Disclaimer: I don't own X/1999, I didn't come up with any of their brilliant characters, they're the geniuses not me!
The character of Alex, Jacob, Venus, Charlie, David and Dimitri are all mine. The Noters are half reality. The rest belong to all the book/movie/TV stuff they came from. If you can spot where they're from then good for you!
Warning: hints of yaoi. Don't like, don't read, don't sue!
Part 14 – Children Growing and A Bad Omen
The final visit Kamui and Fuma had to pay was to the dimension's prison house.
It was a lone building on a hill almost parallel to the infirmary. It was the infirmary's twin building in every bit of it's designing, once they were a set of five other buildings on the hills around the city but time destroyed the other three.
Behind the prison was a small and well kept vegetable garden where the inmates would attempt to do minor agricultural works while getting some fresh air out of their cells.
Inside, where the large hospitalization and treatment halls were in the infirmary, walls that looked like they were made of green fire separated between one cell to the other. They reminded Kamui of kekkais.
The place was run by a group of Noters who were doing the same job in their own dimension. They were commanded and supervised by a woman called Gala.
Kamui heard of her, a creature like Alex, Jacob, David and Iceman. She came here in a storm of rebellion yet calmed down and was even allowed to run a job such as this.
She was behind the reception desk when Kamui and Fuma walked in.
At first they were sure there was some sort of a jailbreak.
A pale woman scantly clad by torn bits of various black fabrics glared at them. Her hair was a mess sticking upwards and sideways of her skull with the exception of a little ponytail in the very center of her head looking more like an antenna then a piece of hair. Her makeup was gothic and heavy, her eyes were jet black. In a way this Gala reminded Kamui of Alex, something about the look borderline cruelty and somewhat patronizing amusement in their eyes.
Gala was holding a makeshift knife to the throat of one of the Noters, holding him in a very professional restraining grip. The Noter didn't seem to be at all frightened or alarmed, not even when Justice walked in.
They stared at what was going on behind the reception desk, what was going on behind the reception desk stared back.
They stood like that for a while as Fuma noted that whomever prisoner was there also stared at the reception desk.
"Ano…" he mumbled and a pale thin hand snapped away from the grip on the Noter to gesture them to stop or wait, they couldn't make out.
A moment later and a herd of other Noters burst in through some passage not Fuma, Kamui or any watching prisoner could have seen.
They ran towards the reception desk wearing helmets, brandishing clubs and holding shields in front of them. All this equipment was made from the same green fire that made the cell walls.
They grabbed Gala, professionally separating her from the Noter who turned back and smiled proudly at the shocked and shaken Justice.
His fellows dragged the woman who was kicking and screaming like a demented person into one of the cells, throwing her through the green fire wall into the empty cell. One Noter held up his hand to the wall thus sealing it.
Once in the cell Gala straightened herself after landing most unceremoniously on her rear end. She got up and walked straight through the wall clapping her hands and smiling brightly. "Very good boys, very good! This drill was one of the best we had ever, good work. We had a little intrusion but that wasn't your fault"
she turned her eyes to Justice. Her boys followed her eyes. "How may we help you Justice?" she smiled again, her eyes wicked and malicious.
Fuma and Kamui finished their visit to the prison with a feeling of great responsibility on their hands. The last time Fuma felt so obliged to so many things was when he received an amazing amount of homework to do.
The prison didn't really function as prison but as something between a proper correction facility and a loony bin. It was agreed with Gala that all demented inmates ("those who were really demented" as Gala added merrily) were to be moved to another facility.
It's not that they were kept as criminals in the prison, they were treated very well with daily visits by the infirmary's psychologist and limitless visits from their familiars, but they were kept along with real criminals and that was bad enough. Let alone the fact that the prison was now needed as a proper and serious facility where whatever criminal will be sent after sentenced to do his time.
Another agreement was that the first thing Justice would do will be to give the present criminals re-trialed properly.
The Noters in the prison house seemed to be almost a completely different kind of people then the rest of the Noters in the city. Instead of silent secrecy and obedience only to their commanders wherever they may be, these young men were a merry, open laidback type.
There was something weary in them, always complaining about something but with a bit of a smile along with it.
They invited Kamui and Fuma to a cup of coffee during which they spilled almost every story, joke and complaint into their ears.
Their uniforms were different then the usual Noters'. Their shirts were completely black with a white collar and the distinct white left sleeve. One leg of their pants was blue and the other red, above was the white belt. Near the sleeve, under the shoulder rank holding slip was a green fabric braided band.
They didn't keep to their outfit's strict proper appearance as the rest of the Noters did. Theirs was a little mucky here, a little tattered there, their shirt not tucked into their pants, their pants not tucked into their shoes and so on.
Gala didn't seem to mind, she walked straight into the buzzing dining room and sat amongst her boys, on the lap of one of them. She seemed to be completely natural with them, as she sat on one man she leaned her back against another (who turned his back to her to better support her), lay her one leg on another and the other leg on another. Those she laid her legs on took off her high heeled black boots and rubbed her feet "Oh, you're daaaaaarlings" she purred at them with her heavy British accent.
After their visit Fuma and Kamui had a long debate over whether the Noters were giving Gala more then just foot rubs and of how far they went with her.
But there was a certain air in the prison, as if they were being treated with half mockery and half respect. To their faces they were most respected and honored. But whenever a Noter walked by another, past a corner or by a table, eyes were shooting from Justice to their fellow Noters' and whispers in their language meant that they were sharing some secret or judgment over the two.
"Let's not go there a lot Kamui…"
"Yes, let's not…."
They walked back to the building site of their court. In order to make it a perfect Hall of Justice they were to take part of the actual building of the court.
Kamui didn't mind, he saw it as some sort of exercise now that his powers were weakening. Besides, whenever Fuma worked hard enough and it was hot enough the older boy would take his shirt off and that's something Kamui just couldn't complain about.
Yuzuriha was walking slowly back to her home from the main Rescue Team house. It was the very early hours of the morning when the air was clear and cool. All around her nature was waking up as the sun began shining heat on it through the thin clouds hanging between heaven and earth.
She planned to go to sleep immediately without any delay. She was already picturing herself snuggled up tightly in bed. She stayed with Victoria as much as the latter could push her instincts to sleep when the sun was up. Then Yuzuriha, exhausted from the patrol and the chatting, began dragging herself back home.
As she opened the door to her house she was surprised to see Karen in her robe (another dead man's outfit, this time it was cleared by Subaru before use) in the kitchen, clutching a cup of tea. She was looking intently out of the kitchen window at a part of the back yard and looking very alert at that.
"Karen-san? Why are you up so early? Sorata-kun and Subaru-san are on patrol, why are you up as well? Even Yutu-san and Aoki-san are still asleep"
Karen shot her eyes to Yuzuriha and stormed over to the girl. She grabbed her by the shoulders and glared down at her "Where did you come from?"
Yuzurha's mind froze for a while with fear. Even Inuki was puzzled at this strange behavior. "Th….the…main…Rescue….Bicky-ch…"
Karen let go of her. She bit her knuckles and looked away from the frightened girl. "So you couldn't have seen who's in the backyard….." she mumbled to herself "But I know she's there, I have to tell her what's going on…." She whipped her face back to look at Yuzuriha. There was something almost frightening in the way she looked powerfully at her.
She grabbed the young girl by the arm and dragged her out to the back yard.
In the little toilet shade Arashi knelt, throwing up violently. When she finished she flushed the toilet, got up slowly while wiping her mouth, dragged herself to the little well that stood in the yard and washed her face and mouth.
When she turned around to head back to bed she saw a determined Karen and a much weary yet just as much curious Yuzuriha. Inuki raced to the toilet to drink the fresh water.
Arashi stared at her friends for a while, wobbling a bit as she walked towards them "Good morning…..What?"
Karen's eyes were soft as she neared Arashi and tangled her arm in hers. "This has been happening to you a lot lately, hasn't it Arashi-san?"
Arashi looked up at Karen confused and still a bit sleepy.
Yuzuriha walked to Karen's side looking at Arashi as if she had purple spots on her face.
"You mean me being sick? Yes, every morning lately….I think there's something wrong with the way we store our meat here, I always had a very sensitive stomach"
Karen was dumbfounded. Arashi was being honestly concerned about that, not realizing a thing of what it really meant.
"Arashi-san…….you've been raised in a temple most of your life, haven't you?"
"Yes…I was their hidden shrine maiden….why?"
"And they never told you the facts of life, they never bothered with that did they…?" she was talking to herself now.
Karen would never admit it but somewhere deep within her she was always jealous of all those 'pampered shrine brat Seals' as she called them. Even Seiichiro was raise in his clan where he was introduced and trained with his powers.
She and Kamui were the only ones who had to discover and nurture their powers completely on their own while living their lives on the streets. In a way she valued Kamui for that, besides the little grudge she felt for him lately.
"Karen-san? What are you talking about?" Yuzuriha ripped the woman out of her thoughts.
She turned to Arashi again "Arashi-san, when was the last time you had your period?"
Arashi's face was frozen as usual at first, she looked at Karen as if to say 'what's that got to do with anything!' then after a while her face paled and her eyes widened in shock.
She stopped walking and just stood, staring at Karen in complete shock.
Karen smiled at her happily, Yuzuriha began to vibrate the way she did before she'd burst into a seizure of jumping up and down in happiness.
"Why are you so happy!" Arashi suddenly burst her voice in panic "don't you understand what it means! It can't be! I can't be! I won't be!" she screamed and ran off to her room. She came down fully dressed and stormed out of the house.
Sorata vaguely woke up from his lover's quick dressing "Hey why are you putting your clothes back on babe?" he received a deadly glare and a pillow to the head on a level of violence such as he hadn't experienced from her in a long time.
A nurse almost threw the tray of bandages and medications as Arashi violently stormed into the infirmary.
She ran up to Charlie who was after a night full of watching over a patient only to have it end up moved to David's care by the early morning hours.
"Charlie-sensei" only a person from one group of people could address him this way and Yutu was the only one he could stand from all of them. Maybe Karen too but that's it, the rest were too much of a headache.
He turned around and smiled wearily at the long haired woman "Yes Arashi?" at least he could remember her name.
"I want to sign up for an abortion"
"An abortion"
"Yes"
"I'm sorry but it's impossible"
"….. Why!"
"Because we don't do abortions in here"
"What! What sort of an infirmary is this!"
That was the last straw for Charlie, he let his bad mood out as much as he could "Listen to me now little girl, this isn't a normal hospital like in your home dimension; we don't even have all the medications that we should have, hygiene is as high as we can afford it. We can't do everything here, only as much as we could. Believe me this takes a greater toll then the fruit of your fooling around not stopped!"
Arashi's poker face tainted with desperation "But you have operation tools here don't you?"
Charlie cooled off a little. She wasn't trying to piss him off; she was just a little girl who got up the duff by mistake. She and her boyfriend, as he remembered from his wedding, were a couple of kids and nothing more. She didn't understand the medical facts he thought were basic and obvious.
He took a deep breath and held her shoulders gently "Listen, Arashi, the equipment we have here isn't fit to do this sort of delicate work; it's too crude. If we do anything wrong it might cause huge un-repairable damage. Do you want to lose the ability to have children at all? Or lose your life?"
Her eyes filled with tears "But I….not now…..I don't want to have a baby….not yet….I" she burst into tears. Charlie held her softly, using this chance to close his eyes for the first time after a long night.
Then soft hands lay on her shoulders and she turned around to a man who once fought her boyfriend as part of some long ago battle.
Yutu looked down at her and softly said "What's wrong Arashi-san?" he placed his palm on her belly "This baby will be very lucky because he was made in love and born into love"
It made her forget everything that she ever thought of ridding herself from this baby.
But the thoughts returned as the day ticked by, as she went to noon patrol. She walked silently with her head almost feverish with thoughts. Her patrol partner didn't help either.
It seems someone was drunk, high or simple plain stupid when he paired Arashi and Alex together.
When she returned from history's most tense and silent patrol ever, the dinner table was all set, people already sitting to it.
She walked over to the empty chair saved to her by Sorata and flopped to it tiredly. She was trying not to glare at Yuzuriha.
She didn't know why she began to take out all her pent up discomfort with Alex at the girl, maybe because of the vampire friend she had made.
The dinner went on smoothly with hardly any talking, arguing or anything at all.
Until Sorata began talking that is.
"Ne, Kamui, what were you doing last night eh? I thought the ceiling was going to collapse on our heads" he finished that little piece of information with a heartily laughter.
Arashi felt the blood freeze in her veins.
Fuma and Kamui merely looked at Sorata innocently as the rest stared from them to Sorata with eyes half embarrassed and half curios.
"We were moving furniture trying to rearrange the living space a bit" Fuma beamed a smile at everyone, trying to make the slightly blushing Kamui a bit less nervous.
"Yes, I don't know who designed these rooms before we came here but they clash with almost every rule of Fang shui" Seiichiro was stared at for a while "my wife is an interior designer" he said it a bit nervously glancing sideways to Yutu from time to time, not knowing why he was doing that.
"I don't know about Fang shui or anything like that, all I know is that there was a huge spider's nest just above our bed and I didn't feel like waking up with spider babies all over me one night" Kamui grunted poking at his dish.
"A ha ha! And there I was sure you're doing something wild ha ha ha!" Sorata placed his hand on the back of his neck awkwardly. "We can never know with you two"
Sorata just didn't seem to stop, Arashi wanted to clamp her hand on his mouth but she felt heavy….all of her felt heavy….she was heavy with an extra weight to her body….
"Now you two" the father of her future child motioned towards Subaru, who was running a hushed little conversation with his lover during most of the meal, "sure are noisy ha ha ha"
Seishiro hadn't seen Subaru blush this much since he was sixteen when he had just tried his first 'do you find me sexy' line. He felt no need to glare at Sorata, he saw how Arashi was slowly reaching a level where she'll be doing something worse.
"And the girls giggling, sometimes I can't sleep a wink with all your gossips and laughter, I never knew girls were like…"
"Sorata!"
There was a silence in the room and everyone stared at Arashi who had just produced the most animalistic angry growl they've ever heard the usually cold and calculative woman emit.
She was glaring at him but her eyes were filling with tears. She wanted to be angry with him but she couldn't and she was hiding something that was hurting her, eating her from the inside.
Sorata stared back at her, what was wrong with her? He started it, but what was it? Sorata began feeling like a little punished child, hurt by the punishment and filled with shame for his deed.
"You're so childish" she finaly said after keeping her inner fire from bursting out, recomposing herself as much as she could. She looked like she was keeping something big from bursting out with all her might and self control. "How can you raise a child if you're a child yourself?" then she burst into a fit of crying, covering her face with her hands "How can I?" she whimpered and stormed away, off to her room.
There was another silence as everybody analyzed what Arashi just said.
"Why is she crying?" Kazuki whispered tugging at Karen's sleeve. The older woman merely placed her arm across the bioroid's shoulders.
"I…..she was saying….?" Sorata was frozen the way he was before Arashi shot what she had to the air. His arm was just reaching out to hug her, now it hung lonely and redundant.
Seiichiro beamed a huge fatherly smile at Sorata "She meant to say that you're going to have a baby, you're going to be a father Sorata-kun" he smiled on despite the huge pain in his chest.
The Koya monk slowly turned his face to him, his eyes empty with the shock. "Eeeh!" is all he managed to mutter.
Seiichiro slowly rose to his feet, cleared his plate to the sink and walked just as slowly to his room. He felt numb all the way, even when he closed the door behind him and flopped to his bed where he could sit and cry as much as he wanted to.
Only a few minutes later, as he heard feet shuffling in the hallway and on the floors below and above him could he unwind a bit and start crying.
Seiichiro never remembered himself crying so much, not even when he heard Daisuke died. But of course, he had his wife and his daughter by him back then; he had a shoulder to cry on and an ear to spill his problems to. Now he was thrown into a completely new place with new problems and no family. These people, even the Seals, were close to him but not that close. All he wanted was closure and comfort.
He wasn't used to the rugged love-less life, to angst and sadness. He was raised in a warm happy family, he had two parents whom non of which exploded to give birth to a sword or died in a fire. He was not found in the dirty streets wondering if he should or shouldn't eat garbage in order to live on. He never had an invisible friend that made him a mockery amongst his fellow classmen. He was never so sensitive and kind hearted that every little bit of sadness pierced him like a bullet……he had a happy ordinary life….. nothing could have prepared him to this.
Warm hands embraced him from behind and despite the fact that Seiichiro new exactly who it was he didn't object or pulled away. They were so warm and soft, these love filled arms that Seiichiro could have curled into the wonderful warmth between them and sleep it all off.
Love turned him around in his arms and laid his head at his lap, running his soothing fingers through his hair until the man stopped crying and fell asleep.
After every dinner Karen, Subaru and Seishiro each make a cup of coffee then went up to the balcony of the second floor to have a cigarette.
Many times they just stood there and smoked, and only at times when there was a heated debate during dinner would they speak amongst each other, but most of the time they smoked in silence. After that they'd split and spend the evening separately as if they never knew each other and never shared those moments. There was a gap between Karen and the onmyoujis, even between the two Seals of the three. There was still a little gap between the onmyoujis themselves.
This evening Seishiro leaned backwards on the stone banister enough to look through the kitchen window and watch Sorata slowly washing the dishes.
The Kansai monk was doing everything very mechanically and with as less attention to it as possible; he was having too much to think of at the moment to focus on something as small as washing the dishes.
"Poor child" Karen and Subaru turned their eyes to him, surprised with him for starting a conversation.
"With these mixed genes? It'll be a hyper genki ice queen with an endless appetite"
Now they glared at him but he didn't mind, he could be cruel as much as he wanted.
Karen tried to hide a smile after she understood that joke fully; Subaru didn't bother with his smile.
They smoked the rest of their cigarettes in peace.
Sorata finally mustered the courage to enter his room.
He was sure that the moment he'll walk in a shoe or a pillow will fly at his direction.
But instead his loved one sat on their bed with her back towards the door. By the vibrations running through her from time to time he could tell that she was crying quite powerfully.
There was a jumble of words and sentences he wanted to say to her, there was so much he felt, so much he wanted to express….he had to put some order into it to make some sense out of himself.
He walked over and sat behind her in the bed. He wrapped his arms around her, placing his palms on her tummy. He leaned his head on her shoulder and whispered in her ear "I know I'm tactless and silly and foolish and a blabbermouth and a horrible noise maker at time and that I'm mostly food obsessed but…..I will protect you and this baby with my life…..
"I know you don't need protection as much as you need a good father to your child but…..I wish I could carry our baby with you for these nine months because…..we both made it together and we'll raise it together and….I'll do all my best to give our child all the best there is, I promise….and I love you"
Arashi managed to twist her neck enough to stare as much as she could into the eyes of her lover. Her eyes were still tearful but now they filled with hope.
"We'll raise this baby together" he whispered softly, planting his lips on hers softly "I love you"
"I love you too"
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere I aaaaaaaaaaaaam! Sorry I had to keep you waiting but you wouldn't believe what happened!" Yuzuriha finished running up to Victoria who was making a little crown of daisies, sitting in Venus's field.
Inuki ran off to madly roll in the daisies. For some reason he was mad about the smell of them. Whenever they'd near the field he'd run up to it and have a good 'going mad' session like a cat in a catnip bush.
"Arashi-san is pregnant! She's going to have a baby with Sorata-san! Can you believe it! I'm so happy for them!"
Victoria tried to focus her mind on all the data and the questions she wanted to ask Yuzuriha but she was too busy wondering about something she noted her friend was doing a lot lately.
When Yuzuriha would run she'd wince a little bit and then cross her hands on her chest. She now did the same thing as she was jumped up and down with excitement. She noted once, when they were around a man who asked for their help on a route, that when she was hopping up and down the man looked at her and she immediately did that protective movement and blushed deeply.
"Yuzu….."
"Yes?" the young girl looked puzzled at the suddenly serious vampire.
Inuki gave a good heartily sneeze as too many pollens gotten into his nose.
"Bless you Inuki!" she turned to shrill at her inugami, forgetting what Victoria tried to start.
"Yuzu……"
"Eh? Oh, sorry, I forgot you started talking to me, what's the matter?"
"Sit down next to me"
She did as she was ordered starting to feel a bit awkward about Victoria's mood. She wasn't going to ask her about being a vampire again would she? It's been almost three months since that time and Victoria was still feeling a bit awkward about some of it.
"Yuzu….do you have a bra?"
Yuzuriha stared at her friend for a while. Maybe it was her poor English, maybe it was the way Victoria pronounced whatever word it was in her common British accent that made Yuzuriha not understand the question.
"A brazier…a bra….a…oh god…" Victoria gave up. She unbuttoned her bright blue Hellsing uniform shirt enough to reveal Yuzuriha what she was talking about.
"Aaaah……ano……" Yuzuriha turned into a lovely shade of red.
Victoria could see her face clearly despite the somewhat darkness around them and she could see the blood itself rushing towards her face.
The girl was moving quite uncomfortably on her spot doing all her might to make the earth swallow her on the spot. "No….I don't have one….."
"I can see that….you need one you know, and not just so you could run around without pain…."
"But how could I get one? I'm not getting one from someone dead, oh no!"
Victoria lay back in the field trying to figure out a way to get her mind into forming a plan to help her friend.
And so a small net of manipulation and convincing wove itself.
Karen agreed to help with sewing the bra once the materials were there. All Yuzuriha had to do was to ask her.
Then there were the actual materials to get.
Victoria nagged Alex day and night to persuade the already unwilling David to allow them both and Yuzuriha to enter the storage shack and pick materials. That took more time and nagging then Victoria could have imagined.
Then there was dealing with Yuzuriha's embarrassment of asking Subaru to ward the material to prevent any angry spirits from possessing Yuzuriha.
That was particularly difficult to Yuzuriha, despite the fact that she was usually quite comfortable with the onmyouji, she still regarded him as male.
"Sub!" Death came through the window, walking through the house might lead to meeting Kamui and that was too painful for him.
"Hello Alex! What's this?" Subaru pointed at the little bag of materials Alex was holding.
Death did not look pleased with anything at all. "That's Yuzuriha's future bra, she wants these things warded so Karen and I could make her a bra and she's too embarrassed to ask you personally"
"Really? Poor you, you look like you couldn't be bothered"
"I'm blessing every moment in which I decided I want to stick to men and not that stupid, idiotic, irrational, annoying, spastic, stupid, stupid, stupid gender!"
Subaru wrapped an arm around Alex's broad shoulders "You poor thing….by the way…couldn't you do it?"
"It's an excuse to see you"
Subaru batted his eyelashes playfully, blushing a bit and leaning on Alex "Seishiro-san might find out" he let out a small giggle.
"Get off! You think I'd actually come in between you two!"
"I don't know, you're not something I can call predictable"
"I'm glad you classify me under 'something' and not 'someone'"
Subaru just giggled. He took the materials and began chanting.
Seishiro entered the room and sat on the bed by Alex "Hello hello, long time no see. What brings you here?"
"I brought Subaru some materials to make himself a little garment"
"And what garment might it be that has so little material on it? Is it something naughty? Is it my birthday present?" there was a playful mischievous look in Seishiro's eyes. He was ruining Subaru's concentration.
"Shhh, you're disturbing him"
"Couldn't you do it?"
"As I said to your dear sweet lover, it's an excuse to come and see you"
"Me?" it was amazing how those two could behave exactly the same way sometimes.
"The both of you, you arrogant bastard"
"Ah yes"
Subaru finished his exorcism and began examining the materials themselves.
Seishiro noted the metal wiring "Ano….Subaru-kun, why do you need a bra for?"
"He's going to have a sex change Sei dear"
"Is he?"
"Yes, wouldn't you like him better with breasts?"
"If I'd want him to have breasts I'd make the bet with Hokuto….."
Silence.
Subaru stared at Seishiro.
Seishiro stared at Subaru.
Alex wondered how high a voltage the tension in the air was.
"Say!" he desperately hurried to change the subject "how do you know how a bra looks like Sei dear?"
They ignored him and turned to look away from each other.
Alex kicked himself mentally despite the fact that it was basically Seishiro's tactical mistake.
"I'll go get these things to Karen……you guys run along now…."
They were still ignoring him as he got up from the bed. Now they were prepared to have a brawl.
"Oh my…." He hurried to walk out of the room. He'd keep an ear to their talking to keep them from doing something stupid like having a really bad argument.
Yuzuriha was crossing her hands on her chest again looking like something between fear and reprimanding at Alex who walked in with his own little sewing kit. Karen insisted on him joining them because she wasn't that good a seamstress as he was.
Kazuki, being one of the girl's room inhabitants sat on the floor watching the three at their work.
Yuzuriha unwound a bit enough to allow measurements taken without a shirt after the reprimanding icy glares from Alex.
Karen, used to nudity in an all-girls space had some difficulty with understanding Yuzuriha's awkwardness. But she couldn't let the poor girl stress herself too much, could she? She was forgetting that there were those in this house who could barge in without knocking (Sorata) or just enter knowing they can (Arashi). And if there might be someone in the hall during that entry they might see something they shouldn't.
"Kazuki-chan, would you stand outside the door and make sure no one's coming in dear?"
"Why?"
"Because we're doing something very private here dear"
"Oh…..okay…. "She got to her feet, ready and willing to fill any demand. "Who should I keep out?"
She was always eager to please. Seishiro and Anthony found her most efficient and helpful in her job. She seemed to have no end to her energies as she ran with them from one patient to the other doing all her best to help them as much as she could.
If she'd have nothing to do she'd just watch everything they'd do without complaints or useless questions.
She also seemed to want to learn this profession. Anthony promised her that when she'll know enough they'll start letting her be a vet with them.
"Keep boys out of the room" Yuzuriha looked quit pale and panicking.
"But Alex is a boy" she glared at him, pointing at him childishly.
Alex smirked "I'm gay, I count as a woman"
"Oh….alright" Kazuki turned around and walked out of the room.
She placed herself directly before the door crossing her arms on her chest trying to look tough, scrutinizing whomever it is that passed by her in the hall.
Seiichiro and Yutu ran up the stairs towards her. There was a pile of papers they were working on late the night before which they forgot to bring along that morning so now they rushed to get it back before the documental mess will devour their office and their day.
Kazuki placed herself in the middle of the hallway with her ands on her hips putting the most dangerous frown she could on. "You can't come into that room!" she pointed at the door by her left glaring at the two men before her.
"Ano….Kazuki-chan….." she reminded them of Nataku in his bad moods again.
"I said you can't come in so don't you dare!"
'Or she'll do what!' Yutu was wondering
"Kazuki-chan we need to get to our room, it's something about where we work. we promise we won't come into the room"
"Humph!" Kazuki returned to her position by the door following the half panicking adults with her glare.
"That was actually scary, wasn't it Yut….." Seiichiro clamped his hand on his mouth as the bright green eyes of Love turned to him softly.
Yutu noted something most delightful.
Next came Seishiro.
He wanted to do something special with/for Subaru since last night's incident so he took a day off from work to figure it out and work on it.
He noted Kazuki near the door. She was looking at him funny.
"Kazuki-san, Anthony needs…."
He didn't get to finish the sentence before he was grabbed and hurled into the room.
Yuzuriha emitted one of the longest and high pitched screams she ever did as she grabbed the nearest piece of cloth and covered herself as Seishiro came flying into the room.
A pale strong arm reached out and grabbed him before the Sakurazukaromi could crush most unceremoniously on the floor. Seishiro found himself gathered and placed on Alex's lap. Death smirked up at him maliciously. Seishiro smirked back just as maliciously.
"What are you doing here!" came a question on two voices, both charged with anger. Karen and Yuzuriha glared at Seishiro.
He looked across his shoulder (Alex spun him to sit with his back to Yuzuriha) and glared back "That thing! (He pointed angrily towards the door and Kazuki behind it) that mad…..little…..it! It threw me in here, grabbed me and threw me here!"
"Oh my" Karen sighed "next time you feel like joking about your sexuality, Alex, do it with someone with a little more knowledge of life!"
"Don't blame it on me!"
"Humph"
Seishiro got up and straightened his suit "Tssk, women, eh Alex?"
"Who needs them?"
"Oh be quiet the both of you and please Sakurazuka-san, get out of here"
"And be nice to Subaru!"
"Shut up!"
Kakyou stretched his long slim limbs in the delightful sunlight. He dropped his arms to his sides and let the breeze and the light take him. The nature around him was so magical he could have lived out here all the time without the need of the little wooden house.
"Kakyou" came the low manly voice of Dimitri from behind him.
Kakyou opened his eyes and smiled brightly. They were having a picnic and swimming in the big lake at the edge of the forest.
Kakyou's life never looked so bright and wonderful, he was never as happy as he was in here.
He was growing stronger slowly but determinedly, regaining his health from its fragile condition. He had company and good company at that. He had a life without demands and restraints, without pain and horror, without flying feathers and slowly turning wheels of time…..
It's true that they didn't speak much if at all and the only words Dimitri ever shared with Kakyou was 'yume?' whenever Kakyou had a premonition dream that required a visit to the city. But they were happy like that and they didn't really need the communication of words, they got along just fine without it.
The only dreams Kakyou had were about the court. Since Kamui and Fuma had absolutely no idea about anything like a court's structure or functioning Kakyou received a small dream of a trial happening which helped him explain to Justice what they need doing.
And that was the only dream he had so far….nothing else seemed to bother them lately.
Nothing but the mixed up dream of Kusanagi's death: he saw a three headed monster attack a dragon. And that was it, nothing more nothing less.
Kakyou had almost zero chances in understanding and interpreting that dream despite the fact that he did all his best to understand it.
When he heard about what happened he slowly began realizing what was given to him and sank into a deep dark depression. Once again he was the useless yumemie who sat, watched and did nothing to help.
He traveled to apologize deeply to Yuzuriha who merely stared at him blankly.
On his way back he was crying his eyes out wishing he'd have Dimitri's comforting arms around him to sooth his pain.
But time passed by and when Yuzuriha got over her grief she came to tell him that it wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't feel guilty at all because she's not accusing him of anything.
He relaxed a little bit and sank into a wonderful little routine in days that rolled from spring to summer in the world where Kakyou began to change into someone happier.
He was looking at the water now, his tummy stuffed with the food he prepared by himself, another new ability he gained, a one he was especially proud of. He felt a gentle tap on the shoulder and turned around.
Dimitri was holding two bunches of wild flowers in his hands and neared them to Kakyou's face.
The yumemie stared at Dimitri in shock and blushed deeply.
Dimitri made a gesture of smelling the flowers and handed them for Kakyou to do the same.
He smelt one kind and made a pleased 'mmm' then smelled the other and sneezed powerfully.
Dimitri chucked the sneeze causing flowers and rested the approved ones on their picnic blanket. He ran off into the forest again before Kakyou could even bother with wondering of an explanation.
He returned with two other bunches of flowers like that a couple of more times until there was a neat little heap of good smelling wild flowers at Kakyou's feet. Then Dimitri added yet another component, some sort of a strong smelling root to the heap and went off to the shore side.
He gathered the components in a shallow bowl-like rock by the shore side and began grounding all the plants together with a rock. He added water from the lake and another type of leafs and ground them all until they became a strange green colored paste. Then he beckoned Kakyou over with eyes twinkling in expectation.
Kakyou got up and knelt by the rock bowl. The moment he sat down Dimitri reached behind Kakyou's back and untied the long braid his hair was tied in and gently grabbed a strand of hair. He wetted the strand with some water then dipped it in the paste, gently rubbing it in.
A smile spread on Kakyou's face. He did start feeling a bit uneasy with water as the only way to wash his hair.
Kakyou sat in the water washing his hair now, rubbing the squishy paste into it and smoothing out any knots, humming to himself peacfully.
Only half way through the process did he notice that Dimitri was leaning against the edge of the lake.
The man was watching him with dreamy eyes, a soft smile on his lips.
Kakyou looked back at his hair trying to get his mind back to gear. It was difficult because Dimitri was looking at him this way and Kakyou knew for sure that Dimitri swam without his clothes on. His mind wondered for a while until he realized just exactly where it was wondering to and a huge blush spread across his face.
Once the paste was washed out of his hair and the strands were dried Kakyou smoothed them a little more with his fingers clearing out any other pesky knots that escaped his reach. He was sitting on the picnic blanket leaning against a tree.
Dimitri was nibbling on desert.
He had a very slow way of eating, Dimitri, he'd eat a little, ponder something, then eat again, then ponder a bit more, smoke his pipe a bit, then ate a little more. Sometimes, when there really was nothing to do, Kakyou noted that lunch stretched out into dinner and even a midnight snack.
Now Dimitri snapped out of whatever thoughts swam through his head this time and sat down by Kakyou wrapping one arm around the fragile shoulders.
He took a thick strand of hairs in his hand and examined it. He ran his crude thumb across the silky smooth hairs making a delighted sound. He neared it to his nose and inhaled the gentle fragrance of the wild flowers that clung to Kakyou's hairs and now hovered around him like a halo.
All the while Kakyou was watching the closeness between their faces, a slight blush spreading across his face.
When Dimitri finished his appreciation he turned his eyes to look into Kakyou's.
Now they were really close and Kakyou was breathless. Luckily for him Dimitri closed the distance between their lips before Kakyou could faint or shy away.
Some time afterwards Kakyou was lying in the shade wrapped in Dimitri's arms. He was softly falling asleep in that wonderful warm loving comfort and his afterglow.
He had a dream. It was so blurred and un-understandable. All he saw was symbols and things his mind interpreted to him as a part of the dream.
He saw a barren land, a scaffold and a man led to it by Justice. Everything was such a blur that he could hardly recognize why this symbol or another meant that it was Justice leading the man to his death.
Before the execution could start, Death leaped onto the scaffold, releasing the condemned man from danger then brandishing his sword at Justice.
Then something huge swept over Kakyou's dreamscape, like the shockwave he saw in films of an atom bomb exploding.
A message rang through his mind "War".
Between Justice and Death.
A.N: buha ha ha ha! Cliffhanger of doom! Don't worry it'll all be alright! I have a headache…..a big one…..a huge one…..