By Maria Szabo
Disclaimer: The
Characters and storylines of X/1999 are the property of CLAMP, their publishers
and their distributors. This is a work
of fan fiction, and no profit is being made from it, nor is any infringement intended. Please don't sue!
Her chest was hurting again. The walk from the school to the Imonoyama
house was not far, but this was the first day she'd been allowed to go back to
class. She stopped and took a few deep
breaths. Inuki gave a yip of concern
and circled around her.
"Yuzuriha? Are you alright?" Kamui
shifted his book bag to his other hand as he backtracked, concern evident in
his eyes.
"I'm fine. I'm fine! Really!" She gave him a bright smile. "I'm still a little sore."
"We were walking too fast. I'm sorry."
"No, no! That's ok. You really didn't
have to walk me back. I'm really much
better!" She'd been surprised when he
insisted on escorting her both to and from the school.
Kamui shrugged. "It's no problem."
That was Kamui for you. When she first met him, he'd seemed pretty
full of himself, but she soon realized that he actually had a softer side to
him, one he rarely revealed.
"Well, I'm ok now. No need to worry. Besides, Inuki is here. Right, Inuki?"
The inugami gave a happy bark and wagged
his tail.
Kamui gave a brief smile and patted the
puppy on the head. "Got your breath
now? It's not much further."
She nodded her head. "Let's go. I've got a ton of homework!"
Inuki dashed about around them as they
continued on their way. He had a
tendency of floating more than his predecessor, but Yuzuriha put that down to
lack of exposure to other dogs. There
had always been lots of dogs back at the Mitsumine Shrine and the other Inuki
had taken cues from their behavior. This Inuki was a little more rambunctious than the other, but she didn't
mind. It would be fun training a new
partner.
They rounded a corner and the house
appeared in front of them. Imonoyama-san must be really rich, she thought, not for the first
time. She was so lucky to be able to
stay here and with her friends as well! She'd never been so happy in her life, even if they were having to fight
for the survival of the world. Even the
school here was better, although some of the other students still gave her odd
looks when she talked to Inuki.
"Hello? We're home!" Kamui opened the door, dodging out of the way as the
excited Inuki bounded past him and ran down the hall towards the dining room.
"Great! We're in here!" returned
Sorata's voice, rich with its Kansai twang. "And I just got the…OUCH! Dammit, Inuki!"
She grimaced and ran into the dining
room. Inuki was happily gnawing on the
Kouya's priest's ankle. Arashi was
sitting next to him at the table, with Subaru standing by the window, smoking a
cigarette that he hastily put out once he caught sight of Kamui. Yuzuriha grabbed the puppy by the scruff of
the neck.
"Stop that! Bad dog!"
Inuki tried to look contrite.
"Man, why am I the only one he chews
on?" Sorata complained, rubbing his
ankle. He glared at the puppy, who
barked cheerfully back and wagged his tail.
"I'm sorry. I think he likes you."
"Huh." Sorata was not impressed with that logic. Then his eyes got a familiar glint in them. "I sure wouldn't mind if Neechan chewed on
me a bit…what do you think, Neechan?"
He was rewarded by Arashi's cool glare.
"Maybe not. Hey, the mail just came. I got a package from Kouya! Wonder what Grandpa sent?" He
shook a large box experimentally. "Hmmm…"
Yuzuriha caught her breath. "Did I..um…were there any letters today?"
"Oh, yeah, a whole stack of 'em." Sorata began to flip through the pile. "Sumeragi, Sumeragi, Sumeragi…man, you get a
lot of mail, Suburu-san…Sumeragi…hey, Neechan! Here's one for you!" He gave the
Ise Shrine Maiden a big smile and handed her the letter with a bow as if only
he could have accomplished the task. "Sumeragi…"
Subaru crossed the room and took the rest
of the letters from Sorata. "Since most
of them are mine, maybe I should sort them."
Sorata shrugged and went back to
investigating his box. Arashi had
already opened her letter and was reading, her face as unemotional as
ever. Kamui gave a glance of smothered
longing towards the preoccupied Subaru and then wandered out of the room. Inuki made to follow him, then changed his
mind and settled down close to the window. Yuzuriha watched them all with interest, trying to subdue her
disappointment.
It was silly, she knew, to be expecting a
letter from Kusanagi-san so early. She
wasn't even sure if he'd gotten her letter yet. She'd felt a little shy about writing him since she'd admitted
her feelings towards him. He had said
that he didn't mind if she loved him. And when she said she wished they could get to know each other better,
he said he felt the same way. He was so
vague…but the look in his eyes…she put her hands up to her burning cheeks.
"There's a letter for you,
Yuzuriha-chan." Subaru absently handed
her an envelope. "The rest are mine."
"So why do you get all that mail anyway?"
asked Sorata, shamelessly, as he continued his unsuccessful quest to open the
package from Kouya.
"Clan matters, Arisagawa-kun." The Sumaragi sounded bored. "What happened to Kamui?"
Yuzuriha didn't hear the rest of the
conversation. Her heart beating a
little too fast, she opened the letter and started reading…
It was from her Grandmother. She'd heard that Yuzuriha had been hurt and
wanted to know the details. The dogs
were fine, but the new caretaker that was supposed to be helping with the
cleaning was not working out. She hoped
the battle for the end of the world was going well and that Yuzuriha was being
careful. She missed her.
Grandma, she thought. Why do I feel let down?
"This is so cool! Grampa sent my winter robes!" Sorata's cheer broke her reverie. "Oh, these are great…Neechan, what do you
think? Should I model 'em for you? Then you could finally show me yours…"
"No." replied Arashi, blushing slightly.
"Oh, come on! Pleeease? Ouch! Inuki!" The inugami nipped him again for good measure.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Yuzuriha cringed. "He
just really likes you…"
"Good dog." Murmured Arashi. Her hand wandered over to the puppy and gave
it an approving pat.
"Neechan!" the priest protested, "Some
sympathy here!"
"Sympathy for what?"
They all turned at the sound of another
female voice. Karen Kasumi was standing
at the doorway, with Kamui and Seiichiro Aoki just behind her.
"Did she hurt you, Sorata-kun?" the red-haired woman asked.
"Always." He sighed, "But! I still love her anyway."
Karen giggled. "Of course you do."
She made her way to the table and took the
last free chair. Seiichiro and Kamui
had brought in two more chairs from the kitchen. Subaru hovered close, leaning against the wall.
"You're looking much better,
Yuzuriha-chan!" said Seiichiro pleasantly. He took a package out of his briefcase. "My wife made these for you…she sends her best wishes."
"Thank you, Aoki-san!" It was a package of cookies. Yuzuriha grinned and set them on the
table. "Please, everyone…"
"So, Sorata-kun. Why have you called us together today?" asked Karen. She was a
little more conservatively dressed than usual. "Have you had any news?"
The priest shrugged. "Not much. But, now that Yuzuriha-chan's feeling better, I thought we'd better meet
and catch up with our information. We're playing catch-up here. They've got that dreamseer…"
"Two of them." Murmured Arashi.
"And with Hinoto-sama ill…" Seiichiro
continued the thought.
"Exactly." Sorata nodded decisively. "They've got a big tactical advantage."
"But "Kamui hesitated as they all turned towards him. "Isn't the Chairman and his people helping
us out? We have the computers."
"They have computers too." Yuzuriha surprised herself with the bitterness
in her voice. "And that girl…the one
who killed my Inuki."
Puppy Inuki whimpered and pushed his snout
against her hand.
"That's why we need to figure out a way to
predict where the Dragons of Earth may strike next." Finished Sorata. He looked
around the table. "What have we learned
so far about them?"
"Very little." Admitted Seiichiro. "You know the leader, don't you, Kamui?"
Kamui looked pale. "I know who he used to be. Fuuma…Fuuma wasn't like that…"
Subaru placed a hand on the young man's
shoulder. Kamui took a deep breath.
"I can't predict what he might do." He
admitted. "What about the others?"
"It doesn't seem like they're acting in
tandem." Arashi noted in her quiet way. "They seem to be working separately."
"Except the two that were at the train
station." Seiichiro interjected. "There
was the well-dressed blond man…and he was helping the other one…"
"The boy. I think it was a boy." Mused Karen. "He was very strange…like a small child in an adult's body…"
"The blond guy is probably that Kigai
fella that I met." Commented Sorata. "He was dressed pretty snazzy."
"Handsome?" asked Karen.
"Oh, yeah. But not as pretty as Kamui here."
"Shut up." Muttered Kamui. He was sensitive about his looks. "What about the others?"
"Hmmm. Well. We got the leader. We've got the two guys that Karen-san and
Aoki-san fought. We know there's a
dreamseer somewhere…that's four."
"The girl I fought." Said Yuzuriha.
"That's five…"
"Sakurazukamori." Whispered Subaru. His eyes clouded over.
"That's six. There should be seven…anyone else?" Sorata looked around the talbe, but the others just shook their
heads. "That's bad. There's one we haven't found yet."
"They might be keeping him in
reserve." Seiichiro suggested.
"Or HER." Karen said. "We don't know what we facing here."
The rest of the meeting didn't go much
better, thought Yuzuriha as she gave Karen-san a big hug and promised Aoki-san
to read the next issue of the magazine he was editing. She smiled to herself wryly. Aoki-san was so anxious about his job and
talked about it all the time...not at all like Kusanagi-san, who didn't say a
whole lot about what he did. All she
knew was he was in the Defense Force, but surely there were a lot of different
jobs. She'd have to ask him. He'd tell her if she asked.
"What did you think, Subaru-san?"
He didn't answer at first, instead drawing
on his cigarette as he watched Kamui, Sorata and Arashi walk the other two
towards the gate. Finally, he let out a
breath of smoke and turned his one good eye towards her.
"Arisugawa-kun had a good idea, calling us together, but I'm not sure we made any progress."
"No." she agreed. Inuki butted his head against her, demanding
attention. She petted him
absently. "They're so powerful…the
Dragons of Earth."
"Hmm." Subaru let out another plume of
smoke, looking much like a dragon himself. "Earth…now that's a thought."
"What's that?"
"Earth. They seem to correspond to us…Fuuma to Kamui, myself and Seishirou-san…"
"Who?"
He twitched a little. "The Sakurazukamori. That's his name. You and that computer girl each work with tools of a sort. We have Aoki-san, who controls air and
Karen-san, who controls fire."
Yuzuriha was confused. "So?"
"That Kigai-san…Karen-san said he
controlled water. It follows that they
must have a geomancer as well. For
earth. Perhaps that's the hidden
Dragon."
"Air, Fire, Water, Earth." She said. "The four elements. It makes sense, I suppose. But what about Sorata-san and
Arashi-san? And the strange boy and the
dreamseer?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's
not such a good theory after all." He
finished his cigarette and crushed it under his boot. "Who could that be?"
The phone was ringing. Yuzuriha waited at the door for the others
while Subaru ran to answer it. It had
been too long a day, and she still had homework to do before she could get any
sleep. She saw Kamui, Sorata and Arashi
heading back up the drive. Inuki did,
too, and decided to run to meet them.
"Inuki!" she reminded the dog, "Don't
bite!"
She turned to go inside and ran straight
into Subaru.
"Phone's for you." He said. "He didn't give his name."
To be continued
