SCENE I. A public place.

Seishiro: Oh, wonderful. The climactic scene. I'm going to overact, all right?
[the others all nod, since none of them really care.]

Enter Kusanagi, Yuuto, Page, and Servants

Kusanagi: Yuuto, can we please go home? It's hot and the Sumeragi clan members are everywhere. If we run into any of them, there's sure to be a fight. It's hot and that upsets people.

Yuuto: You're a hypocrite, Kusanagi. You're like a guy who walks into a tavern and puts his sword on a table, saying he doesn't need it. Then after the second drink, you draw your sword, when indeed you don't need to.

Kusanagi: Am I really?

Yuuto: Yes, you have as much of a temper as the next guy.

Kusanagi: And your point?

Yuuto: [makes a face at the next speech] Yes, and if there were two like you, the number would be quickly reduced to none, since you'd get into a brawl and kill each other. You would fight at any excuse- even with a guy who had one more or one less hair in his beard than you!

Kusanagi: [interrupting] I don't have a beard.

Yuuto: [rolls his eyes] I was trying to make a point. Fine, then, you would quarrel with a guy who has one more hair on his head. You would fight with a guy for cracking nuts or because he has blue eyes. Blah blah blah. Didn't you fight with a guy for wearing his new clothes before Easter? And despite all this, you lecture me about quarreling!

Kusanagi: And if I fought as much as you, they'd be betting on how long I'd live. Uh-oh, here come the Sumeragi.

Yuuto: I don't care.

[Enter Hokuto and others]

Hokuto: Stay close behind me- I'm going to speak with them. Gentlemen, may I have a word with one of you?

Yuuto: [mock-astounded] Only a word? No fighting?

Hokuto: You'll find out that I'm a good enough fighter if you irritate me. You consort with Seishiro-

Yuuto: Consort! You make us sound like musicians or lovers!

Kusanagi: We're in public...either we should go somewhere more private and talk over your grievances or leave. Here everyone watches us.

Yuuto: Men's eyes were made to watch. Let them. I will not move because someone wants me to.

[enter Seishiro]

Hokuto: Never mind, here comes my man.

Yuuto: But I'll eat my hat if he's part of your house.

Yuzuriha: Dramatic irony! [several characters pause to stare]

Hokuto: [ignoring Yuuto] [gleefully] Seishiro, you are a villian!

Seishiro: [rolls eyes] CLAMP created me as such, yes.

Hokuto: [elbows him] Har har.

Seishiro: Hokuto, I have a good reason to love you, so I will ignore the way you greeted me. I am not a villain.

Hokuto: But you just said you were!

Seishiro: [ignoring her] I see you don't really know me, so goodbye!

Hokuto: [cackling] Boy, this does-

Seishiro: [raises eyebrow] I'm a lot older than you.

Hokuto: [returning the favor and ignoring him] Boy, this does not excuse what you've done to me. Draw your sword!

Seishiro: I object. I've never hurt you. In fact, I love you better than you can imagine-

Hokuto: Yuck! Sei-chan, I don't like you like that! Haven't you been getting enough from my brother?

Subaru: [offstage] H-h-hokuto!

Seishiro: -but I can't tell you why I love you. So, good Sumeragi, you'll have to be satisfied with that.

Yuuto: Seishiro, you suck.
[draws his own sword] I'll fight you.

Hokuto: What do you want with me?

Yuuto: Queen of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives. Hurry up and draw.

Hokuto: All right, if that's the way you want it- [draws]

Seishiro: [overly whiny voice] Yuuto, stop!

Yuuto: [ignores him, fights with Hokuto]

Seishiro: Kusanagi, draw your weapon and make them stop! Gentlemen, stop! Kotori-sama has forbidden fighting in the streets- stop, Hokuto, Yuuto!
[Hokuto stabs Yuuto by reaching under Seishiro's arm, where he's come between them to try to get them to stop. Hokuto runs off along with her followers.]

Yuuto: Ouch.
Curses on both your houses! Did he leave?

Kusanagi: Are you hurt?

Yuuto: [sarcastically] What do you think, genius?

Kusanagi: Sheesh, I was just asking.

Yuuto: Yes, I'm hurt, but it's only a scratch.
[ala Monty Python] 'Tis only a flesh wound!
Where is my page? Go get me a doctor.
[page exits]

Seishiro: Courage, Yuuto. You can't be hurt too badly. If you're still able to be a smart-ass.

Yuuto: No, it's not as deep as a well-

Seishiro: Oh, that's comforting.

Yuuto: Nor is it as wide as a church door-

Kusanagi: Yuuto, you're not as wide as a church door. I mean, obviously you can fit through them.

Yuuto: -But it is enough. If you ask for me tomorrow, you shall find be a grave man.

Seishiro: What a cheerful pun. And foreshadowing, too.

Yuuto: [starts half-babbling] I am through, I think, with this world. A curse on both of your houses! A dog, a rat, a cat, a mouse to scratch a man to death! A bragger, a rogue, a villian that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil did you get in the way? I was hurt under your arm.

Seishiro: If I was Subaru, I'd start feeling seriously guilty about now. Fortunately, I'm not.
-I thought it was all for the best...

Yuuto: [half glaring at Seishiro, though he's having trouble keeping a straight face] Help me into a house, Kusanagi, before I faint. [yells] A curse on both of your houses! They have destroyed me!
[Kusanagi exits, hauling Yuuto along]

Seishiro: This gentleman, my friend, has gotten killed in my behalf. My reputation is stained with Hokuto's slander. Hokuto- she's only been my kinsman for an hour. Oh, Subaru, your beauty has made me effeminate-

[Everyone starts rolling around on the ground laughing here. A few minutes later, they all get up and continue the play.]

-Your beauty has made me effeminate. I was too nice to Hokuto.

[Kusanagi reenters]

Kusanagi: Oh, Seishiro, Seishiro-
Wherefore art thou Seishiro?
Sorry.
Oh, Seishiro, Seishiro, brave Yuuto's dead!

Seishiro: [scowling darkly] This will lead to more sorrow. This is only the beginning.

Kusanagi: Here comes Hokuto back again.

Seishiro: Alive, in triumph! When Yuuto is killed! Let me be furious now!

[Hokuto reenters]

Seishiro: Now, Hokuto, Yuuto's soul is just a little above our heads. He is waiting for company. One of us, or both, must go with him.

Hokuto: You, wretched boy, you were his friend. You will go with him now.

Seishiro: We shall see.
[They fight; Hokuto takes the stage direction that tells her to "fall" quite literally, and hits the ground with a thump.]

Kusanagi: Seishiro, leave! Hokuto is slain and the citizens are stirred up. Don't just stand there, Kotori will sentence you to death if you stay here. Go, go now!

Seishiro: Oh, I am a fool!

Kusanagi: [half-panicked, over acting] Why are you still here? Go, go!

[Romeo exits, citizens (Keichii) enter]

Keichii: Which way did the man who killed Yuuto go? Hokuto, the murderer, where did she go?

Kusanagi: [looking ill] She's lying right there.

Keichii: Get up and come with me. In Kotori's name, obey me.

[Enter Kotori with attendants, Fuuma, Yuuto, Satsuki, Karen, and others]

Kotori: Where are the horrid people who started this fight?

Kusanagi: Oh, Kotori-sama, I can tell you exactly what happened in this fatal brawl. There lies the woman who killed your kinsman, Yuuto. She was killed by Seishiro.

Karen: Hokuto, my cousin! Oh, my brother's child!-

Hokuto: [lifting her head briefly from where she's pretending to be dead] You know where I come from, we call that a "niece".

Karen: - Oh Kotori! Oh, cousin! Oh, Aoki! [gets irritated] Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I have no vocabulary! Oh, the blood of my dear kinsman has been spilled! Kotori! For the blood of our family, kill one of Sakurazuka! Oh, cousin, cousin!

Kotori: [rolling her eyes and ignoring her] Kusanagi, who started the battle?

Kusanagi: Hokuto, lying here, not doing a very good job pretending to be dead. [Hokuto glares at him.] Seishiro told her to leave him alone and to think about how stupid the fight was and how displeased you'd be. He was quiet, calm, and gentle, but he could not make a truce with Hokuto. She was deaf to peace and fought Yuuto since Seishiro wouldn't fight. Seishiro kept trying to stop them, saying, "Stop! Friends, hold! Part!" More effectively than his words, he stepped between them. Hokuto wouldn't stop and stabbed Yuuto under Seishiro's arm and killed him. He left but then came back and Seishiro was now thinking of revenge. They fought like lightning, and before I could stop them, Hokuto was killed. As she fell, Seishiro ran. If this is not the truth, let me die.

Karen: Damn, I'm whiny.
He is a cousin of Seishiro. Love makes him lie. Twenty of them fought, and yet could kill only one. I beg for justice, which you must give. Seishiro killed Hokuto, so Seishiro must die!
...Also I'm bloodthirsty.

Kotori: Seishiro killed Hokuto, but Hokuto killed Yuuto. Who should owe the blood?

Fuuma: Not Seishiro, my lady. He was Yuuto's friend. What he took was what the law would have taken anyway- Hokuto's life.

Kotori: For killing Hokuto we exile Seishiro. I now have personal interest in this. For the hate between your two families, my own blood lies bleeding. I'll give you a fine so much that you'll all regret the loss of my kinsman, and I will not change my mind no matter how much you plead. So don't bother. Let Seishiro hurry away, for if he is found, he will be killed. [to her attendants, gesturing at Yuuto] Take this body and do my will. There will be no mercy for murderers.

[all exit]