Wings of Desire MS Normal MS 1 1 2001-11-09T02:47:00Z 2001-11-09T02:48:00Z 1 1842 10504 df 87 24 12322 10.2625 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";}

Wings of Desire

By Maria Szabo

Disclaimer:  X belongs to CLAMP, its publishers and distributors.  This is a work of fanfiction and no profit is being made save that of enjoyment.

Part 3

     Evening had come, and with it, the rain.  She shivered in his arms, trying not to get wet.  He held her gently and stroked her head.  She didn't want him to leave.  It was so obvious, in the way she looked up at him with those big, beautiful eyes, her mouth slightly open to make a small sound of protest as she clutched at him…

     "Hey, Shiyuu-san!  Put the cat down and get your ass in gear!  We gotta go!"  Saito's whiny voice, laced with impatience, broke the magic of the moment.

     Reluctantly, he gave the little cat a hug and put her back down on the ground.  "I have to leave now," he said sadly, "You try to take care of yourself."

     She looked a little hurt.  He turned quickly and headed over to the truck.  Nagoya extended an arm to help him into the back, and he elbowed his way into a sitting space.  He shrugged his pack off his shoulders and settled it between his knees as he sat. 

     "Damn, Shiyuu-san.  Cutting it close there."  Nagoya's tone was less worried than annoyed.

     "He found himself another admirer." Teased Yamaguchi.  He was one of the few men who dared.  "Man, I don't know what it is about you, Shiyuu-san.  You must smell like fish or something, having those cats follow you around."

     "Yeah, too bad it's not the women, huh?" Kusanagi commented, a little dryly.  A round of approving laughter, and the men turned their conversation to another topic.

     Which was precisely the point, he thought, as he lowered his cap over his eyes.  He'd learned to be careful about his abilities, but it was a difficult thing in the JSDF, especially when he spent so much time with his comrades-in-arms.  His thoughts went back to the little cat he'd left behind—she was barely into adulthood, a sweet little white thing with black spots and a bobbed tail, and plenty of spirit.  She'd had a home—it was destroyed in the latest earthquake, and her humans had forgotten her in their rush to leave Tokyo.  She was trying to survive, but she'd not been raised to it and he doubted that she'd make it more than another few weeks. 

     He sternly pushed down the wave of pity that rushed over him.  It was a harsh world and his little friends knew and accepted that he could not be of aid to them.  Wryly, he fantasized about owning a little house with a little door just for his four-legged friends and a balcony for the feathered ones.  Ha.  Not in this wretched city.  He was lucky to have the bunk space the JSDF assigned to him.

     Kusanagi usually tried to avoid talking to his friends while on duty—his secret about who he was and what he could do needed to remain intact.  But he couldn't resist this little one.  She was so determined and feisty.  And she reminded him of Yuzuriha.

     "So what do YOU think, Shiyuu-san?"

     "Huh?"

     Yamaguchi snorted.  "Yeah, you weren't listening, were you?"  The short, lanky man shifted a little in his seat to look at him.  "You have got to watch yourself, man.  You can't keep picking up strays like that."

     Thinking of Yuzuriha, he slowly nodded his head.  "Guess not."

     "'Guess Not.'  Hell, listen to yourself."  Yamaguchi waved his hand in front of Kusanagi's eyes.  "Wake up, man!  What is with you today?"

     "Sorry.  Not enough sleep." 

     The smaller man looked up at Kusanagi with a distinctive glint in his eyes.  "You sure  got in late last night, Shiyuu-san."

     "Hmmm."  Too late, he thought.

     "Had a date?"

     "Hmmm."  She's just a kid.  But last night…

     "That pretty lil' thing you brought into the infirmary a while back?"

     "Hmmm."  Yuzuriha…why did you do that?  But it felt…dammit, I cannot be feeling this…I need to stay focused…and she's so young…

     "Thought so."  Yamaguchi was quiet for a moment, his round face reflecting a debate in his head.  "You know, I usually am the last man alive to comment on anybody else's business…"

     Yeah, right.

     "But you've been really out of it today, Shiyuu-san.  That little girlfriend of yours…"

     "What about her?" to his surprise, he spoke the thought.

     "Well…if young is your thing, man, that's fine.  We've all got our preferences."  Yamaguchi shrugged.  "And those babes look damn hot in those cute little uniforms, I'll be the first to admit.  But you need to be careful."

     You don't know the half of it.

      "What's a girl that age wanting with an older guy?"

     That's what I want to know.

      "The one thing the young guys don't have."

     The ability to see inugami?

       "Money."

     Yeah, right.

       "It's true, man. They'll smile and simper and wiggle their butts, but the only thing they're thinking about is how expensive that next present is going to be."

     Flower petals.  Ice Cream.  A piece of cake.  Tea.  Priceless.

     "Now, I'm sure that missy is just the sweetest thing alive…"

     Bright eyes smiling up at him.  "You shouldn't change yourself, not for me…" she said.

     "And I don't doubt she's sexy…"

     Shy kisses that taste of oranges, warm and soft and yielding…

     "But it'll never work, Shiyuu-san."

     She's a Dragon of Heaven.  I'm a Dragon of Earth.  On that final day…

     "You need to forget her, man.  She's no good for you."

     "Yeah." Kusanagi finally replied.  "You're probably right.  Just like that kitten, huh?"

     Yamaguchi blinked.  "Yeah," he said, "Like that kitty.  They're cute, you love 'em, but you can't keep 'em around.  Sometimes, you gotta just leave them behind."

     I should, he agreed silently.  I should leave her behind.  Unbidden, her face appeared before him, her eyes shining with desire and innocence and love.  She laughed up at him, pulled on his hand, chattered incessantly, wrapped her slim arms around his neck and pulled him closer, offering herself to him…

    Outside the truck, the rain continued to fall.  And in the distance, he could still hear the kitten mewing. 

     That should do it, thought Seishiro Sakurazuka as he let the suddenly-limp body fall from his bloodied hands.  The boy had died quickly and probably never knew what hit him.  The Guardian of the Sakura Barrow closed his eyes and reached out with his senses.  After a moment, he smiled.  The sacrifice had worked.  The kekkai was weakened.  A few well-placed spells should finish the matter.  The temple at Zojo-ji would fall, triggering a reaction throughout the Tsukiji district.

     He let himself feel a brief moment of satisfaction.  For nearly twenty years, he had honed his penchant for murder into a highly lucrative art form.   But after so many years, it had grown tedious.  Until now.  Destroying the many kekkai supporting Tokyo had required him to stretch his skills in a new way.  And it had brought Subaru-kun back into his life. Those gentle green eyes had lost their innocence, but still kept whatever magic it was that had attracted him in the first place.  Wiser, sadder, but still beautiful.  And still his.  

     As disciplined as ever, he set his thoughts away and concentrated on the problem at hand.  The sacrifice had weakened the kekkai, but he was faced with a few challenges in finishing his project.  The temple was an old one, but still active, and years of reverence had strengthened the kekkai that was tied to its great outer gate, the Daimon.  He absently considered the body below him, then with a negligent grace, kicked the dead boy's limbs into a grotesque spreadeagle, one limb pointed in each direction.  He pulled out an ofuda and focused his thoughts, murmuring a chant that slowly built in intensity.

     He was interrupted by the unmistakable scream of a kekkai, and not the one he was trying to destroy.  With a muttered curse, he looked up to see the sky hardening above him.  A dragon of Heaven.  Quickly, he cast his illusion about him, and waited for the enemy to appear.  He did not have to wait long.

     "Are you sure this is the place?"  A woman's voice, and footsteps.  "I don't see anything yet."

     "I'm certain of it," came a man's reply.  They came into view, a tall bespectacled businessman who looked vaguely familiar and a slender well-dressed woman with bright hair.  "Check around.  But be careful…"

     "I'm always careful," she laughed, and held out her hands.  Fire played from her fingertips.  "I'm just annoyed that we had to interrupt our meal."

     "Perhaps next time, Karen-san."  His voice was tense.  "Something feels very wrong here."

     "It's too dark.  Let's see if this will help…OH!"

     From the sound of her gasp, he surmised she must have found the boy.

     "Aoki-san!  Over here!"

     The man, Aoki-san, had knelt beside the boy.  Seishiro finally placed him.  Interesting.  The greatest of the Windmasters was a Dragon of Heaven.  He'd had a suspicion that Seiichiro Aoki would be involved in the End of the World.  The clan of the Windmasters tended to have their fingers in everything.

     The woman leaned over him.  "Is he?"

     "I'm afraid so.  Recently, it looks like." 

      "Oh, sweet Jesus… he was just a child!  Who could have done this?"  she also knelt down beside the boy, straightening his limbs and running her hand over his hair tenderly.  "Not much more than a baby…"

     Fire-elemental.  Christian.  Seishiro chuckled quietly to himself.  If she was who he thought she was, certain parties would pay well for the information of her whereabouts.  Provided she survived.

     "Whoever it was, he's probably still around.  Stay close."  Aoki stood, lifting his arms and the air whipped around him.  He then thrust his arms forward, and the wind, following, roared about the ancient temple, its wisps cutting like razors.  "Come out, murderer!  We know you're here!"

     His illusion was no match for such power, and he knew it.  He dropped it and began to weave a stronger one, one that would engulf all of them.  He cast out a handful of ofudas and cursed them, and from the paper grew several ravens, with talons as sharp as steel.  They descended upon the pair, tearing at them with beak and claw.

     Seishiro watched as the two elementals fought off the curse demons, studying their movements.  Aoki-san was trying to protect the woman, and this put him at a disadvantage.  Smiling, the assassin released another wave of ofudas, which materialized as darts, ripe with poison. 

     "Karen-san!  Stay behind me!  I'll draw them off!"  the Windmaster drew his hands together, creating a spiral that slowed the darts progress.  Most of them.  But it only takes one, Seishiro thought, as he unleased another attack.

     Aoki finally faltered, and the darts began to hit him, one in the arm, one in the shoulder.  The bright-haired woman caught him as he fell.  She gently helped him to the ground, then stood over him, tears flowing down her face but her eyes as flame.

     "Come out!" she demanded.  "Dragon of Earth!  Where are you?"  She raised her arms and fire gathered around her.  "Coward!  Come out!"

     The next attacks were futile.  Obviously more powerful than her comrade, she stood her ground and burned everything that came her way.  The flames danced across the temple, licking at the edge of his defenses, scalding him if he tried to move.  If he could stand firm for just a few more minutes, then… 

     A crackling sound startled them both.  He looked up at the sky and grinned triumphantly.  He'd guessed correctly—the Windmaster had created the kekkai, and wounded as he was, could not maintain it.  He wouldn't have to waste his energy on the woman.  Unfortunately, the shrine's kekkai was still intact, but the job could be easily finished later.  But at least now he could get away.

     "I beg your pardon, miss." He taunted as he set aside his illusion for a brief moment.  Face to face, he saw that she was older than he'd guessed from her voice, but still quite beautiful.  He bowed politely and gave her his most charming smile. "It seems I cannot stay to play with you longer.  Perhaps another time."

     He wove a shower of sakura petals, but not in time to avoid a scorching blast from the angry woman.  Elementals, he sighed.  So tempermental.  Now he'd have to replace his coat.

To be continued in part 4