My chapters are far too short, I know. Maybe later I'll go back and post it in three parts. But for now, it's just app. 1000 word parts. Sorry.
Chapter NineSeishirou was sharing a very surreal cup of tea with Hokuto-chan when she suddenly jumped up, spilling the tea all over their picnic rug. "I've had enough of this 'being patient'. Sei-chan. Your body is almost healed, you are returning to it," she said, stamping her foot.
He glanced at her. "Why so determined? It hardly matters," said the Sakurazukamori, mildly sipping at his own tea.
"It matters to my brother! I want you to wake up and stop making him worry!"
He raises an eyebrow. "He's worried about me?"
"Of course he is. He really wasn't coping well with being a murderer, you know."
"He wasn't a murderer," Seishirou pointed out. "Besides, what good will going back do?"
"Well, if you're lucky, my brother will have forgiven you as a result of this mess."
"And if I'm not?"
She shrugged. "If not, I expect he'll get himself killed one of these days."
He frowned, but decided to dismiss it for the moment. "So, Hokuto-chan, what are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm trying to convince you to return to your body! Ne, Seishirou-san, you don't pay very much attention, do you?"
"That wasn't what I meant," he said, stiffly.
"Oh. Well, I was waiting for you to appear in the tree, of course."
He paused for a moment. "Wouldn't that be a bit dull?"
"Well, I wasn't waiting there the whole time! I went to check on Kakyou-san occasionally, but he didn't ever sense me and I couldn't get into his dreams to talk to him." She sighed dramatically. "So all I could do was follow my brother around and hope for the best."
"I never sensed you, either."
"You weren't looking. Now, are you going to wake up or not?"
He shrugged. "Well, it's not like anything's holding me back..."
She clapped her hands, and disappeared.
When Seishirou awoke, everything was silent. With some effort, he opened his eyes. He was alone in a bare, white hospital room. Frowning, he looked around until he found a button to contact the nurse. Then, he spent several moments trying to coax his neglected muscles into responding to him.
While he waited for the nurse to arrive, he summoned his shikigami and sent it off to find Subaru. He wanted to get out of this hospital as soon as possible.
~ * ~
Subaru was disturbed from his reading by the presence of something trying to cross the wards he'd placed all around his apartment. Sensing no evil intend, he let down a few wards to allow the eagle-form inside. It flew through the window and circled him a few times, until he put up his wrist for it to perch on.
He stroked it on the head, softly. "You're Seishirou's shikigami, aren't you?" he asked, curious.
The bird preened, ruffling its feathers gently.
"Did he send you to me? Is he awake?"
There was no verbal reply, but it was definitely affirmative.
"I suppose he wants to get out of the hospital." Subaru considered the idea for a moment. "Damn. I guess that's the least I owe him. Go back and tell him that I'll be there soon, okay?"
The bird refused to move.
Subaru blinked at it. "That's not what you want? Then, why are you here? Didn't Seishirou send you to get me?"
The bird continued to preen, ignoring him.
"Do you not want me to go to Seishirou?" said Subaru, confused. Then he began to smile, as he realised what was going on. "You think he needs to stay in the hospital longer, don't you? He's not completely healed."
Another affirmative.
"He won't be pleased," said Subaru, laughing.
But, of course, the bird didn't care about that. The bird just cared that its master would be safe.
Subaru's dreams were haunted by strange visions of his own three-headed shikigami flying in magnificent circles, always just out of the eagle's reach.
The symbolism did not go unnoticed.
~ * ~
Seishirou was lying back in bed with his eyes closed when Subaru arrived, but he managed to manoeuvre himself into a sitting position when he felt the younger man's presence. "Good morning, Subaru-kun," he said, with false cheer.
Subaru presented his wrist, complete with Shikigami. Meekly, the bird hopped off and winged its way to Seishirou's shoulder.
"The doctors say you'll be able to leave in a few days. I suggest you just be patient until then," said Subaru, hanging his coat over the back of the chair and pulling it up to sit beside Seishirou's bed.
Seishirou sighed dramatically. "How will I ever survive? You'll come to see me, won't you, Subaru-kun?" he said, patting the onmyouji on the hand gently.
Subaru snatched his hand away. "Possibly," he said, frowning.
"Subaru-kun," he began, at the same time Subaru interjected with "Seishirou-san..."
"Yes?" said Seishirou.
"I haven't been very polite to you, have I?" said the younger man, staring at the floor.
Seishirou paused for a moment. "Well, no, I suppose you haven't been."
"I want you to know that I still think you deserved it. But I'm prepared to be civil to you now, because you've been... nice to me. And I've just been..."
"A jerk?" he asked, with a smile.
Subaru glared. "Bitter. And perfectly justified in it, I might add."
Seishirou shrugged. "Not this argument again..." he muttered.
Subaru slapped him on the wrist. "I came here to propose a truce."
"A truce?"
"Yes. I stop treating you like dirt, and you stop acting like a git."
"A git?!" he said, affronted.
"Yes. Stop patronising me, stop being so falsely cheerful and most of all stop acting. I didn't come back to Tokyo to meet yet another of your false personalities. I came here to meet the real Seishirou-san."
"What if you don't like him?" he asked, casually.
"That's my problem."
He reached up to gently scratch his shikigami on the head. It seemed to approve of the idea, at least.
Well, he supposed it would just make their remaining months more interesting.
He nodded. "I'll do my best, then."