X

X: Epilogue

By Sakura

            I walk down the streets not really seeing anything. My thoughts are elsewhere. Some other day.

            The 'Promised Day' had come and gone. We had won. The earth and humanity were spared for yet another millennium.

            The 'Promised Day'. The day I fought him. "Seishirou-san." I whisper under my breath. Where was Sakurazukamori? I did not know. It had almost been a year since that day.

            We fought each other like demons; neither one wanting to lose, but neither of us could bring ourselves to kill the other.

            I because, even though he had killed my sister, my twin, I still loved him. I know that the loving and gentle vet I once knew was gone, yet I still secretly hoped that there was still one tiny ember of that person buried deep down inside the Sakurazukamori's soul waiting to be set ablaze again.

            Why he had spared me. I don't know and probably never will. "Could it be, because you --?" I stop myself before I can voice the foolish hope I still had in my grieving and lonely heart.

            I continue to walk through the streets of Tokyo as its people go about their business.

            "I'm home." I say as I breathe in deep the smells of Tokyo's streets. "I'm home Subaru-kun."

            Subaru-kun. It had been almost a year since I last saw him. Fighting him that day was the hardest thing I could do. As much as I wanted our side to win, I couldn't bring myself to kill the onmyouji and end this hunt. My Subaru-kun.

            Yes I regarded him as mine. He was after all, my prey. I had marked him. But yet, I found myself not only wanting to have him, but also some tiny part of me wanted him to have me. That was when I realized that he had won the bet after all. He just let me think I'd won.

            I smile to myself as I watch Tokyo's people pass me by, my sunglasses hiding the loneliness in my eyes. "Are you here as well Subaru-kun?" I whisper. I think of my 'prey' and begin to feel a slight pang of guilt come over me.

            Guilt at having to fight him –- at having killed Hokuto-chan, his twin sister.

            My thoughts travel back to that time, six years ago. I had found myself thinking of Subaru-kun more and began to think of him as a person rather than a thing as I was supposed to do. After all, I was supposed to kill him. He saw me kill that girl so many years ago. He had to die for that. I was the law of the Sakurazukamori. Any one witnessing a kill of mine had to die.

            I thought if I killed him, those confusing feelings would stop and I could go back to being Sakurazukamori. But his grandmother, remarkable woman that she is, had saved him before I could finish the job. I would've disappeared from Tokyo after that, but she had to go and challenge me.

            I thought since she looked so much like my Subaru, I could be rid of the guilt and pain I was feeling if she died in his place.

            I was wrong. Very wrong. My pain and guilt only increased as the years rolled by. I have stopped killing entirely now. The 'Promised Day' had finally exorcised the Sakurazukamori from my soul.

            No matter how hard I fought against him, I could not kill him. Seeing him standing before me, his eyes so full of sadness and determination, forced me to feel the guilt and pain I had buried inside me even more.

I had managed to knock him off his feet and I stood above him ready to deliver the final blow that would end this hunt, His eyes showed nothing but acceptance, acceptance of his fate. I could see he was not afraid to die –- was willing to die.

"Why don't you kill me? You've won," he said, his emerald eyes sparkling with a tiny glimmer of hope. I smiled and inwardly chuckled. 'He still loves me.' I had thought.

"Have I Subaru-kun?" I remember myself saying. I knew he meant the bet when he said I'd won. I leapt from the building not even bothering to look back. I had to get away and think things over. Did I really want to end this hunt?

I fled. I had fled from Tokyo that day, from him. I could no longer be near him knowing that his hate for me was stronger than that brief flicker of hope and love in his eyes.

His eyes, I see them pass by me and I look to see Subaru-kun pass by me not even bothering to look at those around him.

"How typical of you Subaru. You always hide within yourself when things get a little rough." I say.

            I decide to follow him, letting the old hunter's instincts kick in. "It seems you need my protection yet again, Subaru-kun." I whisper as I see him accidentally bump into someone and apologize then go on his way. I chuckle a bit then set off after my beloved onmyouji.

            I continue to walk through the streets of Tokyo; streets I have not seen for almost a year. Buildings and people pass by me in a blur. Only one thing, one person occupies my thoughts: Sakurazukamori.

            "Did you leave Tokyo like I did, Seishirou-san?" I murmur aloud. Something falls on my head. I reach up and see a sakura petal in my hand. A delicate pink petal.

            Then I realize I'm standing under the tree. The Sakura where I first met Seishirou Sakurazuka, the man who would occupy the rest of my life.

            I close my eyes and think of the year Hokuto-chan and I spent with him. I smile a little, for that year was the happiest time of my life. For a while I was free to be myself, free from Obaasan's harsh training, free to be Subaru Sumeragi, not Subaru Sumeragi, thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan. Also I had the two people I loved most with me. I wasn't son alone like I am now.

            Seishirou-san, where are you?

            I follow the painfully thin figure through the crowded streets. Masking my presence from those around us rather than from him, which wasn't too hard to do. People have always seemed to know to avoid me whenever they see me. It was part of being Sakurazukamori.

            He is so far into his own thoughts that he has failed to sense me yet. I smile as I see him stop by a certain sakura tree and pick a blossom petal off his head. This is where I met the only person I know to actually break through this hard shell of mine.

            I continue to smile as I think of the nine-year-old boy watching me kill a little girl. So unafraid he was. I still wonder about that, most children would have run away screaming and crying or at least had said something to their parents. But not my Subaru-kun. He never did and probably never talk about that.

            I watch as he leans against the trunk and closes his eyes. A smile appears on his face. Thinking of happier times, ne, Subaru-kun?

            I sneak around behind the Sakura, not an easy task. The souls of all my victims trapped in the tree began to sense my presence and the branches start to release a blizzard of sakura blossoms as they shake violently.

            I place a hand on the trunk and tell them, one soul in particular, that I have not come to kill the young man leaning against the trunk of their prison. The branches stop their quivering and I peek to see if he had noticed.

            No. He was still leaning against the tree, his eyes closed. He was still daydreaming. I stifle a chuckle as I see his head is covered in sakura blossoms. I feel a similar chuckle coming from the tree not realizing I still had my hand on it. So you think this is amusing too, ne Hokuto-chan? I say to the soul inside the tree. A somewhat gentle breeze stirs the branches and yet more blossoms fall.

            "I miss you, Seishirou-san." I hear him whisper. I could no longer resist the urge to be near him. Silently I come from behind the sakura and come up close behind him. As he turns to go, I wrap my arms around him, pressing him close to me.

            "Going somewhere Subaru-kun?" I say breathing in the scent of his sakura scented hair. Poor Subaru-kun still hasn't noticed he's covered with sakura blossoms. I chuckle and he tenses expecting me to kill him.

            My memories drift and I begin to feel that longing again, the longing for him, for my Seishirou-san. Not the cold-blooded killer, but the kind, gentle vet I once knew.

            I can still feel his arms around me. As I turn to go, I feel someone grab me from behind and a voice in my ears says, "Going somewhere, Subaru-kun?" It is the one voice I thought I would never hear again, his voice.

            "Hello, Seishirou-san." I say coolly. Not sure which Seishirou this is. My Seishirou or the Chi no Ryuu. I instinctually tense in his grasp, expecting to be attacked or worse.

            "I missed you too, Subaru-kun. Welcome home," he says. I blush as I realize he heard me. I feel a gentle kiss on the top of my head and turn to face him as he brushes of sakura blossoms from my hair and shoulders.

            I force myself to look at him. I'm not ready for another battle with Sakurazukamori now. Still I face him and see…

            Sadness, Pain, Guilt, Love? Yes there is love his good eye. Hidden by the other emotions he's fighting, but it's there. I smile a little. I may have lost my Seishirou, but enough of him remained in this man before me.

            Before I know what I'm doing, I fling myself against him and wrap my arms around him. "Aishiteru, Seishirou-san." I say half expecting him to laugh or worse.

            I gently brush the blossoms off his head and shoulders as he turns to face me. The first time in years I am frightened, frightened that he'd push me away, say I'm teasing when I am for once being earnest.

            I resist the urge to back away from him and look straight at his beautiful face. Still painfully thin, still pale as he was a year ago.

            His eyes of course are an open book as always. They speak volumes to me. In them I see fear, fear I might tease, fear I might kill, fear of making a fool of himself. I also see loneliness that mirrors my own as well as the strain of fighting it. But what surprises me most is the love. Hidden deep in those gorgeous dark emeralds is a tiny spark of love, the love I saw so often when I spent a year with him and Hokuto-chan. I hadn't seen it for so long that it took me completely by surprise.

            Then I begin to feel ashamed of myself for everything I did to him. But I also begin to hope that he'd accept me for what I was and that I did love him. I looked at him only hinting at the love I felt for him. Still he said nothing.

            As I was about to give up and let him go, I feel him press against me and wrap his arms around me. My instincts tell me to kill, but I force them to shut up and force myself to relax into his embrace.

            I hear him say, "Aishiteru, Seishirou-san." But he was still unsure of my intentions. That I could sense in his voice.

            Guess I'll have to show him what I'm up to, ne? I smiled and hug my onmyouji back. He stiffened again, but only for a second, then relaxed letting me stroke the black silk that was his hair.

            "Suki da yo mo." I fin myself saying. I cupped my hand under Subaru's chin and gently lift his face to mine. "There's nothing to fear from me anymore, Subaru. Sakurazukamori's gone." I tell him.

            I see the trust in his bright green eyes a hand on his pale cheek, caressing the soft skin.

            "Aishiteru," he says and his lips meet mine.

            "Let's go home Subaru," I say after a few moments of pure bliss.

            He nods and I put an arm around his slender waist. He presses against me and we start walking toward my apartment. I smile knowing that finally I get to have my Subaru-kun, but the former Ten no Ryuu had captured me as well. For now my heart belonged completely to him and only him.

            I sense the gentle swaying of the branches of the Sakura as we leave the grove. It was as if the souls in the Sakura were wishing us well in our new life together. "Aishiteru," I say, holding him to me not wanting him to let me go.

            Indeed the hunt had ended, but not the way I had expected it to. The hunter had been caught by his prey. I smile as we walk away.

            Ganbatte Sei-chan! I hear as another breeze sways the sakura branches.

            Arigatou, Hokuto-chan. I whisper to the soul of his sister as I feel him wrap his arm around me.

Owari