THANKS TO: yamatoforever (doubly so!), Subaru Sumeragi, Agent420, and woah. And yes, Kakyou is too precious to throw away.
PREMISE: Tokyo Babylon and X both occur in the year 1999. This means that Seishirou, Subaru, and Hokuto retain their TB ages/personalities.
DISCLAIMER: Tokyo Babylon/X and their characters are not mine.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Chapter 4: D.O.A.? What's That?
Research essays not only meant a lot of time and effort, they were boring beyond belief. Kamui hated history and saw no point in learning about what had already passed. He was much more interested in the future; more specifically, his possible future with Subaru.
But failing the tenth grade and becoming a high school dropout wasn't a viable option, especially when one factored in the heat he'd get from his mother, so Kamui found himself at the local library on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while all of his friends were presumably out having fun.
This particular assignment was to be done in pairs, and while Keiichi was smart and conscientious and didn't mind doing all of the work, his one stipulation was that Kamui had to physically be there with him the entire time it took to do the essay.
"Here, hold this, Shirou-kun." Keiichi dumped a large stack of books in Kamui's arms and disappeared once more.
Kamui lugged them over to a table, depositing them with the others that had accumulated. Figuring that Keiichi would take another fifteen minutes before returning, he wandered over to the small, much neglected occult section.
He skimmed over the titles, picking out a couple about onmyoujitsu that he hadn't read yet and cradling them in his arms. What had started as an attempt to understand Subaru's work — and thus Subaru himself — better, had become a personal hobby. Kamui had to admit it was a fascinating subject even without an ulterior purpose.
Then, a thick volume on general spell and witchcraft caught his eye and propping the other books on an empty space on the shelf, he pulled it out. He scanned the table of contents until he found what he was looking for, and turned to the appropriate chapter.
Love Spells
Now why hadn't he thought of this before? He could make Subaru fall in love with him without having to waiting possibly months for others to get around to it. All he needed to do was follow the directions!
Congratulating himself for the brilliant idea, Kamui hefted the book and read aloud.
"To cast the spell, you need the following items: a picture of your target." He smiled, thinking of the two thick photo albums dedicated solely to Subaru at home. "I have plenty of those. A lock of hair... I wonder if single strands of hair collected over a lifetime counts. Hm... a personal belonging of importance to the target... something personal... personal..."
Kamui thought over the pens, pencils, and erasers he had "borrowed" over the years. They didn't seem to fit the importance requirement. The same went for other random Subaru-philia, like the school necktie, broken shoelace, used chopsticks preserved in its unwashed state, old math test (89%, not bad for someone who missed so much class), and various other knickknacks in his mini-Subaru shrine.
"Well, I suppose I could swipe something," Kamui murmured, brows drawn together in concentration. The only problem was, Subaru wasn't attached to material things. The dearest things to him were not actually things. Subaru loved Hokuto, Seishirou (as much as Kamui was loathe to admit it), his friends, his grandmother, random strangers on the street, animals, lonely or vengeful spirits that possessed his clients...
Even his distinctive outfits were something to be endured out of love for his more fashionable daring sister, rather than something he took pride and joy in. And Kamui had to admit, Subaru's wardrobe was even worse than his own. And Hokuto... geez... she was cosplaying weird animals or objects half the time...
"Ouch!" Kamui yelped in pain as someone stepped on his foot. Well, stomped would have been a more accurate description.
"Oops. Sorry!" Hokuto said, not sounding sorry at all. Kamui realized he had continued to talk out loud, and she had caught every word of his criticism.
He tried to cover up his embarrassment. "What are you doing here?"
"Research," Hokuto replied matter-of-factly and thrust her selections at Kamui.
Depression. Coping with Loss. Dissociative Identity Disorder.
"These are psychology books," he noted with surprise.
Hokuto winked at him, wagging a finger. "Bingo."
"But, Hokuto, I don't think any of these apply to you. You should look into histrionic personality disorder... or maybe even ADHD."
She took Coping with Loss and immediately hit him over the head with it.
"Ouch!" Kamui shrank back, rubbing his head.
"They're not for me, dummy. They're for Subaru."
Kamui perked up at Subaru's name. "Is he working on another job? He hasn't been to school for the past two days." Since that day he went to meet Seishirou and confess his love. Kamui winced at the implication.
Hokuto looked unusually solemn. That wasn't it, at least. She would be the first in line to congratulate Seishirou and Subaru if they were to become a couple.
"Wait, you've been absent, too," he realized, slow as he was in all things not directly Subaru-related. "Is there a crisis in the family?"
"Actually, yes."
"Your grandmother's fallen ill?" Kamui guessed.
She shook her head.
"Maverick onmyoujis are causing trouble?"
Another shake.
"The gov—"
"It's better if I show you," Hokuto interrupted, grabbing his wrist and tugging him along.
"Wait, but your books—"
"I already checked them out."
"My books—"
"You can return for them later. This is more important."
"But I'm supposed to—"
"Kamui, shut up and let's go," she said, having already half-dragged him to the entrance.
And so, when Keiichi returned triumphant with the last round of books, ready to celebrate over crepes before starting the actual work, he found Kamui had ditched him.
"Shirou-kun," he mourned briefly before his genki smile came back. "You're such a mysterious person. I'll dedicate my life to understanding you," he vowed, pumping an arm in the air.
-----
It was a depressing place. The decor itself was fine; the walls were a shade of light green designed to calm the nerves and give one a feeling of contentment, and several brightly colored pictures lined the walls. Large windows brought in natural light, but still, all of this couldn't change the fact that the occupants were the saddest, most depressing bunch of people Kamui had ever seen.
They sat listlessly in a loose circle, neither talking or moving. Lackluster eyes didn't have the energy or the interest to look up as Kamui followed Hokuto further into the room.
"Who are these people?" Kamui whispered, not that anyone showed signs of listening. "And why are we here?"
"This is a meeting of D.O.A. Depressive Oversleepers Anonymous," she clarified when Kamui looked blankly at her.
Now that she mentioned it, Kamui could see several of the people attempting to sleep in the armless, wooden chairs, with minimal success.
One boy slumped sideways as his muscles relaxed, then fell off his chair completely and toppled to the floor.
"Erk!" he cried, rubbing his shoulder in pain.
"Subaru!" Kamui rushed over, eyes widening in recognition.
"Oh, hi, Kamui," Subaru said sheepishly, clamboring back to his seat. "Hello, Hokuto-chan," he greeted.
"Mou, Subaru. I brought you here so you would at least try to stay conscious."
"Brought me? You abducted me while I was asleep and dumped me here," Subaru retorted peevishly, now alert enough to remember he was mad at her. "Do you know how disconcerting it was waking up in a strange place by myself?"
Not the least bit repentant, Hokuto shrugged. "You've been sleeping ever since Sei-chan tried to kill you," she said nonchalantly, arms out in a what-else-was-I-supposed-to-do gesture. "It's time to face your problems instead of running away Within."
"Seishirou tried to kill you?!?!?!" Kamui screeched, then clapped a hand over his mouth. Glancing around, he saw that no one had so much as twitched. "Why?" he asked, lowering his voice anyway.
"I don't know," Subaru moped. "I told him how much I loved him," he blushed and averted his gaze as he said this, "and he told me how much he wanted to kill me." Tears sparkled in Subaru's oversized eyes as he looked up, gripping the hem of Kamui's shirt desperately. "I-I must have done something wrong!"
"So instead of asking what, he ran away and decided to spend the rest of his life nearly comatose," Hokuto finished, exasperated. Subaru didn't deny it. "You talk some sense into him, Kamui!"
"Me? Um. Okay." Kamui turned to Subaru, racking his brain for something to say. "Subaru, uh... what are you doing?" he asked, dumbfounded, as Subaru started to squirm around.
"They deliberately design these to be unsleepable in," Subaru muttered sullenly as he contorted his body into all sorts of interesting positions. "I have to learn Kakyou-san's secret."
"Kakyou-san?"
Subaru pointed.
A thin, pale man sat serenly four chairs away. His face was partially covered with long, ash blond hair as he dozed with perfect ease.
"Amazing," Kamui murmured.
"Whoa, I agree! He's hot!" Hokuto drooled. "Subaru-chan! Introduce me!"
"No!" Subaru pouted, folding his arms across his chest. "These meetings are to help me, not to get you a date, remember?"
"Kyaa, stop being such a meaniehead!" Hokuto throttled him. "You're not getting any better so I might as well get something out of it."
Subaru was saved when a red-headed woman entered the room briskly.
"Ahem! Everyone, please take a seat. The meeting is about to start."
tbc...
----------
October 12, 2002
PREMISE: Tokyo Babylon and X both occur in the year 1999. This means that Seishirou, Subaru, and Hokuto retain their TB ages/personalities.
DISCLAIMER: Tokyo Babylon/X and their characters are not mine.
Chapter 4: D.O.A.? What's That?
Research essays not only meant a lot of time and effort, they were boring beyond belief. Kamui hated history and saw no point in learning about what had already passed. He was much more interested in the future; more specifically, his possible future with Subaru.
But failing the tenth grade and becoming a high school dropout wasn't a viable option, especially when one factored in the heat he'd get from his mother, so Kamui found himself at the local library on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while all of his friends were presumably out having fun.
This particular assignment was to be done in pairs, and while Keiichi was smart and conscientious and didn't mind doing all of the work, his one stipulation was that Kamui had to physically be there with him the entire time it took to do the essay.
"Here, hold this, Shirou-kun." Keiichi dumped a large stack of books in Kamui's arms and disappeared once more.
Kamui lugged them over to a table, depositing them with the others that had accumulated. Figuring that Keiichi would take another fifteen minutes before returning, he wandered over to the small, much neglected occult section.
He skimmed over the titles, picking out a couple about onmyoujitsu that he hadn't read yet and cradling them in his arms. What had started as an attempt to understand Subaru's work — and thus Subaru himself — better, had become a personal hobby. Kamui had to admit it was a fascinating subject even without an ulterior purpose.
Then, a thick volume on general spell and witchcraft caught his eye and propping the other books on an empty space on the shelf, he pulled it out. He scanned the table of contents until he found what he was looking for, and turned to the appropriate chapter.
Love Spells
Now why hadn't he thought of this before? He could make Subaru fall in love with him without having to waiting possibly months for others to get around to it. All he needed to do was follow the directions!
Congratulating himself for the brilliant idea, Kamui hefted the book and read aloud.
"To cast the spell, you need the following items: a picture of your target." He smiled, thinking of the two thick photo albums dedicated solely to Subaru at home. "I have plenty of those. A lock of hair... I wonder if single strands of hair collected over a lifetime counts. Hm... a personal belonging of importance to the target... something personal... personal..."
Kamui thought over the pens, pencils, and erasers he had "borrowed" over the years. They didn't seem to fit the importance requirement. The same went for other random Subaru-philia, like the school necktie, broken shoelace, used chopsticks preserved in its unwashed state, old math test (89%, not bad for someone who missed so much class), and various other knickknacks in his mini-Subaru shrine.
"Well, I suppose I could swipe something," Kamui murmured, brows drawn together in concentration. The only problem was, Subaru wasn't attached to material things. The dearest things to him were not actually things. Subaru loved Hokuto, Seishirou (as much as Kamui was loathe to admit it), his friends, his grandmother, random strangers on the street, animals, lonely or vengeful spirits that possessed his clients...
Even his distinctive outfits were something to be endured out of love for his more fashionable daring sister, rather than something he took pride and joy in. And Kamui had to admit, Subaru's wardrobe was even worse than his own. And Hokuto... geez... she was cosplaying weird animals or objects half the time...
"Ouch!" Kamui yelped in pain as someone stepped on his foot. Well, stomped would have been a more accurate description.
"Oops. Sorry!" Hokuto said, not sounding sorry at all. Kamui realized he had continued to talk out loud, and she had caught every word of his criticism.
He tried to cover up his embarrassment. "What are you doing here?"
"Research," Hokuto replied matter-of-factly and thrust her selections at Kamui.
Depression. Coping with Loss. Dissociative Identity Disorder.
"These are psychology books," he noted with surprise.
Hokuto winked at him, wagging a finger. "Bingo."
"But, Hokuto, I don't think any of these apply to you. You should look into histrionic personality disorder... or maybe even ADHD."
She took Coping with Loss and immediately hit him over the head with it.
"Ouch!" Kamui shrank back, rubbing his head.
"They're not for me, dummy. They're for Subaru."
Kamui perked up at Subaru's name. "Is he working on another job? He hasn't been to school for the past two days." Since that day he went to meet Seishirou and confess his love. Kamui winced at the implication.
Hokuto looked unusually solemn. That wasn't it, at least. She would be the first in line to congratulate Seishirou and Subaru if they were to become a couple.
"Wait, you've been absent, too," he realized, slow as he was in all things not directly Subaru-related. "Is there a crisis in the family?"
"Actually, yes."
"Your grandmother's fallen ill?" Kamui guessed.
She shook her head.
"Maverick onmyoujis are causing trouble?"
Another shake.
"The gov—"
"It's better if I show you," Hokuto interrupted, grabbing his wrist and tugging him along.
"Wait, but your books—"
"I already checked them out."
"My books—"
"You can return for them later. This is more important."
"But I'm supposed to—"
"Kamui, shut up and let's go," she said, having already half-dragged him to the entrance.
And so, when Keiichi returned triumphant with the last round of books, ready to celebrate over crepes before starting the actual work, he found Kamui had ditched him.
"Shirou-kun," he mourned briefly before his genki smile came back. "You're such a mysterious person. I'll dedicate my life to understanding you," he vowed, pumping an arm in the air.
-----
It was a depressing place. The decor itself was fine; the walls were a shade of light green designed to calm the nerves and give one a feeling of contentment, and several brightly colored pictures lined the walls. Large windows brought in natural light, but still, all of this couldn't change the fact that the occupants were the saddest, most depressing bunch of people Kamui had ever seen.
They sat listlessly in a loose circle, neither talking or moving. Lackluster eyes didn't have the energy or the interest to look up as Kamui followed Hokuto further into the room.
"Who are these people?" Kamui whispered, not that anyone showed signs of listening. "And why are we here?"
"This is a meeting of D.O.A. Depressive Oversleepers Anonymous," she clarified when Kamui looked blankly at her.
Now that she mentioned it, Kamui could see several of the people attempting to sleep in the armless, wooden chairs, with minimal success.
One boy slumped sideways as his muscles relaxed, then fell off his chair completely and toppled to the floor.
"Erk!" he cried, rubbing his shoulder in pain.
"Subaru!" Kamui rushed over, eyes widening in recognition.
"Oh, hi, Kamui," Subaru said sheepishly, clamboring back to his seat. "Hello, Hokuto-chan," he greeted.
"Mou, Subaru. I brought you here so you would at least try to stay conscious."
"Brought me? You abducted me while I was asleep and dumped me here," Subaru retorted peevishly, now alert enough to remember he was mad at her. "Do you know how disconcerting it was waking up in a strange place by myself?"
Not the least bit repentant, Hokuto shrugged. "You've been sleeping ever since Sei-chan tried to kill you," she said nonchalantly, arms out in a what-else-was-I-supposed-to-do gesture. "It's time to face your problems instead of running away Within."
"Seishirou tried to kill you?!?!?!" Kamui screeched, then clapped a hand over his mouth. Glancing around, he saw that no one had so much as twitched. "Why?" he asked, lowering his voice anyway.
"I don't know," Subaru moped. "I told him how much I loved him," he blushed and averted his gaze as he said this, "and he told me how much he wanted to kill me." Tears sparkled in Subaru's oversized eyes as he looked up, gripping the hem of Kamui's shirt desperately. "I-I must have done something wrong!"
"So instead of asking what, he ran away and decided to spend the rest of his life nearly comatose," Hokuto finished, exasperated. Subaru didn't deny it. "You talk some sense into him, Kamui!"
"Me? Um. Okay." Kamui turned to Subaru, racking his brain for something to say. "Subaru, uh... what are you doing?" he asked, dumbfounded, as Subaru started to squirm around.
"They deliberately design these to be unsleepable in," Subaru muttered sullenly as he contorted his body into all sorts of interesting positions. "I have to learn Kakyou-san's secret."
"Kakyou-san?"
Subaru pointed.
A thin, pale man sat serenly four chairs away. His face was partially covered with long, ash blond hair as he dozed with perfect ease.
"Amazing," Kamui murmured.
"Whoa, I agree! He's hot!" Hokuto drooled. "Subaru-chan! Introduce me!"
"No!" Subaru pouted, folding his arms across his chest. "These meetings are to help me, not to get you a date, remember?"
"Kyaa, stop being such a meaniehead!" Hokuto throttled him. "You're not getting any better so I might as well get something out of it."
Subaru was saved when a red-headed woman entered the room briskly.
"Ahem! Everyone, please take a seat. The meeting is about to start."
tbc...
----------
October 12, 2002