until we meet again
Shi Lin (silver_phoenix@usa.net)
Notes: This is a Tokyo Babylon/Yami no Matsuei crossover.
Spoilers for Kyoto arc of Yami (tanks 7-8) and TB vol 5. Rather screwy timeline - I'm
assuming Yami and TB operate on the same timeframe for this fic. Forgive. ^^; Shounen-ai
implications, but blink and you won't see them. (No, it's *not* Subaru/Hisoka. .)
--------------------------------------------
insert standard disclaimers here ------------------------------------------
Until We Meet Again
= tasogare no shounen-tachi = (1)
Evening. An impish ocean breeze was tousling his hair; a lone
seagull shrieked as it dived into his field of vision and ducked out as quickly as it had
entered.
Kurosaki Hisoka shifted position on the large rock that was
his perch and pushed a few stray wheat-gold strands out of his eyes. Tried to relax, with
more success than he'd previously had. This was a nice beach as beaches went in Japan,
with clean white sand and balmy winds. And it was, as far as he could see, deserted. That
was best of all. He *needed* the quiet, needed the solitude that was near impossible to
get back in Enma-chou.
He leaned back on both hands. Looked at fluffy clouds
drifting languidly past, tinted orange by the semicircle of molten crimson-amber touching
a sparkling horizon, and blocked out everything that had happened in the previous weeks.
Refused to think about Oriya, and the subsequent revelation of the futility of hatred
against his tormentor. Refused to think about Tsuzuki curled up in Touda's fire, purple
eyes bleak and void against the shiki's black flames of death. Refused to think of Muraki
still alive and the unbroken curse on his body.
*Tried* to refuse, anyway.
Hisoka swore under his breath and shut his eyes tightly. No
use. Even here it wasn't any good. No matter where he was, the images of their Kyoto trip
would come back to haunt him, dancing mockingly at the edges of his mind with tortured
clarity.
They hurt.
He hurt.
And yet Tsuzuki's unhealed scars hurt more than both combined. They weren't physical, but
-
// A scream split the night's silence.
"Tsuzuki. Oi, Tsuzuki. Wake UP! You're having a nightmare!"
Purple eyes snapped open, staring past him at some horror he was unable to touch. The
stark grieving in them was almost more than he could bear. //
I want power, he thought painfully. If I had been strong
enough, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened, maybe *he* wouldn't have been hurt...
"Excuse me?" The voice that cut into his reverie
was gentle, a soft alto coming from behind. He started and turned to see a slender boy
about his age standing on the rock. He was all in black, clad in a long-sleeved turtleneck
and jeans. A flat-topped black hat was on his head and black silk gloves covered his
hands. Two large eyes were emeralds that outstripped the colour of the real stones.
Hisoka's eyes narrowed slightly. *This* was no ordinary
human. For one, there were lingering traces of otherworld spiritual energy about him that
humans were definitely not supposed to have. Added to a shimmering aura of _magic_,
pulsing with concealed power to his reikan, the boy was someone he wouldn't care to turn
his back on in a battle. Pushing away a brief stab of envy, the shinigami focused his mind
for any stray thoughts that would clue him to this stranger's purpose, but could detect
nothing more than mild curiosity and surprise.
The boy smiled, a gesture open and sunny. "Would I be
disturbing you if I sat here? I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone else would come to this
rock. It's so out of the way."
"It's all right," Hisoka said, moving to make room
for him. "I should apologise for intruding on your private place. Would it be better
if I left?"
The other looked distressed. "Please, don't! This is a
public beach, after all - anyone can come here!"
Hisoka blinked. The boy removed his hat and let the wind toss
dark hair back from a heart-shaped face. "Although you are right. This rock *is*
something of a private place for me." He paused. "May I know your name?"
"...Kurosaki Hisoka."
Another smile. "Sumeragi Subaru. Pleased to meet
you."
Sumeragi...the name rang a bell, and he frowned slightly,
trying to place it. After a few moments his eyes widened, and he gazed at the young man
beside him with new respect. "Onmyouji," he said quietly, seeing his companion
start in shock. "You are, aren't you?"
Subaru nodded, looking uncomfortable. "I suppose you've
heard of my family."
"Yes." Now he recalled the chatter of servants back
in his ancestral home, about the ancient Sumeragi dynasty that had been protecting Japan
from darkness for longer than anyone could remember. He'd had some basic training in
onmyoujutsu before joining the Shokan Division, and he could appreciate the effort it took
to summon and control the magic for rituals if one hadn't started practising from
childhood. All the same, that training had been the reason why he had adjusted to his
powers as a shinigami so easily.
A mere passerby would never have seen, much less believed,
that this delicately attractive boy held enough power inherent to level Tokyo once he came
into full strength. It was even possible that the young onmyouji beside him was the Clan
Head, but Hisoka would not ask if the Sumeragi was unwilling to say it of his own
volition. Which he assuredly would be, if he had any sense at all. Bad enough that Hisoka
had recognised his name and what it stood for; to reveal something so important would have
been tantamount to suicide. If Hisoka had been an enemy. Which he was not, but that wasn't
the issue at stake.
"Kurosaki-san." It was Subaru's turn to frown,
smooth forehead creased in thought. "Your surname sounds very familiar, but I can't
recall where I heard it before..."
Something inside him chilled. Tightened and finally numbed,
the way it always did whenever the subject of his family came up. "You might
have," he finally managed to reply. "They're one of the older lineages from
Shinakawa."
----
"Shinakawa...ah!" The dark-haired boy brightened.
He hadn't missed the fact that Kurosaki-san had used 'they're' rather than 'we're' in
referring to his ancestral line, but discreetly chose to ignore it. "I've heard
Grandmother mention you once or twice before. Your family specialises in the teaching and
practice of traditional Japanese martial arts, doesn't it?"
Kurosaki-san was concentrating on the view in front of them.
"You could say that." Subaru noted the odd lack of inflection in his voice and
decided not to press any further. He didn't make a habit of dissecting the familial feuds
of others unless his professional services were required, and even then he seriously
doubted Kurosaki-san needed any help in *that* area.
For Kurosaki-san wasn't human.
He didn't fit the category of ghosts or lost souls, but he
definitely didn't belong in the Ningenkai. Subaru didn't know *what* he was, but he could
sense that he didn't harbour any ill intent towards Tokyo or any of its denizens by
visitng it. That was a relief, and proof enough that he wasn't evil, whatever else he
might be.
No, the almost painfully slim boy sitting next to him wasn't
evil, but he *was* troubled. That much was obvious from the tense, defensive set of his
body and shadowed grief in the luminous eyes so like his own. Subaru was concerned.
Kurosaki-san wasn't a spirit per se, nor was he human - but *nobody* should have to be so
unhappy.
And so he had approached the figure curled up on the rock,
wanting to see if there was any way at all in which he could give a little comfort, but it
looked like it was beyond his abilities as a normal person...
Kurosaki-san suddenly twitched, looking somewhat disgruntled.
Subaru blinked. "Is something wrong?"
"I think I should tell you to guard your thoughts around
me, Sumeragi-san," the blonde boy said in a tone that was - surprised? A touch
confused and resigned, perhaps? "Call me something of an empath - I can pick up what
you're thinking if you don't shield yourself."
It took a moment for Subaru to register this, and he flushed
in dismay when realisation impacted. "I-I'm so sorry!" he gasped. "Then you
know - I - you -"
There was a faint gleam of what *might* have been amusement
in the other's eyes as he nodded. "Onmyouji," he said dryly, meeting Subaru's
gaze. "It was wishful thinking on my part to hope you hadn't discovered I'm not
supposed to be here."
Subaru flushed again. "Please accept my apologies,
Kurosaki-san - it was just surprising to see a spirit who *didn't* have some, erm,
unfinished business to settle in this city." He hesitated, then added, "Although
you couldn't really be called a 'spirit', could you."
Green looked into green unblinkingly. "No."
"I won't ask you to say anything about what you
are," the onmyouji said carefully. "But if there's something bothering
you...maybe you'd like to talk about it? It might make you feel better, perhaps..."
Kurosaki-san stared at him for so long Subaru felt himself
turning red another time. "I-I really *am* sorry!" he squeaked. "Of course,
it's none of my business...please, ignore that..."
But Kurosaki-san shook his head, wheat-gold strands stained
amber by the dying sun, and eyed him with a mixture of curious bemusement. "I'm not
upset. What I don't understand is Sumeragi-san's concern for someone he never saw before
today. Why? How can you trust me when you don't know what I am?"
"...I'm not sure myself," Subaru confessed, still
red. "Maybe my job is affecting me, but it's just...I don't like to see others sad.
That's all. I know you don't have any evil intents. That's good enough for me." He
half-expected the other boy to look more confused, or even disbelieving, but Kurosaki-san
merely turned to gaze at the sea, an oddly thoughtful expression shadowing his delicate
features.
"Someone I know once told me the same thing," he
quietly remarked. "I didn't believe him. I thought he was an idiot, that nobody
besides him would think like that. But maybe I was wrong." He bit his lower lip,
facing Subaru again. "I'm weak, Sumeragi-san. And I hate it. I want to be strong so I
can protect what's important to me. If I had power like yours...maybe I could have stopped
things from going wrong."
Subaru was silent.
"Kurosaki-san," he finally said. "I don't
pretend to understand your situation, but all I can say is...great power isn't always
strength. Sometimes, things happen where all the power one wields can't do anything."
// "Somebody was knocked down by a car!"
He'd ran, dropping the bento and shoving into the crowd with hasty apologies. Only to
find, on breaking through to the scene of the accident, the body of the gentle old man
whom the birds had loved crumpled on black cement in a pool of crimson blood...
Shock. Horror. Disbelief.
"As long as Sachiyo's happy..."
"FATHER!!" //
All the magic in the world hadn't let him save the old man,
hadn't allowed him to leave this world without pain...
// "That's why, if there's a [next time], you must live
a life without regrets..."
The woman had been speechless. She'd stared at him, then shut her eyes -
"Thank you!"
And departed in a swirl of energy. For good. //
Yet he had managed to let the soul of that woman in the
karaoke lounge find peace just by talking to her -
Which was the greater strength, really?
"Kurosaki-san, please believe me," he said
earnestly. "Trust your heart more than the power you wield. It can give you the
strength you need when power alone doesn't suffice."
Pause. The other pair of verdant eyes was torn between doubt
and an almost desperate longing to believe.
"I...don't know," the blonde boy said slowly,
reluctantly. "I'll think about it."
Subaru smiled. "That's good enough."
By now the sun had almost disappeared below the shimmering
horizon; bright orange-red had deepened to hues of soft indigo and blue. Kurosaki-san
sighed and abruptly stood up. "I should be going now." He hesitated, not looking
at him.
"...Thank you."
The onmyouji's smile softened as he got to his own feet.
"Don't mention it. Only...would it be all right for you to tell me *what* you are
exactly? I'm curious..."
Kurosaki-san opened his mouth, forming words - syllables,
rather. And his eyes -
deeper than the sea before them...?
"Subaru-kun~!"
The Sumeragi yelped, whirling around to see a tall figure in
a dark suit running towards him. "*There* you are! Hokuto-chan's having a fit! You
were supposed to meet us at five, remember?"
"S-Seishirou-san!" he stammered in dismay.
"Sumimasen - I forgot all about it! I met this boy..."
Seishirou-san easily leapt onto the rock beside him.
"Boy?" He scanned the area. "I don't see anybody."
Subaru turned back, but Kurosaki-san was gone.
// Shi-ni-ga-mi... //
Shinigami?
Emerald eyes widened.
"Subaru-kun, I'm hurt," the older man said
piteously. "You mean you went on a date with another boy behind my back? How could
you?"
The young onmyouji blushed furiously. "Ch-chigau!"
he wailed. "It wasn't like that at all!"
"Then what *was* it like? Was he better-looking than
me?"
"Sei*shi*rou-saaan!"
----
God of Death.
Maybe someday I'll see you again. Until then...take care,
Kurosaki Hisoka-san.
----
"Hi-so-kaaa!"
Tsuzuki scampered - that was the only word for it - up to him
as he approached his house back in Enma-chou, dog ears and tail waving anxiously.
"Where did you *go*?! I was worried sick! And Tatsumi gave me hell for not watching
you properly!"
He stopped and looked at his partner. "Tadaima."
"Tadaima? TADAIMA?! I spent an hour looking for you
before coming to wait here, and all you can say is THAT - wait a...?"
Amethyst eyes blinked, rounding in incredulity, and Tsuzuki
smiled. A *real* smile, not the hollow mask of one he'd been wearing the past few weeks.
"...Okaeri."
"Hmph." Hisoka opened the gate and entered, a perky
Tsuzuki-inu on his heels. If one simple word could erase some of the shadows from his
eyes, then -
----
If I could make him happy just by saying that...
Maybe Sumeragi-san was right.
Maybe.
= owari =
------------------
1)Roughly translates to 'teenagers of twilight'. ^^;
2)I screwed Subby up. I'm sorry. . But he's never really interacted with folks his
own age other than Hokuto, so...I *tried*. Come to think of it, Hisoka is screwed up too.
o.o
3)I blame Val-san for giving me inspiration. XD; Well, the article she wrote about the
similarities between TB/Yami glomped and wouldn't let go, actually.
4)I CRAVE C&C. ;_; Pleeeaasee, kind soul?
