More adventures in America! And I FINALLY updated! I'm so proud.
Warning: There's some SubaruxSeishiro stuff, but not a lot. And there's a tad bit of violence, for once. Oh, and major OOCness. I don't know why I wrote it like this. OOCness from now on, probably.
A/N: I am not a racist. Thank you.
Subaru in America
Chapter 5
Subaru and Alicia stood outside the dilapidated manor known as the Johnson Place. There was neither glass on the windows nor a door in the doorway. The outside walls were covered in brown-green moss along side graffiti; the roof with all the shingles off, leaving only bare wood; and ancient, dead trees surrounded the house, threatening to teeter over, smashing what remained of this shamble.
"Subaru," Alicia said, after they had stared at the house for awhile, "why did you want to come here?"
"I wanted to," he said, then stopped himself. He wondered if he could tell Alicia about his curiosity about the ghost. Figuring he could trust her not to laugh, he said, "I'm interested in ghosts. I heard there was a ghost living here and wondered if I could see it."
Subaru expected an eruption of laughter, realizing his wording was a bit awkward, but Alicia nodded.
"That ghost has been haunting this place since my grandfather can remember," she informed him. "Some say a young man committed suicide after his bride-to-be fell ill and passed away in this house. Others say this is the place where a kind, old priest was murdered. But to tell you the truth, no one really knows what happened here. All we know is that this ghost possess people or animals or even things like cars every so often, causing quite a ruckus."
Subaru nodded. With his mind, he searched the air for any paranormal disturbances. Nothing.
"The ghost isn't here right now, it usually patrols Middletown during the late afternoon and night." Alicia stated, noticing Subaru's concentration. "Hey, you're divining for the ghost, aren't you?"
Subaru stared at Alicia. Did he hear her correctly? Could she possibly know what he was doing? He shook his head quickly. "I just, uh, smelled something. Burning leaves, I think."
The girl gave him a look of shock. Then smiled. "Good. I thought you were one of those weird psychics that come here, like, everyday seeking out the ghost." She laughed. "Grandpa hates them. He says this was the first piece of land a black man ever owned that was bigger than an acre." She made her voice rough, and with a fake Southern accent said, "No white man gonna scare my brother's soul from his home 'less that black man ain't black." She guffawed boisterously as she went back to her normal voice. "He's crazy, ya know."
Subaru stood puzzled. "Black? White?"
This time, she did laugh at him. "Oh, you have a lot to learn," she stated simply. "Wanna go inside the house?"
Subaru nodded, following her through the doorway. The interior of the house was just as dingy as the exterior: there were numerous spider webs, dead leaves, and dust balls bigger than any Subaru had ever seen dangling from various places or gracing the smudged floor. There wasn't any furniture in the foyer or any of the other rooms except for a chair here and there. Similarly to the exterior, there was graffiti on the walls and floor, and in some rooms things left behind by people like garbage or clothing. Through it all, there wasn't one sign that there was a ghost living there.
"Well, that concludes the grand tour of the house," Alicia said sarcastically as they made there way back to the foyer. She looked at Subaru curiously. "You haven't said one word this whole time."
Subaru quickly thought of something to say. "Who was the last person to live here?" he asked.
Alicia thought for a moment, then replied, "I think his name was Bradley Johnson. He was the last of the Johnson family here and died about forty or thirty years ago. And no one's lived here since."
The other nodded. If there was a spirit here, he had been residing in the house for quite some time.
Alicia looked at her watch. "I have to go. I have tons of homework." She paused to stare at Subaru thinking. "You better not stay here alone."
"Right," Subaru agreed, even though he knew he could take care of himself. "Thank you for taking me here."
She smiled. "You don't have to keep thanking me; it's no problem."
Subaru grinned back as they exited the house and walked home their separate ways.
However, Subaru didn't quite go home. He lingered a bit, stopping at a burger place for dinner and then to a movie. Even though doing all those things softened his anger towards Seishiro a bit, he still didn't have the will to face him.
He was walking out of the movie theater when he was suddenly shoved to the ground, spilling the rest of the Junior Mints he hadn't quite finished. He turned to see who had pushed him and found himself face to face with four, beefy teenagers.
"I'm sorry, Jap," one of the boys said sarcastically. "Didn't see ya there."
The others laughed as Subaru stood, brushing himself off. The same kid pushed him back to the ground, this time a little rougher.
"Gee, not again!" he exclaimed. "Please pardon my rudeness, slanty eyes."
"Leave me alone," Subaru mumbled meekly as he stood and tried to walk away quickly.
"Was that a threat?" a different boy asked, grabbing Subaru by the collar.
"No," Subaru said plainly. He had never had to deal with bullies before and he was starting to get nervous. He knew very well that they not only out-numbered him, but also were better physical fighters and would surely, to put it simply, kick his ass.
Another boy shoved Subaru against the wall of the movie theater. "You wanna fight?"
"No!" Subaru said, his voice failing him.
Suddenly, a fist came flying towards his nose, hitting him square on. The back of his head hit the hard brick as he cried out and held his nose with his hand. It was bleeding. Another kid kneed him in the gut, causing Subaru to curl over. He wanted to fight back, but he didn't know how. All his training had been to use psychic powers to fight and if he used them now, then they'd think he was a freak.
"Yo, Jap!" the first kid called. "You're supposed to fight back."
They all laughed as the third kid punched him in the nose again. More blood flowed from his nose as Subaru made a fist and sent a feeble punch in a random direction. The kids laughed some more then punched him in the eye, the stomach, and finally the mouth. Subaru wanted to collapse to the ground, but the boys wouldn't move to allow him to do so.
"He's so stupid," the fourth kid stated. "What's his problem?"
"He must be queer," the second boy answered as the others laughed and punched and kneed.
Subaru tried to cover his face with his arms, but as soon as he did, they'd punch his torso. When he protected his torso, they hit his face. There was no winning.
"Please, stop!" Subaru cried fecklessly, which only caused more laughter.
But suddenly, one of the kids froze completely. There was a strange fear in his eyes, as if he had just been stabbed in the back by the sharpest and most accurate knife. The others stopped beating Subaru and turned to face the figure standing behind the boy who wasn't moving, large hands wrapped around the boy's neck.
"Leave him alone," the figure said in a calm, but forceful voice.
"He started it," one of the boys complained. They all scattered.
Subaru's eyes were so swollen, so he couldn't see the figure clearly, only as a shadow.
"Are you alright, Subaru?" the figure asked gently, his voice deep and soothing, like a calm in a storm.
"Seishiro!" Subaru cried and collapsed into his arms, burying his face into Seishiro's clean, white shirt.
Tears and blood soaked the older man's clothes as he delicately held Subaru, stroking his head and soothing him. "You're alright now," he said reassuringly. "I'm here."
All Subaru could do was cry as Seishiro lifted him up and carry him to his parked car. He opened the back left door and placed Subaru on the seat.
"Tell me what hurts," Seishiro inquired, looking over Subaru's face.
"My nose, my jaw, my eye," Subaru gasped through tears. "My stomach, too."
Seishiro nodded and pressed his thumb against Subaru's nose. "It's not broken, but it will be swollen for a few days. Same goes for the majority of your face."
This only made Subaru cry louder, catching the attention of a few people. But Subaru didn't care if he was acting like a little boy and making a scene; this had not been his day at all. Sure, he was crying because he had just been beaten up, but he was also crying out the frustration of a terrible day.
"Hush, now," Seishiro ordered. "I'm going to take you home and we'll get some ice."
Subaru nodded and closed the car door. Seishiro got into the driver's seat and began to drive to their house.
"Oh, my God!" Hokuto exclaimed as Subaru walked in, his face now bruising and swelling. "What the #@&* happened?"
"No need for that kind of language," Seishiro said, leading Subaru to the couch. "Just get him some ice."
Hokuto rushed to the kitchen yelling, "Who did that to you? I'll kill them! Anyone who hurts my baby brother's gonna die!"
"I'm not your baby brother," Subaru tried to say, but his mouth was so swollen, it was difficult.
Hokuto placed an ice pack on Subaru's face as Seishiro explained.
"Oh!" Hokuto cried out in disgust. "I'm gonna kill them!" She began to strangle an invisible bully with her hands.
"Wait," Subaru said with a lisp, "how'd you know all that?"
Seishiro seemed startled at first, then smiled meekly. "I was watching."
Subaru sprung up, causing his hurt abdomen to jump and pang some more. "You were watching the whole time?"
Seishiro shrugged. "Maybe. I can't remember."
Hokuto slapped Seishiro in the face. "How could you? Why didn't you stop it?"
"I thought Subaru could handle it," Seishiro said, rubbing his now red cheek.
Subaru clenched his fists with rage, his whole face throbbing with pain and anger. "Not only did you embarrass me today," he began, his voice shaking with fury, "but you also sat back and watched those kids beat me up?"
Seishiro smiled. "Was that wrong?"
Subaru threw the ice pack to he ground and lunged himself at Seishiro. He began to hit him with his fists, screaming how he hated Seishiro while Hokuto begged for him to stop. But suddenly, Seishiro grabbed Subaru around the neck and pinned him down to the couch. His hands were rapped around Subaru's neck so tightly, he could have easily strangled him or broken his neck.
"Seishiro, no!" Hokuto cried, tears running down her cheeks. "Don't do it! He didn't mean any of it!"
Seishiro's eyes seemed permanently fixed on Subaru's. He seemed angry, but sad at the same time, as if doubting Subaru's actions.
"Don't ever do that again," Seishiro said firmly. He was on top of the younger man, each leg on either side Subaru's body.
Subaru's eyes were flooded with tears of guilt, hate, fear, and sorrow. He felt bad for acting that way, but he was still angry with Seishiro for what he did. He was also afraid of Seishiro's giant hands clasped firmly around his neck, threatening to kill him if he wanted to. But he was most of all sad that this was happening between the two lovers, this sudden outburst of hatred and anger.
"Oh, Seishiro," Subaru whispered through sobbing, "I'm sorry. Forgive me, please."
Seishiro relaxed his grip slightly, but still kept it. He leaned down slowly so his nose was but a centimeter away from Subaru's. As he stayed that way for awhile, Hokuto begged even more for Seishiro to stop, saying he was scaring her. He ignored her as he tenderly kissed Subaru on the cheek.
When he got off of Subaru and stood, brushing himself off, he said, "I'm sorry, too."
Hokuto was ready to pounce on him, but Subaru just sat up and continued sobbing in his hands.
"I just assumed the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan could handle himself in a situation like that," Seishiro stated, talking more to Hokuto than Subaru.
"You know he can't use his onmyoujitsu in front of normal people!" Hokuto exclaimed furiously. "And he doesn't know any physical self-defense!"
Suddenly, Seishiro really did appear to be sorry. His eyes grew sad, as if they were about to cry, and his whole body seemed to sag with despair. "My Subaru," he whispered, seating himself next to Subaru. "This will never happen again, I swear on my life." He placed an arm around Subaru's shoulder and with the other hand brought the young onmyouji's hand to his mouth and kissed it.
Subaru stopped crying and looked up at Seishiro. "I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be sorry," Seishiro stated. "I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't realize how vulnerable and delicate you are. You're no fighter, but a lover." He smiled reassuringly.
"Thank you," Subaru murmured, embracing Seishiro tightly.
"It will never happen again," Seishiro whispered.
Hokuto wiped a tear from her eye. "This is so beautiful!" she cried, hugging them both. "I love you guys!" She let them go. "Subaru, you have some cuts on your face. Let me clean them, okay?"
Subaru nodded and followed her to the bathroom where there were bandages. Seishiro watched and waited for them to be out of earshot before he said, "Gullible."
To be continued…
Warning: There's some SubaruxSeishiro stuff, but not a lot. And there's a tad bit of violence, for once. Oh, and major OOCness. I don't know why I wrote it like this. OOCness from now on, probably.
A/N: I am not a racist. Thank you.
Subaru in America
Chapter 5
Subaru and Alicia stood outside the dilapidated manor known as the Johnson Place. There was neither glass on the windows nor a door in the doorway. The outside walls were covered in brown-green moss along side graffiti; the roof with all the shingles off, leaving only bare wood; and ancient, dead trees surrounded the house, threatening to teeter over, smashing what remained of this shamble.
"Subaru," Alicia said, after they had stared at the house for awhile, "why did you want to come here?"
"I wanted to," he said, then stopped himself. He wondered if he could tell Alicia about his curiosity about the ghost. Figuring he could trust her not to laugh, he said, "I'm interested in ghosts. I heard there was a ghost living here and wondered if I could see it."
Subaru expected an eruption of laughter, realizing his wording was a bit awkward, but Alicia nodded.
"That ghost has been haunting this place since my grandfather can remember," she informed him. "Some say a young man committed suicide after his bride-to-be fell ill and passed away in this house. Others say this is the place where a kind, old priest was murdered. But to tell you the truth, no one really knows what happened here. All we know is that this ghost possess people or animals or even things like cars every so often, causing quite a ruckus."
Subaru nodded. With his mind, he searched the air for any paranormal disturbances. Nothing.
"The ghost isn't here right now, it usually patrols Middletown during the late afternoon and night." Alicia stated, noticing Subaru's concentration. "Hey, you're divining for the ghost, aren't you?"
Subaru stared at Alicia. Did he hear her correctly? Could she possibly know what he was doing? He shook his head quickly. "I just, uh, smelled something. Burning leaves, I think."
The girl gave him a look of shock. Then smiled. "Good. I thought you were one of those weird psychics that come here, like, everyday seeking out the ghost." She laughed. "Grandpa hates them. He says this was the first piece of land a black man ever owned that was bigger than an acre." She made her voice rough, and with a fake Southern accent said, "No white man gonna scare my brother's soul from his home 'less that black man ain't black." She guffawed boisterously as she went back to her normal voice. "He's crazy, ya know."
Subaru stood puzzled. "Black? White?"
This time, she did laugh at him. "Oh, you have a lot to learn," she stated simply. "Wanna go inside the house?"
Subaru nodded, following her through the doorway. The interior of the house was just as dingy as the exterior: there were numerous spider webs, dead leaves, and dust balls bigger than any Subaru had ever seen dangling from various places or gracing the smudged floor. There wasn't any furniture in the foyer or any of the other rooms except for a chair here and there. Similarly to the exterior, there was graffiti on the walls and floor, and in some rooms things left behind by people like garbage or clothing. Through it all, there wasn't one sign that there was a ghost living there.
"Well, that concludes the grand tour of the house," Alicia said sarcastically as they made there way back to the foyer. She looked at Subaru curiously. "You haven't said one word this whole time."
Subaru quickly thought of something to say. "Who was the last person to live here?" he asked.
Alicia thought for a moment, then replied, "I think his name was Bradley Johnson. He was the last of the Johnson family here and died about forty or thirty years ago. And no one's lived here since."
The other nodded. If there was a spirit here, he had been residing in the house for quite some time.
Alicia looked at her watch. "I have to go. I have tons of homework." She paused to stare at Subaru thinking. "You better not stay here alone."
"Right," Subaru agreed, even though he knew he could take care of himself. "Thank you for taking me here."
She smiled. "You don't have to keep thanking me; it's no problem."
Subaru grinned back as they exited the house and walked home their separate ways.
However, Subaru didn't quite go home. He lingered a bit, stopping at a burger place for dinner and then to a movie. Even though doing all those things softened his anger towards Seishiro a bit, he still didn't have the will to face him.
He was walking out of the movie theater when he was suddenly shoved to the ground, spilling the rest of the Junior Mints he hadn't quite finished. He turned to see who had pushed him and found himself face to face with four, beefy teenagers.
"I'm sorry, Jap," one of the boys said sarcastically. "Didn't see ya there."
The others laughed as Subaru stood, brushing himself off. The same kid pushed him back to the ground, this time a little rougher.
"Gee, not again!" he exclaimed. "Please pardon my rudeness, slanty eyes."
"Leave me alone," Subaru mumbled meekly as he stood and tried to walk away quickly.
"Was that a threat?" a different boy asked, grabbing Subaru by the collar.
"No," Subaru said plainly. He had never had to deal with bullies before and he was starting to get nervous. He knew very well that they not only out-numbered him, but also were better physical fighters and would surely, to put it simply, kick his ass.
Another boy shoved Subaru against the wall of the movie theater. "You wanna fight?"
"No!" Subaru said, his voice failing him.
Suddenly, a fist came flying towards his nose, hitting him square on. The back of his head hit the hard brick as he cried out and held his nose with his hand. It was bleeding. Another kid kneed him in the gut, causing Subaru to curl over. He wanted to fight back, but he didn't know how. All his training had been to use psychic powers to fight and if he used them now, then they'd think he was a freak.
"Yo, Jap!" the first kid called. "You're supposed to fight back."
They all laughed as the third kid punched him in the nose again. More blood flowed from his nose as Subaru made a fist and sent a feeble punch in a random direction. The kids laughed some more then punched him in the eye, the stomach, and finally the mouth. Subaru wanted to collapse to the ground, but the boys wouldn't move to allow him to do so.
"He's so stupid," the fourth kid stated. "What's his problem?"
"He must be queer," the second boy answered as the others laughed and punched and kneed.
Subaru tried to cover his face with his arms, but as soon as he did, they'd punch his torso. When he protected his torso, they hit his face. There was no winning.
"Please, stop!" Subaru cried fecklessly, which only caused more laughter.
But suddenly, one of the kids froze completely. There was a strange fear in his eyes, as if he had just been stabbed in the back by the sharpest and most accurate knife. The others stopped beating Subaru and turned to face the figure standing behind the boy who wasn't moving, large hands wrapped around the boy's neck.
"Leave him alone," the figure said in a calm, but forceful voice.
"He started it," one of the boys complained. They all scattered.
Subaru's eyes were so swollen, so he couldn't see the figure clearly, only as a shadow.
"Are you alright, Subaru?" the figure asked gently, his voice deep and soothing, like a calm in a storm.
"Seishiro!" Subaru cried and collapsed into his arms, burying his face into Seishiro's clean, white shirt.
Tears and blood soaked the older man's clothes as he delicately held Subaru, stroking his head and soothing him. "You're alright now," he said reassuringly. "I'm here."
All Subaru could do was cry as Seishiro lifted him up and carry him to his parked car. He opened the back left door and placed Subaru on the seat.
"Tell me what hurts," Seishiro inquired, looking over Subaru's face.
"My nose, my jaw, my eye," Subaru gasped through tears. "My stomach, too."
Seishiro nodded and pressed his thumb against Subaru's nose. "It's not broken, but it will be swollen for a few days. Same goes for the majority of your face."
This only made Subaru cry louder, catching the attention of a few people. But Subaru didn't care if he was acting like a little boy and making a scene; this had not been his day at all. Sure, he was crying because he had just been beaten up, but he was also crying out the frustration of a terrible day.
"Hush, now," Seishiro ordered. "I'm going to take you home and we'll get some ice."
Subaru nodded and closed the car door. Seishiro got into the driver's seat and began to drive to their house.
"Oh, my God!" Hokuto exclaimed as Subaru walked in, his face now bruising and swelling. "What the #@&* happened?"
"No need for that kind of language," Seishiro said, leading Subaru to the couch. "Just get him some ice."
Hokuto rushed to the kitchen yelling, "Who did that to you? I'll kill them! Anyone who hurts my baby brother's gonna die!"
"I'm not your baby brother," Subaru tried to say, but his mouth was so swollen, it was difficult.
Hokuto placed an ice pack on Subaru's face as Seishiro explained.
"Oh!" Hokuto cried out in disgust. "I'm gonna kill them!" She began to strangle an invisible bully with her hands.
"Wait," Subaru said with a lisp, "how'd you know all that?"
Seishiro seemed startled at first, then smiled meekly. "I was watching."
Subaru sprung up, causing his hurt abdomen to jump and pang some more. "You were watching the whole time?"
Seishiro shrugged. "Maybe. I can't remember."
Hokuto slapped Seishiro in the face. "How could you? Why didn't you stop it?"
"I thought Subaru could handle it," Seishiro said, rubbing his now red cheek.
Subaru clenched his fists with rage, his whole face throbbing with pain and anger. "Not only did you embarrass me today," he began, his voice shaking with fury, "but you also sat back and watched those kids beat me up?"
Seishiro smiled. "Was that wrong?"
Subaru threw the ice pack to he ground and lunged himself at Seishiro. He began to hit him with his fists, screaming how he hated Seishiro while Hokuto begged for him to stop. But suddenly, Seishiro grabbed Subaru around the neck and pinned him down to the couch. His hands were rapped around Subaru's neck so tightly, he could have easily strangled him or broken his neck.
"Seishiro, no!" Hokuto cried, tears running down her cheeks. "Don't do it! He didn't mean any of it!"
Seishiro's eyes seemed permanently fixed on Subaru's. He seemed angry, but sad at the same time, as if doubting Subaru's actions.
"Don't ever do that again," Seishiro said firmly. He was on top of the younger man, each leg on either side Subaru's body.
Subaru's eyes were flooded with tears of guilt, hate, fear, and sorrow. He felt bad for acting that way, but he was still angry with Seishiro for what he did. He was also afraid of Seishiro's giant hands clasped firmly around his neck, threatening to kill him if he wanted to. But he was most of all sad that this was happening between the two lovers, this sudden outburst of hatred and anger.
"Oh, Seishiro," Subaru whispered through sobbing, "I'm sorry. Forgive me, please."
Seishiro relaxed his grip slightly, but still kept it. He leaned down slowly so his nose was but a centimeter away from Subaru's. As he stayed that way for awhile, Hokuto begged even more for Seishiro to stop, saying he was scaring her. He ignored her as he tenderly kissed Subaru on the cheek.
When he got off of Subaru and stood, brushing himself off, he said, "I'm sorry, too."
Hokuto was ready to pounce on him, but Subaru just sat up and continued sobbing in his hands.
"I just assumed the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan could handle himself in a situation like that," Seishiro stated, talking more to Hokuto than Subaru.
"You know he can't use his onmyoujitsu in front of normal people!" Hokuto exclaimed furiously. "And he doesn't know any physical self-defense!"
Suddenly, Seishiro really did appear to be sorry. His eyes grew sad, as if they were about to cry, and his whole body seemed to sag with despair. "My Subaru," he whispered, seating himself next to Subaru. "This will never happen again, I swear on my life." He placed an arm around Subaru's shoulder and with the other hand brought the young onmyouji's hand to his mouth and kissed it.
Subaru stopped crying and looked up at Seishiro. "I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be sorry," Seishiro stated. "I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't realize how vulnerable and delicate you are. You're no fighter, but a lover." He smiled reassuringly.
"Thank you," Subaru murmured, embracing Seishiro tightly.
"It will never happen again," Seishiro whispered.
Hokuto wiped a tear from her eye. "This is so beautiful!" she cried, hugging them both. "I love you guys!" She let them go. "Subaru, you have some cuts on your face. Let me clean them, okay?"
Subaru nodded and followed her to the bathroom where there were bandages. Seishiro watched and waited for them to be out of earshot before he said, "Gullible."
To be continued…