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 4
He sat on the shore, watching the gulls swerve
and dive. The sun
glinted off the waves playfully and only a few patches of white marred the
perfect blue of the sky. This wasn't his dream, actually. It had
been
Hokuto's, and he'd kept it safe in his heart long
after she'd gone.
She sat there now, across from him, a memory of
happiness. She'd
pulled impatiently at her pajamas.
"They're so boring!" she claimed. He
thought them charming, but she
shook her head decisively. "They're awful! But no one sees me in
them,
except Subaru sometimes, and he doesn't care either way…"
"Your brother?"
"Yes! I try to get him to wear more
exciting pajamas, since, you
never know, one day Sei-chan may get the guts to
sneak in and….!" She
giggled. "Those two are soooo clueless! Men!"
He frowned. "Wait a minute, I'm…"
"Oh, I didn't mean you! I mean, I'm
sorry." She beamed up at
him. "But I think you need my help, too."
"I…help?"
"Well, yes. Look at those clothes!
Do you dress like that all the
time, in those awful traditional BORING rags?"
"Ah…"
"Uh-huh. I thought so." She
nodded. "If we're going to go out,
you're going to need to dress up a little. You look too old to be too
trendy, but I bet you'd look great in a suit…with a trenchcoat!
And if you
cut your hair a little…" she closed one eye and considered him. "Yes,
then
you'd be very stylish! And perfect for a cute girl like me!"
Her face grew serious then, and her slender hand
slipped into his
own. "I will get to meet you soon, won't I? In person, I
mean…"
"I want to meet you, too…although I'm afraid
I'll have to wait on the
suit."
He watched her laugh with wonderous
eyes. He couldn't tell her. She
had no idea what was going to happen. And he couldn't say anything…
"I thought you dreamt of the future, not the
past." KAMUI's voice
was sardonic.
Startled, Kakyou let
the dreamscape dissolve. Fuuma Monou, the
KAMUI of the Dragons of the Earth, stood before him, a dark look in his
cold eyes.
"You've been very quiet lately." KAMUI noted.
"There's been nothing to report."
"Nothing? Nothing that might be of interest?" he
bent down to
whisper in his ear, "Nothing at all? How strange…Satsuki-chan showed me
something very interesting today…that you didn't mention…"
Sakurazuka-san? Thought Kakyou. No, that was
old news, surely KAMUI
knew about him. But he didn't think the cyber-girl would turn on her
beloved Yuuto. He must have found out about Kusanagi, then.
"I showed you what I saw coming…"
"No. You showed HIM what you saw
coming. What HE sees, I see."
KAMUI's hand grasped his throat and tightened around
it. "How can I help
you, Kakyou, if you won't help me?"
Three couples to choose from, but only one was
the crux…perhaps…"I'm
sorry, forgive me." He let his tears fall once more. "Look…"
The dreamscape twisted into a building that
might have looked
glamorous for about a week thirty years ago. A man walked in, spoke
briefly with the attendant, showed a card, and was led to a room. The
door
opened to the surprised eyes of a beautiful red-haired woman. She
hesitated, then offered her hand and drew the man inside.
KAMUI's eyes
narrowed. His hands did not move from Kakyou's
throat. "When?"
"Soon. Perhaps within the week."
"And Kusanagi?"
"He will break the kekkai
at Zojo-ji."
"Sakurazuka was doing
that tonight."
"No. He was interrupted. The kekkai is weak, but intact. Kusanagi
will break that one."
"And why should he? He's not taken an
active role as yet…"
"I do not know." Kakyou
replied flatly. "I only can see what will
happen. The why is sometimes unclear."
The strong hands left his throat then, and one
moved upward to caress
his cheek. KAMUI's eyes were still dark, but a
smile played upon his
lips. "I see. Sweet Kakyou.
I thank you." His thumb ran along his lips,
and he stepped back into the shadows.
He closed his eyes for a moment and
shivered. He never knew what to
expect with KAMUI. But at least, in his heart, he felt a little of the
courage that Hokuto had once given him.
"Subaru-san?
Could you chop up these tomatoes please?" Yuzuriha
deposited several on the cutting board in front of him. Inuki trotted at
her heals, snapping at her apron strings.
"I thought we already had cut up tomatoes?"
complained Kamui as he
eyed the vegetables with distaste.
"No, no, that was for the sauce! These are
for the salads!" All
genkiness aside, Subaru thought, Yuzuriha
was not someone he'd care to
oppose. The force of her optimism was nothing if not astounding.
"C'mon,
we're almost finished!"
Kamui looked at Subaru
and rolled his eyes. Subaru smiled back in
return.
"It's your own fault, " he
said. "If you hadn't forgotten it was
your turn…."
The boy had the grace to look a little ashamed,
then bent back to his
task, mumbling something about bossy girls.
"I heard that!" chimed Yuzuriha
as she walked past with a stack of
plates. She went out into the dining area to set the table.
Subaru smiled again. Those two reminded
him so much of Hokuto and
himself, although they weren't akin. It was all to the good. Kamui needed
cheerful people around him during this difficult time. Helpful people, he
thought, not like myself.
He sometimes wondered why he bothered staying
around the Dragons of
Heaven. It wasn't like he cared much one way or the other about the end
of
the world. The world had already ended for him. Let
Tokyo fall.
But let
me have Seishiro Sakurazuka
first. He owes me…or perhaps I owe him.
Part of his staying was due to the convenience
of the CLAMP Campus
setting. Nokoru Imonoyama
had been more than generous with his
hospitality, and Subaru had to admit it was a lot cheaper and more
convenient than staying in an apartment. Besides, his old place in
Shinjuku had been wiped out when the skyscrapers fell. Part of it was his
sense of duty. He had not chosen to be a Dragon of Heaven, but he could
not shirk his duties because of that. But most of it, he had to
admit,
was because of Kamui.
He hadn't known what to expect of the legendary Kamui. Legend,
unfortunately, tended to be vague on the subject, except for his name and
the fact he wielded immense power. So nothing could have prepared him for
the shock of seeing him on that first day, almost comatose after his best
friend had betrayed and almost killed him.
So beautiful. So helpless. So brave.
He'd lost all his family and
those who had loved him to the forces of darkness. It was enough to break
your heart. But even after all that tragedy, his spirit was very
resilient. It was that spirit, Subaru thought, that had
kept him tied to
the Dragons of Heaven long after he should have gone. He wondered
if the
others felt as protective about the boy.
"Subaru? Do you
need help?" Kamui had finished cutting up the
rest
of the vegetables and was looking at the pile that was left.
"If you'd like."
He was grateful for the help. The fact was, with
the loss of his eye, he was having some problems judging things like depth,
and his head often ached from eyestrain. Just as the doctor had told him
a
long time ago about Seishiro…losing one eye made the
other one have to
compensate, and that could lead to permanent blindness. Not that Seishiro
seemed to be having any problems, he thought somewhat angrily.
Kamui took the rest of
the tomatoes and began chopping them up in a
professional manner. Subaru was impressed.
"You're really good."
He blushed. "My mother taught me.
She often had to work, back on
Okinawa,
so I learned to cook so I could help her by making dinner."
"You miss her, don't you?"
The knife stopped and a pair of beautiful eyes
looked up at
him. "Every day."
Every now and then, he could look in those eyes
and for a short time
forget Seishiro Sakurazuka.
Those moments didn't last, but were all the
more precious because of that.
"I know what you mean." He finally said, and
ruffled the boy's
hair. This was one of those moments.
"Kamui!"
Sorata Arisugawa's distinct
Kansai twang was
unmistakable. The tall monk burst into the kitchen, with a
concerned-looking Arashi Kishuu
at his side. "Nee-chan and I were at the
Chairman's office. Karen-san just called. Aoki-san's
been hurt…she's
bringing him here, to the CLAMP Campus hospital."
"Dragon of Earth?" asked Kamui,
tersely.
"Who else?"
"Where?"
"Zojo-ji
Temple.
Tsukiji
district. Over near Roppongi.
Karen-san
was able to stop him, we didn't lose the kekkai.
Yet."
"Which one was it?" Subaru asked.
Sorata eyes were
hard. "The Sakurazukamori."
To be continued in Part 5
