It was a completely different point of view, reflected Seishirou. Being a tree was nothing like being a human. Time seemed to move more slowly, for example. His field of vision was limited to that of his Shikigami, perched in the branches of the Sakura.
The souls the tree devoured were not stored there. There should be nothing inside the tree but its meagre consciousness. But, as it turned out, Hokuto's final spell had contained more layers than he had realised. The moment he transferred his consciousness to the tree, the ever-hyperactive Sumeragi twin had appeared in front of him and flung her arms around his neck.
"SEI-CHAN!"
She had immediately demanded leave to go to her brother. A little non-plussed, he asked why she needed his permission.
She threw her arms up into the air in frustration. "Well, really, Sei-chan. I can't get into his mind because you have your nasty binding on him."
Obedient, if somewhat confused, he had fixed the problem for her. It wasn't so hard, to make a binding recognise another person - a simple matter of informing it that Subaru was his, but he wouldn't object to Hokuto getting too close. It was either that, or deal with an angry Hokuto.
Not that he was afraid of Hokuto-chan. No, not at all.
He wondered if she would be coming back. Part of him hoped she would, so she could ease his curiosity about Subaru's reaction to this mess. Another part wasn't sure he could take it.
Seishirou reflected that the kind of power the Sakura contained seemed to act rather like a drug on his consciousness.
He jumped about a foot into the air, figuratively speaking, when Hokuto popped into existence in front of him. Silently, he cursed himself for being so unnerved by a victim, and a teenaged girl at that.
Even if she was something of an overwhelming personality. And way too overprotective of her brother - whose life Seishirou had ruined single-handedly.
"Honestly, Sei-chan," said Hokuto, rolling her eyes. "What happened to the cool, calm and collected psychotic killer we grew to love?"
"Your brother killed him," he said, deadpan. It was true, in a way. He hadn't been feeling at all collected since Subaru came back to Tokyo. And the recent events certainly hadn't helped.
~ * ~
Subaru was woken from a fitful sleep by a knocking on his apartment door. Silently wishing Seishirou was around to answer it instead, he got up and unsteadily made his way to the hall.
But then, it's your fault he can't, isn't it?
He squashed that inner voice before it made him start crying again.
Subaru opened the door to find his cousin standing there, twisting his hands together, apprehensive as always. He gave Subaru an assessing look. "You look like Hell," said Tsuru, eventually.
Subaru gave him a weak smile. "Come in, Tsuru-san."
Tsuru followed him into the kitchen and took charge of preparing the tea, pretending not to hear Subaru's protests. "You need to relax," he said, firmly. "Sit down."
When the two of them were finally seated with cups of tea in front of them, Tsuru spoke again. "I have news."
Subaru put his teacup down. "Yes?"
"He's not dead."
"What? Who? Seishirou-san?"
"Yes. Nokoru-san found it out. Sakurazuka Seishirou is in Central Hospital. In a coma."
"A coma?" whispered Subaru. "But..."
Tsuru shrugged. "It's as much a mystery to me as to you. He has fractured ribs and a punctured lung, and the doctors have no idea what would have induced the coma."
Subaru picked up his cup again. "Thank you for coming to tell me. I appreciate it."
"I couldn't have done anything different. But Subaru-san, I wanted to ask... It was you, wasn't it? Why?"
"Why? Because I promised you and Kamui that I wouldn't let him kill me," said Subaru, tracing circles on the tabletop with his finger.
You might have died anyway," said Tsuru, frowning. "You were killing yourself slowly over what happened."
Subaru looked guilty. "I'm sorry."
Tsuru smiled. "I'll forgive you. Only, next time, Subaru-san, find a way to defend yourself that won't make things worse, okay?"
He smiled. "I'll try."
~ * ~
Subaru wasn't particularly surprised to find his sister invading his dreams again the night after Tsuru broke him the news.
"Maybe the reason he's in the coma is because he didn't want to stay in a wounded body," mused Hokuto. "He's probably intending to return to it when his body has healed."
Subaru took a deep breath. "I'm glad. I think."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Glad? You think?"
He nodded. "Because, in these last few months I think I've come to know him a bit better."
"And...?" she prompted.
"He's a jerk," said Subaru, smiling. "But... he's also a friend."
"I'll say he's a jerk," muttered his sister, darkly. "He didn't even come to see you in the hospital."
Subaru frowned. "The hospital... I should go see him, shouldn't I?"
"Well, of course you should! It might help bring him back quicker. And god knows he deserves to feel a little pain."
Subaru laughed, softly. "I don't see how my visiting him would make that happen."
She made a frustrated noise. "Because he loves you, idiot!"
Subaru raised his eyebrows. "Don't be ridiculous."
Hokuto folded her arms stubbornly. "You don't have to believe me. But it's true."
Subaru shrugged. "At any rate, you can say that all you like, it won't make any difference to me until he admits it himself."
She threw her hands up in frustration. "I give up! Even I've forgiven him. You're just too stubborn for your own good, Subaru."
Subaru woke up, blinking into the faint light creeping in from under the blinds. He decided to go to the hospital after breakfast. After all, what harm could it do? And it would be a good place to think, without any distractions.
Once he'd managed to convince the doctors to let him into Seishirou's room, he collapsed into the chair and sat for a few moments, just watching his still form.
"Seishirou-san," he said, frowning at the lifeless form in front of him. "I know you probably can't hear me. Hokuto-chan thinks that my being here with you will help you wake up sooner, but I don't really believe that.
"I guess if you were awake, you'd be expecting me to ask you for forgiveness. I'm not going to. There's nothing to forgive, is there? You were going to hurt me and I simply acted to stop you.
"I don't want to be hurt any more, Seishirou-san." And especially not by you, he added silently.
Seishirou's face was peaceful, in his deathlike sleep. It was almost hard to reconcile him with the cold-blooded killer Subaru knew. "And even if you were only threatening me," continued Subaru, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, despite himself, "it was completely unacceptable behaviour. I'm not your toy, Seishirou-san.
"You had no right to make me a murderer."