okay?"

"Sure," Kamui said. "I'll probably wake you up for dinner."

"Uh-huh," Subaru agreed with a yawn. "See you then."

The days passed. Before they knew it, the day of the filed trip came. The groups would be leaving during lunch, catching the CLAMP Academy shuttles to Kyoto. Ichigo had spent the night at Hokuto's the day before, and now she, Hokuto, Subaru, and Kamui were in a panic to finish getting ready. Subaru suddenly stopped packing and looked over to the fax machine in the kitchen.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Kamui asked.

"I think I might have job to do," Subaru said, walking across the apartment to the fax machine. "And I was looking forward to this trip too."

He picked up the fax, read it over, and gave a big sigh. He set the paper down and went back over to his bag to start unpacking.

"Looks like their having supernatural problems at the Yasukuni Shrine," Subaru said. "I have to go over there and find out what's going on."

Kamui noted the disappointment in the other teen's eyes. He went over to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll be sure to bring you something," Kamui said. "But for now, you'd better go tell Hokuto-chan that you won't be able to go on the trip."

Subaru nodded and left the room to head to his sister's apartment next door. Kamui finished packing his stuff and headed out into the hall after putting his shoes on. He nearly bumped into a beet-red Subaru in the hall.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"H-Hokuo-chan's calling…S-S-Seishirou-san to arrange it so that I can stay with him while you guys are gone."

"Well, she wants to make sure you're going to be okay. All of us know that you hardly eat after a job, much less any other time," Kamui said. "Seishirou will make sure that you take care of yourself."

Subaru nodded, turning an even brighter shade of red. "Y-yeah, I know."

"So, when do you have to be at the job?" Kamui asked.

"Not for another couple of hours. I suppose I should repack everything and get my stuff to Seishirou-san's."

Kamui nodded. "Have fun."

And I hope you don't find out too early what Seishirou really does, he added silently.

Hokuto came out of her apartment. "Seishirou-chan said he'd be glad to let you stay, Subaru-chan!"
She hugged her brother. "I hope you haven't unpacked yet. You'll have to take everything to his place. He'll pick you up from school at noon, and take you to Yasukuni Shrine."

"Yeah."

"Good luck with your job. And dress warmly. It's supposed to rain this afternoon."

Subaru nodded. The four teens left the apartment complex to wait for the bus to CLAMP Academy. When they arrived at the school, Subaru headed to class as Hokuto, Kamui, and Ichigo headed to the co-op where the field-trippers would wait until the shuttles arrived. Hokuto and Kamui once again promised to bring Subaru something from the trip, as well as something for Seishirou.

Later that night, Subaru waited for Seishirou. It was raining, and had been for the last few hours. It had taken Subaru a couple hours to get the job done, and of course, it had been outside in the rain. He was now thoroughly soaked, cold, and extremely tired. He pulled his only layer of clothing that wasn't soaked close to his body to try to get warmer. Headlights flashing in his eyes made him look up to see Seishirou's van drive up.

The young onmyouji hurried over to get into the car. He stammered an apology for his soaked clothes through chattering teeth. Before he could buckle his seat belt, Seishirou took off his jacket and handed it to the younger man. Subaru thanked Seishirou and pulled it on. He fell asleep on the way to Seishirou's apartment, but the older man woke him when they got there.

As soon as they got inside, Seishirou had Subaru sit on the couch. He got a blanket and a cup of hot tea for the young onmyouji and then took his temperature. He informed Subaru that he had a fever. Subaru nodded weakly and drank his tea. When he was finished, he curled up on the couch and went to sleep as Seishirou cooked dinner.

It was the second day of the field trip. Hokuto and Ichigo had been snapping pictures for most of the trip and needed more film. They dragged Kamui to the nearest mall to get film and to play with Kamui's wardrobe some more. Kamui tried to protest, but ended up in the dressing room with an armful of various clothes to try one, while the girls waited outside the door with some more clothes.

Hokuto leaned over to Ichigo. She whispered something into the other girl's ear and the two of them giggled. The older girl pulled out her camera and lay on the ground to snap a couple photos of Kamui. She managed to get two before Kamui caught her. The first was of Kamui with no shirt on and the second was of him just beginning to pull his pants off. The girls shrieked with laughter.

Meanwhile, Subaru had not yet recovered completely from his fever. He was currently in the shower, the hot water pummeling his body, massaging it the way only rushing water could. He reached to get the shampoo, but it slipped out of his hands and landing on the shower floor with a thud.

In the living room, Seishirou had been reading a book as the Sumeragi was showering. He heard the thud and worried for a slight moment before he remembered that, as the Sakurazukamori, he didn't worry about other people. However, since he was unconsciously losing the bet between the two of them, he went over to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"Are you okay in there?" he asked.

Subaru didn't answer. Worried that the Sumeragi had fainted (wait, the Sakurazukamori doesn't worry), he opened the door to check on the younger man. He froze in his tracks. The shower stall had fogged up, but he could clearly see a perfect silhouette of Subaru's body. He turned and left as quickly as he could, hoping that Subaru hadn't seen him barge in.

Needless to say, he found it rather unnerving when he realized that his face was flushed.

The next morning, Seishirou woke to find Subaru already up, dressed, and in the kitchen. The younger man was engrossed in his task of cooking breakfast and didn't notice Seishirou staring at him with a glazed expression.

What Subaru was dressed in had taken Seishirou completely aback. It was an outfit that consisted of tight leather pants, a mesh t-shirt, and emerald green vest and his usual gloves. A collar with a tag was around Subaru's neck. Subaru turned and Seishirou saw that the tag distinctly read "Property of Seishirou-san."

Subaru turned bright red as he realized what he was wearing and that Seishirou was staring.

What the?! Seishirou thought. Oh, God, that dream's coming true! But HOW?!

Somewhere, a certain golden-haired yumemi was laughing his ass off in his Dreamscape.

(Author's Note: If you don't recall, I had Seishirou have a dream with Subaru in that outfit. Kamui was having Kakyou watch Seishirou's dreams for hints that the Sakurazukamori was weakening. Kakyou saw that outfit and planted it in Hokuto's dreams. That's the explanation for that.)

Kamui grimaced in his sleep. He didn't want to see this. The deaths of two of his friends were haunting his dreams, but he couldn't open his eyes. It was as if something was keeping him from waking up.

((Arashi screamed as Fuuma shoved the Shinken through Sorata's chest. The young Kansai monk fell when the sword's blade was removed from where it had pierced his body. The Ise priestess ran to Sorata's side.

"Don't worry…babe..." Sorata said, weakly. "I told you…you were the one…"

"Don't talk," Arashi whispered through her tears. "You're going to live, Sorata."))

Kamui clutched the blankets close.

(("The Stargazer's never…wrong. You are the…one I chose," Sorata said. "The one…I love…and give my life for…"

Arashi's tears fell faster as the Kansai monk breathed his last. Sadness turned to anger and she stood to face the Dark Kamui. She called her sword and tried to attack. Fuuma merely grabbed her wrist and yanked her sword away. Arashi's eyes widened as her own sword pierced her heart.))

Kamui finally opened his eyes. Why were his dreams filled with the horrors of his past and his younger self's future? It was so hard for him to live through it the first time and now he was reliving it every night. He didn't know if he could take it anymore. The pain of the memories were almost too much to bear.

Soon, he hoped, the nightmares would end and he could finally get back to having dreamless nights, like he had before the whole deal with the year 1999.

Author's Note: Oi. Finally finished this. Fun, fun, fun. Thanks to all who reviewed. I can't thank you all individually this time, but I will next time. Promise!

And now, an omake!!

Seishirou looked up as he heard a thunk, followed by a bang and a loud crash. A young man who was waiting in the clinic to have his cat checked looked up as well.

"I didn't know you had a pet of your own, Sakurazuka-sensei," the young man said.

"Oh, I do," Seishirou said, vowing to check on Subaru and then duct tape the boy to the bed, "it just usually behaves better than this."

Subaru danced around the apartment, dressed only in a pair of boxers. A plunger was stuck to his head and he was tossing a roll of toilet paper around the living room.

"I AM THE SUGAR PLUMBER FAERIE!!" he exclaimed, carelessly tossing the roll of toilet paper towards the door. It missed and knocked down a couple of books from the shelf next to the door.

The door opened and Seishirou stepped inside. He blinked at the sight of the young Sumeragi.

"Err…Subaru-kun?" he asked, bewildered.

Subaru giggled like mad. Seishirou came to the conclusion that the boy was delirious from his fever and that once he was better, this would never be spoken of again. He went over the boy and put his hand to Subaru's forehead. He quickly used a spell to put the Sumeragi to sleep and then set him on the couch after getting rid of the plunger.

He shook his head and went back down to work.

I didn't see Subaru just lose his mind, he told himself fervently. I didn't.