Yume Spoilers for all of Tokyo Babylon, and X from November 2000's Asuka onwards (eventually). For Tokyo Babylon, I'm using Leareth's scanlations. For X, I draw on Kristin Olsen's Asuka text translations (particularly those for Seishirou's side-story) and Taryn's scanlations (for a better idea of what happens in That Scene).


Yume
Part Three.

He was woken up in the early hours of the morning by the distinct feeling that someone was doing something to his tree. He slipped out of bed, got dressed, and made his way to the Sakura the fastest way he could.

The figure sitting beneath the tree was very familiar to the Sakurazukamori. But it couldn't be Subaru - Subaru was already dead.

So, Hokuto then. "Hokuto-chan," he greeted her, smiling as if he didn't know that she knew who had killed her brother.

"Sei-chan," she said, coldly.

He leaned against the tree. "What brings you here so early in the morning?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she looked at him long and hard. "You know, I knew you were the Sakurazukamori, even from the beginning."

"Oh?" said Seishirou.

"But I figured, since you weren't acting like you wanted to hurt us, that you wanted to change." She laughed, bitterly. "I thought if I tried hard enough, you two would fall in love and the Sakurazukamori wouldn't exist anymore."

Seishirou folded his arms and waited for her to continue.

"I told you once that if you hurt him, I would kill you. Do you remember that?"

He nodded.

"I was beginning to suspect, then. And I began to prepare..."

He began to realise that the sense of rising power in the area wasn't just coming from the tree, although it was mostly masked by it.

"If you'd just killed him straight off, like you should do, I wouldn't be doing all this. After all, it's hard for a six year old to fight back against a teenager, isn't it?" She muttered something under her breath and released a spell. "But to toy him along like that, to deliberately break his heart - that I cannot forgive."

The world exploded around him. He felt the tree's presence disappear from his mind as it was destroyed by whatever spell Hokuto had prepared. He fell to the ground, gasping.

He had underestimated her. That was the most shocking thing.

"I should kill you now. But I don't think I will. After all, all you are now is human. Your emotions are no longer locked up in that tree, and with it gone you have very little power. Isn't that right, Sei-chan?"

He tried to speak but all he could do was wheeze.

"Don't come to me begging for forgiveness. You won't get it. Goodbye, Seishirou." And then she turned and walked away.

~ * ~

It felt like a chill swept across the room and he pulled the sheets tighter around him in a subconscious reaction to it. He idly wondered if he should rethink his assessment of the extent Hokuto would go to in order to protect her brother.

~ * ~

He was lying in Subaru's arms, the other onmyouji's hand through his heart. He could feel life slipping away from him more by the second.

"Subaru-kun. I..." He leaned forward. "I love you," he said into Subaru's ear. Then he collapsed.

"...You... never... say the words... I'm expecting to hear... do you," gasped Subaru through his tears.

Seishirou couldn't reply. However, the scene remained before his eyes, so that he felt like a spectator looking on as Subaru sobbed quietly over his body. He was slightly worried when the bridge began to collapse, but the Kamui of the Dragons of Heaven interfered with Subaru's impending death.

Seishirou had to fight a certain amount of jealousy at that.

The scene faded. He was watching Subaru talk to Kamui, several months after the disaster at Rainbow Bridge.

"Subaru..." Kamui was clutching at Subaru's hand. "Where are you going?"

"Kamui," said Subaru, gently avoiding the question. "I want you to remember, whatever happens, it was my choice."

"But..."

"I know what I have to do. I'm sorry, Kamui."

"You're not coming back, are you?"

Subaru shook his head.

"No... Please, you can't..."

"I have to." Subaru drew the young man into a tight hug. "I'm sorry. But either way, I'd have to leave you. The Sakurazukamori doesn't belong here."

"You're not--"

"I am. I killed him, therefore I am the Sakurazukamori."

"I mean, you're not like him, Subaru."

Subaru sighed. "No... and I can't become like him. Which is why I have do to this."

"It's not fair," sobbed Kamui.

"Is anything? You of all people should know about balance, Kamui."

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," said Subaru, drawing back. "Be strong, Kamui. The world needs you." He wiped a tear from Kamui's cheek. "And you'll get your Fuuma back some day. I'm sure of it."

The world shifted. Subaru was standing beneath the Sakura, obviously waiting for someone. It didn't take long.

"Hello," said Fuuma - no, 'Kamui'.

Subaru opened his eyes. "'Kamui'," he greeted the young man, coldly.

"Congratulations on your new position."

"I'm not joining your side," said Subaru, bluntly.

"How so? The Sakurazukamori is a Dragon of Earth."

"The Sumeragi head is a Dragon of Heaven."

"Well. I suppose it comes down to which has the greater power. And I think we both know which that is."

Subaru took a step forward. Closing his eyes, he launched an attack.

Seishirou saw it all before it happened. The attack was powerful - not powerful enough to kill, but enough to severely hurt the 'Kamui' if he didn't retaliate. Which, of course, he did. And Subaru let down all his guards.

The 'Kamui' of the Dragons of Earth regarded the body before him with a certain amount of surprise. "That was... unexpected."

Only to you, thought Seishirou. Only to those who don't know him.

The scene faded.

"He will make a far better Sakurazukamori than I ever could," said a quietly explanatory voice behind him.

He turned. "Subaru."

The Sumeragi took a step towards him. "You know," he said, bitterly, "of all the futures I imagined for us, this was never one of them."

A vision of the past swam before him. "I wonder who I'll be killed by."

"By the one you love more than anything."

"Subaru..." He sighed. He had nothing to say. "I didn't, either."

"Did you mean it? What you said to me?"

He shrugged. "What point would there be for a dying man to lie?"

"But you didn't have to die, did you?" insisted Subaru. "You knew the terms of the spell."

"Perhaps I wanted you to have your 'revenge'. Maybe I wanted to make you happy," he said, smiling slightly. "Perhaps I wanted to die..."

"There is no greater happiness than being killed by the one you love."

"You knew that would never make me happy. I never really wanted you to die."

"No."

"Seishirou-san..." He blinked rapidly, perhaps fighting tears. "I..."

He took a few steps forward of his own. "Do you forgive me now?"

Subaru laughed bitterly. "How can I not? I killed you. I'm no better than you are, now."

"You'll always be a better person than I am, Subaru-kun."

Subaru appeared to abandon all dignity and flung himself into Seishirou's arms, sobbing. "I hate destiny. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it..."

~ * ~

He dismissed that scene without even thinking about it. It would never happen.

~ * ~

To Be Continued...