bSevered 02/b
brbr
"Nee-san!" Subaru ran toward his long dead sister, arms out stretched... and fell right through her, just barely managing to catch himself before he could hit the ground with what would have been an embarrassing thud.
brbr
The older of the twins (technically only by two minutes), wrinkled her nose at her brother. "You can't touch me Subaru, I no longer exist on your plane remember?" she said, and then rolled her eyes in irritation. "Actually, I'm not even sure I want to hug you, you're being very stupid when it comes to Sei-chan lately, " and after a slight pause, she concluded with: "and ruining all of my hard work I might add."
brbr
"Hokuto-chaaaan!" Subaru whined to her, a perfect imitation of his sixteen year old self. The humor was lost as Subaru brought his arms up and wrapped them around himself, having to be satisfied with holding that much since he could not hold his twin. He lowered his gaze as his eyes filled with tears, "I missed you so much, Nee-san."
brbr
Her features softened as she beheld her suffering brother, and she reached to smooth the hair out of his eyes, but stopped short when she remembered her ethereal nature. "I missed you too, Subaru."
brbr
* * * *
brbr
The Sakurazuka didn't really hate its former provider, per say, she couldn't really seem to hate one of the members of the clan that had served her for generations... an intense dislike was more appropriate. Sakurazuka Setsuka had been one of her more disturbed guardians, mentally as well as emotionally.
brbr
When she had killed her only daughter, it had not been to create the "perfect killing machine", but was an act perpetuated in order to gain sole possession of Seishirou's affections. Unfortunately for her, an innocent seven year old Seishirou truly came to know the meaning of the word "hate" when he had learned of his sister's death, which was also an action that had led to his emotional ineptness later on.
brbr
Seishirou was so pained by the loss of his sister that he became emotionally unresponsive. He did not want to feel any longer, he had never wanted to be hurt again, so he sealed himself away. For the better part of ten years, Seishirou's emotions lurked within the depths of his heart... waiting. Then, a chance encounter with a small child had brought them back full force, even though he was so out of practice in dealing with his emotions that he didn't even realize when he had started to act upon them.
brbr
Thus was the impetus of the ancient tree's dislike for the mother of one of her favorites. Perhaps if Seishirou had not experienced such an overwhelming loss, then he would be far less emotionally confused as he currently was. Perhaps also, he would not be suffering from his dilemma with the Sumeragi, for neither of them would have doubts about the other and they could live in peace.
brbr
However, this was certainly not the case, the Sakura reflected to herself, so she was going to have to repair some of the emotional damage caused by her previous caretaker.
brbr
* * * *
i
"'Ka-san! Naomi-neechan! Tadaima!" Seishirou's lilting seven year-old voice had called. Silence was his only response.
brbr
Curiosity, mixed with a tinge of worry compelled him to go in search of his family members. He made his way throughout the house, and in finding nothing, decided to check the backyard.
brbr
Sliding back the delicate shouji and stepping onto the emerald grass, Seishirou's honeyed eyes reflected the sun as he escaped the shade, nearing the scene displayed before him.
brbr
His golden eyes liquified as they filled with tears. Almost too shocked to speak, he could only mutter, "N-Neechan... daijobu ka?" Somewhere in the recesses of his young mind he knew that she was /inoti all right, that she would never be all right again.
brbr
Setsuka had frowned at her son. Not because she had just removed her right hand from her daughter's chest, not because she felt even the slightest remorse for what she had just done, not because of the pain that she had caused both of her children, or even because she would miss Naomi. She had frowned because she noticed that Seishirou was still only wearing the white socks that he had gone to school in, and was probably ruining them with grass stains. This irritated her.
brbr
Seishirou had just made it to his sister's side when his knees finally gave out and he sank to the ground. "Neechan...Iie..." was all he could manage to say as he reached to cradle his dying sister in his arms.
brbr
With an irritated grunt, Setsuka had gotten up from where she had been kneeling and headed toward the house. She hadn't wanted to be bothered by the emotional scene that she would have been a witness to had she stayed. So she simply removed herself from it.
brbr
Naomi, being somewhat more knowledgeable about the circumstances of her own death than her brother, attempted to explain them... if only she could think straight. "Sei-chan... don't give her... what she wants...", she had managed.
brbr
Seishirou just wrinkled his brow in confusion and despair and replied with, "Nani ka, Neechan? I don't understand."
brbr
With the last of her strength, she attemptd to clarify for her little brother. She brought a hand up and pointed to Seishirou's heart with a trembling finger. "Use this... always..." was all that she had been able to bring herself to say as the last of her energy gave and she surrendered to the darkness of death.
brbr
"Neechan? ... Iie... don't leave me alone... with her. Please, Neechan," Seishirou sobbed into his dead sister's shoulder. "...Please." He sat, and rocked, and held her lifeless form.
brbr
Once inside, Setsuka had headed toward the kitchen to make some tea. As she filled the pot with water, her lips parted in a smirk that no one could see. "Hn, he'll get over it soon enough."
brbr
However, Seishirou did /inoti just "get over it." He stayed like that for a long time. He had stayed while the crimson stain on the bright grass dried and turned into a passionless brown. He had stayed until he exhausted himself from the tears and had fallen asleep, all the while clinging to Naomi.
/ibrbr
* * * *
brbr
"Hokuto-chan, you've somehow managed to eat an ice cream sundae and get it all over me as well," Subaru observed, watching his sister, who was making quite a mess with the ice cream that she couldn't eat, but had still demanded he buy for her.
brbr
Hokuto looked up at him and scowled. "Subaru!" she said very sternly, eyes narrowing to slits. "All I got on you was a single spot, the rest was because you let yours melt!"
brbr
"I didn't intend to, but you decided to lecture me!" Subaru said defensively. Hokuto just smirked in response and returned to gobbling incessantly, which resulted in the ground being very messy, and covered in bits of ice cream. Subaru made a mental note to pay the janitors an extra hundred or so.
brbr
"So, Subaru. Let's talk about Sei-chan, ne? What's up with you and him, hmmm?" Hokuto demanded to know, glaring at her brother over a spoon of strawberry ice cream. Proof once again that she was indeed a Sumeragi, despite her flamboyant behavior.
brbr
"He's a cold-hearted emotionless murderer," Subaru stated flatly, sounding thoroughly annoyed with Hokuto's question.
brbr
"Now now, if he was emotionless, I don't think you'd be alive. Am I right?" Hokuto said, pointing the now empty spoon at her younger brother, whose cheeks prompty tainted a light shade of pink that matched the ice cream in her bowl perfectly.
brbr
After a few moments of silence, Subaru glanced away. "I don't matter enough to him for him to kill me," Subaru stated, sounding hurt by this statement, and sounding like he truly believed it.
brbr
Hokuto glared at her younger brother, looking like she would like very much to grab him by his head and slam him into a brick wall. Luckily, she couldn't, or she might have. "Subaru, I'm going to say this once, and only once, and you are going to listen. You are a threat to him. You are the only onmyouji in all of Japan who knows his identity and has enough power to kill him. You are worth killing, yet he has not. That proves isomething/i, whether you like it or not!"
brbr
Subaru paused, giving his sister a long suffering look. "It proves that he doesn't care if I'm a danger, because he knows I'd never be able to kill him," Subaru stated softly, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice, and failing miserably in doing so.
brbr
Hokuto, despite her fury at her brother's stubbornness, paused. She wasn't sure how to reply to that without making her brother burst into hysterical tears, or some other unwanted emotional outburst. "Subaru, you're very dense. Sei-chan wanted to hold you, earlier today, didn't he? But you jerked away. He asked you not to let go. That proves isomething/i too. Whether you like it or not!"
brbr
Subaru sighed, pulling his knees onto the bench, arms wrapped around them. "I don't know what that was about," he replied honestly, resisting the urge to burst into tears at the mention of it.
brbr
Hokuto let out a long sigh. Her brother could be a very stubborn man when he chose to, but it was well-known that she was the more stubborn Sumeragi sibling. She knew if she pushed the right buttons, she'd be able to get Subaru to believe her. It would just take time. She grinned slyly at her brother who looked pained at her obvious contemplation. "Subaru, what's wrong?" she asked innocently.
brbr
Subaru let his head thunk against the table in obvious exasperation. "Hokuto-chan, what on earth are you up to?" he asked, sounding extremely paranoid. He knew his sister, and whatever it was, was going to more then likely result in him blushing and stuttering like an idiot.
brbr
"Whatever are you talking about, my dear brother?"
brbr
"Hokuto-chan, you are malicious and shameless. Not only that, you are up to something, and I want to know what it is, so I don't end up stuttering and going through the shades of a ripening tomato," Subaru replied very bluntly.
brbr
Hokuto simply grinned at her little brother, wagging a finger in the air. "You'll see!"
brbr
"That's what I'm afraid of..."
brbr
"Is that your pager?" Hokuto asked when she heard a sharp beeping noise coming from Subaru's pocket. Subaru nodded, reaching down to pick it up, and read the number. Then he sighed. "What is it?"
brbr
"It's a job," Subaru stated softly in response, still staring at the numbers playing over the small screen atop the black beeper.
brbr
"Well that simply will not do. I will not have an unwanted ghost interupting my plans. Send it back and say you're busy!" Hokuto demanded, giving her brother a pointed look.
brbr
"But Hokuto-chan..." Subaru started to reply, but stopped at the furious look his sister was giving him.
brbr
"Don't you 'but Hokuto-chan' me! You're going to send it back and spend time with me!" Hokuto said furiously, green eyes flashing angrily in a manner that quite clearly said no one or thing was to disagree with her, and if they dared to do so, they would fall victim to one of her screeching fits.
brbr
Subaru stared at her pleadingly for a few minutes before he finally gave him. "Let me go to a pay phone and call obaachan," he stated softly, standing up.
brbr
"Tell her you want two weeks vacation time for working non-stop the past nine years!" Hokuto said furiously, glaring at Subaru who paled.
brbr
"I didn't know you were watching..." he stated very softly, his cheeks tinging pink.
brbr
"Subaru, did you think I'd forget about you? Sakura-chan is very nice to me, she says I can watch you all I want. I think that's because I beat her at chess, though..." Hokuto paused, tapping her chin.
brbr
Subaru stared at his sister. "You played chess against the carnivorous tree..? What the... you know, nevermind, I don't want to know," he stated, then promptly walked to a pay phone that was near by.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"You had something about Naomi-neechan to tell me, Saku-chan?" Seishirou asked the Sakurazuka while lighting a cigarette. He propped his feet up on his coffee table, ignoring all regard for manners as he really didn't care.
brbr
"Sure do," the Sakura replied, waiting for the obvious question that was to come.
brbr
It did. "What is it?" Seishirou asked.
brbr
"She's alive," the Sakura replied very bluntly.
brbr
Seishirou spit out the tea he had just sipped, and it proptly splattered across his television screen accordingly. "Come again?"
brbr
"Your sister is alive."
brbr
"I still think I didn't hear you right. I couldn't have," Seishirou replied, putting out his cigarette. He laid the bud in an ash tray and waited for the Tree's explanation.
brbr
"You're such a nutcase, Seishirou. You did hear me right. Your sister is alive. Of course, she's also in a hospital, and is just barely that, but she iis/i alive. You see, your sister, although having very little magical powers, still knew how to weave quite a maboroshi. The Naomi that died was an illusion. Your sister, however, slipped into a coma because of the magical strain and has just woken up, oh, two days ago," the Tree explained blandly, slightly amused by Seishirou's response.
brbr
"How is... how... where... how... " Seishirou muttered, trying desperately to form a complete sentence, but was still failing rather miserably.
brbr
"I just told you how she's alive, and the reason you didn't sense the maboroshi was because she requested that I cloak the magic from your mother. I wasn't sure if she'd ever come out of the coma, so I didn't tell you. I didn't want to get your hopes up," the Tree replied soothingly.
brbr
Seishirou, for once, truly smiled. "Should I go see her?"
brbr
"I want you to do something first. I want you to make up with Sumeragi-kun," the Tree replied blandly.
brbr
"What's that matter?" Seishirou grumbled.
brbr
"Your sister wanted you to use your heart, didn't she? So do it. You wouldn't want her to think you'd deny her dying wish, would you?" the Tree coxed, sounding amused.
brbr
"Subaru-kun hates me," Seishirou challanged. The Tree didn't reply. "What, no snide remark, Saku-chan?!"
brbr
"You yourself know how incredibly stupid that response was. I don't need to tell you that, Seishirou," the Tree replied irritatedly.
brbr
Seishirou grumbled. "Okay, you're right. But he doesn't love me anymore," he stated blandly in response.
brbr
"Even if he doesn't, which he does by the way, as long as you try you keep a sense of self. Just try, for me, okay?" the Tree replied, sounding slightly pleadingly.
brbr
Seishirou paused, then sighed, forfeiting. "I'll try to talk to Subaru-kun tomorrow," he offered.
brbr
"Good boy. Now go eat something, or you'll be a pig tomorrow," the Tree replied.
brbr
"There is nothing to eat in this house. I haven't shopped yet," Seishirou replied.
brbr
"Ice cream at Tokyo Tower?" the Tree offered.
brbr
Seishirou paused, as if thoroughly contemplating it. "Okay," he finally replied, then slipped on his shoes, and left. Without his coat.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"No! We're not going home until you eat the mush that was once your ice cream, and a hot dog! You're too skinny!" Hokuto said firmly, glaring at her little brother who was cowering.
brbr
Subaru poked at the melted ice cream with his spoon, hesitant to eat it. "I'll eat two hot dogs if I get out of having to eat this... stuff," Subaru said pleadingly, looking at Hokuto with puppy eyes.
brbr
Hokuto pondered this for a moment then smiled. "Make it three," she said slyly.
brbr
Subaru nearly fell dead on the spot but managed to instead fall over. "Hokuto-chan, my stomach is not that big!" he whined softly.
brbr
"Tough luck, kiddo," she replied.
brbr
"Hokuto-chan!" Subaru whined, looking quite pitiful.
brbr
"What are you tormenting him about this time?" Seishirou asked the twins as he walked up the sidewalk. Subaru paled visably at the sight of him.
brbr
Hokuto, however, promptly cackled her usual laugh. "Subaru is not eating properly, so I demanded he eat either three hot dogs, or the mush and one hot dog!" she pointed at the melted ice cream to make her point.
brbr
Seishirou laughed, glancing at the ice cream in mild amusement. "Let it melt, have you?" he asked. A rhetorical question.
brbr
"Shut up," Subaru said stubbornly, curling up some. "I'll eat three hot dogs, but ihe/i has to buy them."
brbr
"My pleasure, Subaru-kun," Seishirou stated, smirking. "With ketchup, I presume?"
brbr
"Always," Subaru stated, giving Seishirou a withering look.
brbr
"Yay, Sei-chan!" Hokuto blurted out, howling with laughter that made Subaru want to hide under the picnic table they were sitting at.
brbr
Seishirou smirked, sauntering off to the food stand in the center of the meal court. Subaru watched him with a pained expression on his face. "How did he know how to find me?" he asked softly.
brbr
"Did you have a memory lapse or something?" Hokuto asked, blinking.
brbr
"I severed our bind," Subaru explained, holding up his hand.
brbr
"Oh, I see. Well, I don't know," Hokuto replied, watching as Seishirou walked back toward them.
brbr
"I got Hokuto-chan a hot dog as well, and one for myself, as I haven't eaten," Seishirou explained, setting a hot dog infront of Hokuto, then laid the tray of three infront of Subaru.
brbr
"She can't eat it," Subaru said, blinking a few times.
brbr
"It's still polite to give the lady something as well. It would be rude of us to eat without offering her some," Seishirou replied blandly.
brbr
"I may not be able to eat it, but I can taste it, Subaru!" Hokuto protested, promptly taking a bite out of the hot dog, which resulted in half of it being gone, and tumbling into the mess under where Hokuto was sitting.
brbr
"You're all just going to watch me eat all of these, aren't you?" Subaru whispered, looking quite pitiful as Hokuto and Seishirou both nodded. They looked incredibly amused. "First, answer me something. How did you find us?" he pointed at Seishirou to direct his question, should Hokuto think she was being addressed.
brbr
"Actually, Saku-chan suggested coming here for something to eat since I'm out of groceries. Of course, I'm willing to bet she did it because you are here, but I came because I was hungry," Seishirou explained, taking a bite out of his hotdog, still watching Subaru in amusement.
brbr
Subaru whimpered a few times, then started on his first hot dog, eating it in small nibbles. "Well... uhm..." he started, trying to make conversation and failing miserably.
brbr
"Sei-chan, Subaru! Let's go to Tokyo Tower's special viewing platform after you're done! It'll be like old times!" Hokuto suggested, beaming brightly at the idea.
brbr
"If Subaru-kun wants to," Seishirou replied nonchalantly, leaving the decision to Subaru who paled visably.
brbr
After finishing his first hot dog, Subaru nodded. "Okay. We can," he replied. Hokuto burst out laughing, and Seishirou smiled very faintly. A smile no one was meant to see.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
Seishirou, the Tree mused with mild amusement, could be quite dense sometimes. He hadn't even realized that the Tree might be setting him up on a 'date' with his favorite plaything. Silly fool.
brbr
It wasn't that she really cared about Seishirou's love life, because frankly, she didn't. It was more up to five basic factors.
brbr
Seishirou loved Subaru. Subaru loved Seishirou. Subaru was always depressed because he and Seishirou weren't together. Seishirou was always frustrated for that reason as well. And Naomi would kill Seishirou if she knew he was thirty-four and still single.
brbr
Of course, the idea of Naomi actually ikilling/i Seishirou, actually amused the Sakura. Mainly because there were only two people capable of doing it, without Seishirou fighting back. Subaru and Naomi.
brbr
The tree let out a mental sigh, then contemplated talking to Naomi. When she was a child, she had always been quite a conversationalist. Naomi would surely be entertaining. Of course, not as entertaining as what was happening at Tokyo Tower.
brbr
It was quite amazing how much the Sumeragi could shove into his stomach if he actually put forth an effort. It was even more amusing to watch him chewing stubbornly on the third hotdog after nearly getting sick on the previous.
brbr
Absently, the Sakurazuka wondered how long the Sumeragi would be able to keep that up without actually vomitting up his lunch. Well, if the Sumeragi iwas/i going to vomit...
brbr
... He had better do it on Seishirou. That would be altogether very funny. The tree found it a shame that she herself could not be present for the event. Or, maybe she could...
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"Miss Sakurazuka?" a voice asked calmly, earning a strangled yawn from the form laying in the hospital bed.
brbr
"Huh?" Naomi asked, reaching up to rub at her eyes, but found her arms to be stiff and sore. She blinked a few times, trying to sit up, and again found herself unable to do so. "What's wrong with me?"
brbr
"You've been in a coma for twenty-seven years. We thought you'd never wake up," the voice, who Naomi recognized as a doctor by his white clothing, informed her.
brbr
Naomi blinked a few times, letting her mind process this information. "Where's my brother?" she asked, looking up at the doctor.
brbr
"Your brother? No one has been to visit you," the doctor said softly. "We thought you had no living relatives."
brbr
"WHAT!?" she blurted out, sounding infuriated.
brbr
"Miss Sakurazuka, please calm down. First, your mother, Sakurazuka Setsuka is deceased. You have no other registered family members," the doctor tried to explain.
brbr
Naomi glared daggers at the doctor. "Sakurazuka Seishirou. Age..." she paused, letting numbers add up in her head. "Thirty-four. Resident in Tokyo, I guarentee it."
brbr
"I'll have one of the nurses look him up," the doctor replied. "Now, I need to take your vital stats. If you please..."
brbr
"No. Go get my brother. Now."
brbr
"But Miss Sakurazuka..."
brbr
"Now, I said!"
brbr
"O-of course," the doctor replied, recognizing the fury in his patients eyes. "Right away, miss." And with that, he turned and left the room.
brbr
Naomi closed her eyes, frustrated at being unable to move. "You! Where is Seishirou?!" she asked the tree furiously.
brbr
"Tokyo Tower, with his psuedo-boyfriend," the Tree replied nonchalantly.
brbr
Naomi blinked a few times, then stiffled snickers. "Sei-chan is homosexual?"
brbr
"Yes. He'll be in to visit you tomorrow. Cooperate with the doctors, please."
brbr
"Okay. Get him in here as soon as possible," Naomi demanded, then closed her eyes, sighing. She was going to need to rest, and think up ways to needle Seishirou. That was always a fun hobby.
brbr
"Oh, and Naomi-chan?" the Tree asked softly.
brbr
"Yes?"
brbr
"Seishirou only has one eye. Don't freak out when you see him, he might get rather upset. And if he brings Subaru with him, Subaru will panic."
brbr
"W-what?! Subaru.. who?"
brbr
"His psuedo-boyfriend and the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan."
brbr
"Oh, it figures. Why would he panic?"
brbr
"Seishirou lost his eye protecting Subaru."
brbr
"Oh. Poor Sumeragi-kun," Naomi said softly. "Poor Sei-chan, having tastes that run in our hated enemies."
brbr
"That's what I tell him all the time. Then he vehemently denies having any such feelings."
brbr
"Typical man," Naomi replied, smiling slightly.
brbr
The Sakurazuka just laughed. "I have to go. Hokuto is forcing a fourth hotdog down the Sumeragi's throat, and I have to link myself to Seishirou to find out the details. This should be amusing."
brbr
"Why's that?"
brbr
"The Sumeragi is practically anorexic," the Tree explained, then Naomi burst out laughing. The tree vanished from her senses, but she didn't stop laughing. The idea of her pig of a brother being with an anorexic man amused her almost as much as the time Seishirou fell down the stairs, back in the highschool, that the Tree had been kind enough to inform her of.
brbr
"Nee-san!" Subaru ran toward his long dead sister, arms out stretched... and fell right through her, just barely managing to catch himself before he could hit the ground with what would have been an embarrassing thud.
brbr
The older of the twins (technically only by two minutes), wrinkled her nose at her brother. "You can't touch me Subaru, I no longer exist on your plane remember?" she said, and then rolled her eyes in irritation. "Actually, I'm not even sure I want to hug you, you're being very stupid when it comes to Sei-chan lately, " and after a slight pause, she concluded with: "and ruining all of my hard work I might add."
brbr
"Hokuto-chaaaan!" Subaru whined to her, a perfect imitation of his sixteen year old self. The humor was lost as Subaru brought his arms up and wrapped them around himself, having to be satisfied with holding that much since he could not hold his twin. He lowered his gaze as his eyes filled with tears, "I missed you so much, Nee-san."
brbr
Her features softened as she beheld her suffering brother, and she reached to smooth the hair out of his eyes, but stopped short when she remembered her ethereal nature. "I missed you too, Subaru."
brbr
* * * *
brbr
The Sakurazuka didn't really hate its former provider, per say, she couldn't really seem to hate one of the members of the clan that had served her for generations... an intense dislike was more appropriate. Sakurazuka Setsuka had been one of her more disturbed guardians, mentally as well as emotionally.
brbr
When she had killed her only daughter, it had not been to create the "perfect killing machine", but was an act perpetuated in order to gain sole possession of Seishirou's affections. Unfortunately for her, an innocent seven year old Seishirou truly came to know the meaning of the word "hate" when he had learned of his sister's death, which was also an action that had led to his emotional ineptness later on.
brbr
Seishirou was so pained by the loss of his sister that he became emotionally unresponsive. He did not want to feel any longer, he had never wanted to be hurt again, so he sealed himself away. For the better part of ten years, Seishirou's emotions lurked within the depths of his heart... waiting. Then, a chance encounter with a small child had brought them back full force, even though he was so out of practice in dealing with his emotions that he didn't even realize when he had started to act upon them.
brbr
Thus was the impetus of the ancient tree's dislike for the mother of one of her favorites. Perhaps if Seishirou had not experienced such an overwhelming loss, then he would be far less emotionally confused as he currently was. Perhaps also, he would not be suffering from his dilemma with the Sumeragi, for neither of them would have doubts about the other and they could live in peace.
brbr
However, this was certainly not the case, the Sakura reflected to herself, so she was going to have to repair some of the emotional damage caused by her previous caretaker.
brbr
* * * *
i
"'Ka-san! Naomi-neechan! Tadaima!" Seishirou's lilting seven year-old voice had called. Silence was his only response.
brbr
Curiosity, mixed with a tinge of worry compelled him to go in search of his family members. He made his way throughout the house, and in finding nothing, decided to check the backyard.
brbr
Sliding back the delicate shouji and stepping onto the emerald grass, Seishirou's honeyed eyes reflected the sun as he escaped the shade, nearing the scene displayed before him.
brbr
His golden eyes liquified as they filled with tears. Almost too shocked to speak, he could only mutter, "N-Neechan... daijobu ka?" Somewhere in the recesses of his young mind he knew that she was /inoti all right, that she would never be all right again.
brbr
Setsuka had frowned at her son. Not because she had just removed her right hand from her daughter's chest, not because she felt even the slightest remorse for what she had just done, not because of the pain that she had caused both of her children, or even because she would miss Naomi. She had frowned because she noticed that Seishirou was still only wearing the white socks that he had gone to school in, and was probably ruining them with grass stains. This irritated her.
brbr
Seishirou had just made it to his sister's side when his knees finally gave out and he sank to the ground. "Neechan...Iie..." was all he could manage to say as he reached to cradle his dying sister in his arms.
brbr
With an irritated grunt, Setsuka had gotten up from where she had been kneeling and headed toward the house. She hadn't wanted to be bothered by the emotional scene that she would have been a witness to had she stayed. So she simply removed herself from it.
brbr
Naomi, being somewhat more knowledgeable about the circumstances of her own death than her brother, attempted to explain them... if only she could think straight. "Sei-chan... don't give her... what she wants...", she had managed.
brbr
Seishirou just wrinkled his brow in confusion and despair and replied with, "Nani ka, Neechan? I don't understand."
brbr
With the last of her strength, she attemptd to clarify for her little brother. She brought a hand up and pointed to Seishirou's heart with a trembling finger. "Use this... always..." was all that she had been able to bring herself to say as the last of her energy gave and she surrendered to the darkness of death.
brbr
"Neechan? ... Iie... don't leave me alone... with her. Please, Neechan," Seishirou sobbed into his dead sister's shoulder. "...Please." He sat, and rocked, and held her lifeless form.
brbr
Once inside, Setsuka had headed toward the kitchen to make some tea. As she filled the pot with water, her lips parted in a smirk that no one could see. "Hn, he'll get over it soon enough."
brbr
However, Seishirou did /inoti just "get over it." He stayed like that for a long time. He had stayed while the crimson stain on the bright grass dried and turned into a passionless brown. He had stayed until he exhausted himself from the tears and had fallen asleep, all the while clinging to Naomi.
/ibrbr
* * * *
brbr
"Hokuto-chan, you've somehow managed to eat an ice cream sundae and get it all over me as well," Subaru observed, watching his sister, who was making quite a mess with the ice cream that she couldn't eat, but had still demanded he buy for her.
brbr
Hokuto looked up at him and scowled. "Subaru!" she said very sternly, eyes narrowing to slits. "All I got on you was a single spot, the rest was because you let yours melt!"
brbr
"I didn't intend to, but you decided to lecture me!" Subaru said defensively. Hokuto just smirked in response and returned to gobbling incessantly, which resulted in the ground being very messy, and covered in bits of ice cream. Subaru made a mental note to pay the janitors an extra hundred or so.
brbr
"So, Subaru. Let's talk about Sei-chan, ne? What's up with you and him, hmmm?" Hokuto demanded to know, glaring at her brother over a spoon of strawberry ice cream. Proof once again that she was indeed a Sumeragi, despite her flamboyant behavior.
brbr
"He's a cold-hearted emotionless murderer," Subaru stated flatly, sounding thoroughly annoyed with Hokuto's question.
brbr
"Now now, if he was emotionless, I don't think you'd be alive. Am I right?" Hokuto said, pointing the now empty spoon at her younger brother, whose cheeks prompty tainted a light shade of pink that matched the ice cream in her bowl perfectly.
brbr
After a few moments of silence, Subaru glanced away. "I don't matter enough to him for him to kill me," Subaru stated, sounding hurt by this statement, and sounding like he truly believed it.
brbr
Hokuto glared at her younger brother, looking like she would like very much to grab him by his head and slam him into a brick wall. Luckily, she couldn't, or she might have. "Subaru, I'm going to say this once, and only once, and you are going to listen. You are a threat to him. You are the only onmyouji in all of Japan who knows his identity and has enough power to kill him. You are worth killing, yet he has not. That proves isomething/i, whether you like it or not!"
brbr
Subaru paused, giving his sister a long suffering look. "It proves that he doesn't care if I'm a danger, because he knows I'd never be able to kill him," Subaru stated softly, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice, and failing miserably in doing so.
brbr
Hokuto, despite her fury at her brother's stubbornness, paused. She wasn't sure how to reply to that without making her brother burst into hysterical tears, or some other unwanted emotional outburst. "Subaru, you're very dense. Sei-chan wanted to hold you, earlier today, didn't he? But you jerked away. He asked you not to let go. That proves isomething/i too. Whether you like it or not!"
brbr
Subaru sighed, pulling his knees onto the bench, arms wrapped around them. "I don't know what that was about," he replied honestly, resisting the urge to burst into tears at the mention of it.
brbr
Hokuto let out a long sigh. Her brother could be a very stubborn man when he chose to, but it was well-known that she was the more stubborn Sumeragi sibling. She knew if she pushed the right buttons, she'd be able to get Subaru to believe her. It would just take time. She grinned slyly at her brother who looked pained at her obvious contemplation. "Subaru, what's wrong?" she asked innocently.
brbr
Subaru let his head thunk against the table in obvious exasperation. "Hokuto-chan, what on earth are you up to?" he asked, sounding extremely paranoid. He knew his sister, and whatever it was, was going to more then likely result in him blushing and stuttering like an idiot.
brbr
"Whatever are you talking about, my dear brother?"
brbr
"Hokuto-chan, you are malicious and shameless. Not only that, you are up to something, and I want to know what it is, so I don't end up stuttering and going through the shades of a ripening tomato," Subaru replied very bluntly.
brbr
Hokuto simply grinned at her little brother, wagging a finger in the air. "You'll see!"
brbr
"That's what I'm afraid of..."
brbr
"Is that your pager?" Hokuto asked when she heard a sharp beeping noise coming from Subaru's pocket. Subaru nodded, reaching down to pick it up, and read the number. Then he sighed. "What is it?"
brbr
"It's a job," Subaru stated softly in response, still staring at the numbers playing over the small screen atop the black beeper.
brbr
"Well that simply will not do. I will not have an unwanted ghost interupting my plans. Send it back and say you're busy!" Hokuto demanded, giving her brother a pointed look.
brbr
"But Hokuto-chan..." Subaru started to reply, but stopped at the furious look his sister was giving him.
brbr
"Don't you 'but Hokuto-chan' me! You're going to send it back and spend time with me!" Hokuto said furiously, green eyes flashing angrily in a manner that quite clearly said no one or thing was to disagree with her, and if they dared to do so, they would fall victim to one of her screeching fits.
brbr
Subaru stared at her pleadingly for a few minutes before he finally gave him. "Let me go to a pay phone and call obaachan," he stated softly, standing up.
brbr
"Tell her you want two weeks vacation time for working non-stop the past nine years!" Hokuto said furiously, glaring at Subaru who paled.
brbr
"I didn't know you were watching..." he stated very softly, his cheeks tinging pink.
brbr
"Subaru, did you think I'd forget about you? Sakura-chan is very nice to me, she says I can watch you all I want. I think that's because I beat her at chess, though..." Hokuto paused, tapping her chin.
brbr
Subaru stared at his sister. "You played chess against the carnivorous tree..? What the... you know, nevermind, I don't want to know," he stated, then promptly walked to a pay phone that was near by.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"You had something about Naomi-neechan to tell me, Saku-chan?" Seishirou asked the Sakurazuka while lighting a cigarette. He propped his feet up on his coffee table, ignoring all regard for manners as he really didn't care.
brbr
"Sure do," the Sakura replied, waiting for the obvious question that was to come.
brbr
It did. "What is it?" Seishirou asked.
brbr
"She's alive," the Sakura replied very bluntly.
brbr
Seishirou spit out the tea he had just sipped, and it proptly splattered across his television screen accordingly. "Come again?"
brbr
"Your sister is alive."
brbr
"I still think I didn't hear you right. I couldn't have," Seishirou replied, putting out his cigarette. He laid the bud in an ash tray and waited for the Tree's explanation.
brbr
"You're such a nutcase, Seishirou. You did hear me right. Your sister is alive. Of course, she's also in a hospital, and is just barely that, but she iis/i alive. You see, your sister, although having very little magical powers, still knew how to weave quite a maboroshi. The Naomi that died was an illusion. Your sister, however, slipped into a coma because of the magical strain and has just woken up, oh, two days ago," the Tree explained blandly, slightly amused by Seishirou's response.
brbr
"How is... how... where... how... " Seishirou muttered, trying desperately to form a complete sentence, but was still failing rather miserably.
brbr
"I just told you how she's alive, and the reason you didn't sense the maboroshi was because she requested that I cloak the magic from your mother. I wasn't sure if she'd ever come out of the coma, so I didn't tell you. I didn't want to get your hopes up," the Tree replied soothingly.
brbr
Seishirou, for once, truly smiled. "Should I go see her?"
brbr
"I want you to do something first. I want you to make up with Sumeragi-kun," the Tree replied blandly.
brbr
"What's that matter?" Seishirou grumbled.
brbr
"Your sister wanted you to use your heart, didn't she? So do it. You wouldn't want her to think you'd deny her dying wish, would you?" the Tree coxed, sounding amused.
brbr
"Subaru-kun hates me," Seishirou challanged. The Tree didn't reply. "What, no snide remark, Saku-chan?!"
brbr
"You yourself know how incredibly stupid that response was. I don't need to tell you that, Seishirou," the Tree replied irritatedly.
brbr
Seishirou grumbled. "Okay, you're right. But he doesn't love me anymore," he stated blandly in response.
brbr
"Even if he doesn't, which he does by the way, as long as you try you keep a sense of self. Just try, for me, okay?" the Tree replied, sounding slightly pleadingly.
brbr
Seishirou paused, then sighed, forfeiting. "I'll try to talk to Subaru-kun tomorrow," he offered.
brbr
"Good boy. Now go eat something, or you'll be a pig tomorrow," the Tree replied.
brbr
"There is nothing to eat in this house. I haven't shopped yet," Seishirou replied.
brbr
"Ice cream at Tokyo Tower?" the Tree offered.
brbr
Seishirou paused, as if thoroughly contemplating it. "Okay," he finally replied, then slipped on his shoes, and left. Without his coat.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"No! We're not going home until you eat the mush that was once your ice cream, and a hot dog! You're too skinny!" Hokuto said firmly, glaring at her little brother who was cowering.
brbr
Subaru poked at the melted ice cream with his spoon, hesitant to eat it. "I'll eat two hot dogs if I get out of having to eat this... stuff," Subaru said pleadingly, looking at Hokuto with puppy eyes.
brbr
Hokuto pondered this for a moment then smiled. "Make it three," she said slyly.
brbr
Subaru nearly fell dead on the spot but managed to instead fall over. "Hokuto-chan, my stomach is not that big!" he whined softly.
brbr
"Tough luck, kiddo," she replied.
brbr
"Hokuto-chan!" Subaru whined, looking quite pitiful.
brbr
"What are you tormenting him about this time?" Seishirou asked the twins as he walked up the sidewalk. Subaru paled visably at the sight of him.
brbr
Hokuto, however, promptly cackled her usual laugh. "Subaru is not eating properly, so I demanded he eat either three hot dogs, or the mush and one hot dog!" she pointed at the melted ice cream to make her point.
brbr
Seishirou laughed, glancing at the ice cream in mild amusement. "Let it melt, have you?" he asked. A rhetorical question.
brbr
"Shut up," Subaru said stubbornly, curling up some. "I'll eat three hot dogs, but ihe/i has to buy them."
brbr
"My pleasure, Subaru-kun," Seishirou stated, smirking. "With ketchup, I presume?"
brbr
"Always," Subaru stated, giving Seishirou a withering look.
brbr
"Yay, Sei-chan!" Hokuto blurted out, howling with laughter that made Subaru want to hide under the picnic table they were sitting at.
brbr
Seishirou smirked, sauntering off to the food stand in the center of the meal court. Subaru watched him with a pained expression on his face. "How did he know how to find me?" he asked softly.
brbr
"Did you have a memory lapse or something?" Hokuto asked, blinking.
brbr
"I severed our bind," Subaru explained, holding up his hand.
brbr
"Oh, I see. Well, I don't know," Hokuto replied, watching as Seishirou walked back toward them.
brbr
"I got Hokuto-chan a hot dog as well, and one for myself, as I haven't eaten," Seishirou explained, setting a hot dog infront of Hokuto, then laid the tray of three infront of Subaru.
brbr
"She can't eat it," Subaru said, blinking a few times.
brbr
"It's still polite to give the lady something as well. It would be rude of us to eat without offering her some," Seishirou replied blandly.
brbr
"I may not be able to eat it, but I can taste it, Subaru!" Hokuto protested, promptly taking a bite out of the hot dog, which resulted in half of it being gone, and tumbling into the mess under where Hokuto was sitting.
brbr
"You're all just going to watch me eat all of these, aren't you?" Subaru whispered, looking quite pitiful as Hokuto and Seishirou both nodded. They looked incredibly amused. "First, answer me something. How did you find us?" he pointed at Seishirou to direct his question, should Hokuto think she was being addressed.
brbr
"Actually, Saku-chan suggested coming here for something to eat since I'm out of groceries. Of course, I'm willing to bet she did it because you are here, but I came because I was hungry," Seishirou explained, taking a bite out of his hotdog, still watching Subaru in amusement.
brbr
Subaru whimpered a few times, then started on his first hot dog, eating it in small nibbles. "Well... uhm..." he started, trying to make conversation and failing miserably.
brbr
"Sei-chan, Subaru! Let's go to Tokyo Tower's special viewing platform after you're done! It'll be like old times!" Hokuto suggested, beaming brightly at the idea.
brbr
"If Subaru-kun wants to," Seishirou replied nonchalantly, leaving the decision to Subaru who paled visably.
brbr
After finishing his first hot dog, Subaru nodded. "Okay. We can," he replied. Hokuto burst out laughing, and Seishirou smiled very faintly. A smile no one was meant to see.
brbr
* * * *
brbr
Seishirou, the Tree mused with mild amusement, could be quite dense sometimes. He hadn't even realized that the Tree might be setting him up on a 'date' with his favorite plaything. Silly fool.
brbr
It wasn't that she really cared about Seishirou's love life, because frankly, she didn't. It was more up to five basic factors.
brbr
Seishirou loved Subaru. Subaru loved Seishirou. Subaru was always depressed because he and Seishirou weren't together. Seishirou was always frustrated for that reason as well. And Naomi would kill Seishirou if she knew he was thirty-four and still single.
brbr
Of course, the idea of Naomi actually ikilling/i Seishirou, actually amused the Sakura. Mainly because there were only two people capable of doing it, without Seishirou fighting back. Subaru and Naomi.
brbr
The tree let out a mental sigh, then contemplated talking to Naomi. When she was a child, she had always been quite a conversationalist. Naomi would surely be entertaining. Of course, not as entertaining as what was happening at Tokyo Tower.
brbr
It was quite amazing how much the Sumeragi could shove into his stomach if he actually put forth an effort. It was even more amusing to watch him chewing stubbornly on the third hotdog after nearly getting sick on the previous.
brbr
Absently, the Sakurazuka wondered how long the Sumeragi would be able to keep that up without actually vomitting up his lunch. Well, if the Sumeragi iwas/i going to vomit...
brbr
... He had better do it on Seishirou. That would be altogether very funny. The tree found it a shame that she herself could not be present for the event. Or, maybe she could...
brbr
* * * *
brbr
"Miss Sakurazuka?" a voice asked calmly, earning a strangled yawn from the form laying in the hospital bed.
brbr
"Huh?" Naomi asked, reaching up to rub at her eyes, but found her arms to be stiff and sore. She blinked a few times, trying to sit up, and again found herself unable to do so. "What's wrong with me?"
brbr
"You've been in a coma for twenty-seven years. We thought you'd never wake up," the voice, who Naomi recognized as a doctor by his white clothing, informed her.
brbr
Naomi blinked a few times, letting her mind process this information. "Where's my brother?" she asked, looking up at the doctor.
brbr
"Your brother? No one has been to visit you," the doctor said softly. "We thought you had no living relatives."
brbr
"WHAT!?" she blurted out, sounding infuriated.
brbr
"Miss Sakurazuka, please calm down. First, your mother, Sakurazuka Setsuka is deceased. You have no other registered family members," the doctor tried to explain.
brbr
Naomi glared daggers at the doctor. "Sakurazuka Seishirou. Age..." she paused, letting numbers add up in her head. "Thirty-four. Resident in Tokyo, I guarentee it."
brbr
"I'll have one of the nurses look him up," the doctor replied. "Now, I need to take your vital stats. If you please..."
brbr
"No. Go get my brother. Now."
brbr
"But Miss Sakurazuka..."
brbr
"Now, I said!"
brbr
"O-of course," the doctor replied, recognizing the fury in his patients eyes. "Right away, miss." And with that, he turned and left the room.
brbr
Naomi closed her eyes, frustrated at being unable to move. "You! Where is Seishirou?!" she asked the tree furiously.
brbr
"Tokyo Tower, with his psuedo-boyfriend," the Tree replied nonchalantly.
brbr
Naomi blinked a few times, then stiffled snickers. "Sei-chan is homosexual?"
brbr
"Yes. He'll be in to visit you tomorrow. Cooperate with the doctors, please."
brbr
"Okay. Get him in here as soon as possible," Naomi demanded, then closed her eyes, sighing. She was going to need to rest, and think up ways to needle Seishirou. That was always a fun hobby.
brbr
"Oh, and Naomi-chan?" the Tree asked softly.
brbr
"Yes?"
brbr
"Seishirou only has one eye. Don't freak out when you see him, he might get rather upset. And if he brings Subaru with him, Subaru will panic."
brbr
"W-what?! Subaru.. who?"
brbr
"His psuedo-boyfriend and the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan."
brbr
"Oh, it figures. Why would he panic?"
brbr
"Seishirou lost his eye protecting Subaru."
brbr
"Oh. Poor Sumeragi-kun," Naomi said softly. "Poor Sei-chan, having tastes that run in our hated enemies."
brbr
"That's what I tell him all the time. Then he vehemently denies having any such feelings."
brbr
"Typical man," Naomi replied, smiling slightly.
brbr
The Sakurazuka just laughed. "I have to go. Hokuto is forcing a fourth hotdog down the Sumeragi's throat, and I have to link myself to Seishirou to find out the details. This should be amusing."
brbr
"Why's that?"
brbr
"The Sumeragi is practically anorexic," the Tree explained, then Naomi burst out laughing. The tree vanished from her senses, but she didn't stop laughing. The idea of her pig of a brother being with an anorexic man amused her almost as much as the time Seishirou fell down the stairs, back in the highschool, that the Tree had been kind enough to inform her of.
