Disclaimer: Nibai's the only one that's mine. Oh well…
Twin Star
Part 2
She felt it. She wasn't quite sure what she felt, but she felt something. Something deep inside her awakened and called out, as if pulling on an invisible string. A faint bell, an ethereal melody that turned her head toward the sky as she finished sweeping the porches of the shrine. She allowed her eyes to travel upwards, looking to the heavens in search of that which was calling her.
The sun had set not more than half an hour ago, and a residual orange glow lingered in the west. To the east, the sky had already turned a deep blue-black, with perfect white stars winking into existence. It was here that her gaze was drawn, to the seven stars outlining the dipper shining in the post-dusk sky. They glimmered faintly, as if through a curtain of gauze, twinkling merrily to those who walked the Earth.
She stopped sweeping, bringing a hand to her eyes almost as if to shade them, to block out the memory of the light of the sun. The stars were singing to her, their song drifting on the wind just barely tossing her hair, and she listened, because that was what she had always been taught to do.
Tokyo, the stars whispered. You must go to Tokyo, because something awaits you there.
She squinted at the light, wondering if the stars spoke the truth. Of course, it was rare that they didn't, and they'd most certainly always spoken the truth to her, when she'd taken the time to listen. Of course, she didn't often take the time – oh, that was about as often as she took the time to listen to her elders, and everyone around here knew just how often that was.
The old woman would be pleased, however. She was attuned to the stars more acutely than Nibai could ever be, and she knew how to listen to their song even when they were blotted out by the glare of the sun at noon.
Oh yes, Nibai smiled, giving the floor one last sweeping over, just to make sure, because she didn't want to go without dinner tonight. Usually she just stole food from the kitchen when that happened, but tonight the stars had already put her in a different mood.
Yes, Yui-san will be pleased. Now. I wonder if she'll let me go to Tokyo.
* * *
Sorata blinked, Hinoto's single word ringing in his ears. "Mi-mine? But... I don't have a twin!"
Arashii nearly snorted next to him - it came out, however, as something much more dignified than that. "Of course you don't have a twin – not literally."
"Oh." Sorata grinned. "Got it. So there's some chick out there, right now, who's my 'twin'? Er, proverbially," he cast a glance at Arashii. "So what?"
"You must find her and bring her back here. She has been called to Tokyo – I saw that in my dream as well. She will be lost, without guidance. Her path is with the Dragon of Heaven, and you must guide her to it, before the Dragon of Earth sees what I have seen and steps in."
"Yeah, sure," Sorata nodded. "They ain't stealin' our allies, at least not while I'm around!"
Arashii gave him another of her disapproving looks. He loved those. They were just so damned cute.
"Do you have any idea where she'll go?" Arashii turned her attention to the Princess now. "Did you see anything that could help us?"
"Yes," Hinoto nodded again, "She will appear near the Nakano Sun Plaza two days from now – she will be drawn to the kekkai there. You must be there to meet her and see her safely back here."
"Great! You can count on us to take care of it." Sorata tipped his hat to the princess. "Well, I guess we'll on our way, then." He extended an elbow to Arashii. "Care to join me, cutie?"
"Hmph." She swept past him, moving soundlessly past Subaru and out into the hall, ringing for the elevator that would take them to the lobby.
"Heh," Sorata shrugged and winked at Subaru before following her out into the hall, sidestepping the Onmyouji as he left.
Subaru did not follow them; instead he moved into the room, as if to better scrutinize the
dreamgazer before him.
"You are hurt." Hinoto spoke first, surprising him.
When he said nothing, she went on. "She is not the same person. She may not even be a part of the same person."
"I know that," he said softly, hands balling in the pockets of his damp coat. "But why didn't you prepare for it? If the Dragon of Earth gets to her first, they'll have the extra ally. Just because the star appears beside ours means nothing. You know that. What will you do if they reach her first?"
Hinoto closed her blind eyes, shaking her head the tiniest bit. The sound of bells filled the air as she opened pupilless eyes and looked back up at the Onmyouji. "I knew this could happen, but I could not tell how likely it was until I saw this dream. But," she said, lifting her dead eyes to looks towards Subaru with something like determination in them, "I do not think Kanoe has seen this dream. She is not looking for it."
"Neither were you," he pointed out.
"She is our Star," Hinoto countered, even as Subaru was not entirely certain of the truth in that statement.
"She is good - she has a pure soul, and she will join our side," Hinoto said. "I do not fear that even if the Dragon of Earth were to reach her first, that she would side with them. I think she knows right from wrong, and we are right. They are wrong."
Subaru did not scoff – outwardly – at the princess, but continued to gaze at her thoughtfully. "You are so sure of that, Princess?" The world just didn't seem that black-and-white to him. Not anymore.
"Aren't you?"
It was Subaru's turn to close his eyes, to glance at the tumultuous sea of thoughts floating just below the surface of the here and now. He was silent a moment before returning his gaze to Hinoto.
"Yes," he sighed. "I am." I have to be.
"We have to be," Hinoto echoed, as if she had heard his thought, "or we have no hope of winning. We must believe we are right or we cannot support Kamui. You know that."
"I do," he replied after a moment. It was true, how could anyone support Kamui who did not support his cause? It didn't fit – it just couldn't. It couldn't...
"Then you know I am right, and we are doing the right thing." Hinoto sighed. "You may go now, Subaru. I have faith in both Sorata and Arashii; they will succeed. I will call if I need you again."
"Goodnight, then." Subaru bowed to the princess before turning and leaving the room, the air closing behind him as if he had never been there at all.
Hinoto sighed, blinked, and felt a small smile grace her lips. She laughed softly to herself in the dim light of the empty room.
"Yes, of course we are right. How could anyone doubt such a thing?"
* * *
"So, tell me about Tokyo," she said, settling herself before the old woman, setting down the tray of soup and bread she had brought with her as the priestess's evening meal. She brushed off the sleeves of her robe – they were always getting dirty and she knew Yui-san hated less-than-perfect appearances.
Two dark eyes looked up at her beneath a cascade of white hair. "Tokyo?" There was a pause, then a sigh. "The stars have spoken to you as well then, my child."
Nibai
nodded. "So I'm going to Tokyo?"
"You must," was the reply. "It
is your destiny. A place that only you can hold lies empty there. You must go
fill it."
Nibai was silent a moment, but the old woman said nothing more. "What place? What am I to go and do there?" she asked.
"They will tell you when you get there. The stars have told me that only they can tell you properly what your place is. You have powers," Yui-san said, and Nibai paled – they hadn't been spoken of for nearly a year. She did have powers, but she hid them and tried not to think about them. No one else here had such power, that was true, and it was therefore best that they didn't know about hers.
"Yes," she replied softly.
"There is need of them, in Tokyo. You must, and will, go to Tokyo," Yui-san repeated.
Nibai sighed – sometimes the cryptic messages of the sky seemed to bring more annoyance than answers. But if it meant she would get to go to Tokyo…
"Where will I stay, then?"
"I have already arranged for you to attend the CLAMP School. The chairman awaits your arrival."
Nibai blinked – CLAMP School? Surely they couldn't afford –
"It has been taken care of," the old woman said, a note of finality in her voice as she answered the question that Nibai had not yet put to words. "Do not worry about the circumstances."
"When – when am I leaving then?"
"Tomorrow."
She nearly gasped. Tomorrow? But she had to pack – she had to say goodbye –
"You will be ready by three o'clock. Now go, and leave me to my dinner."
Nibai stood, bowed, and left. Tomorrow. At three. But… It was all so sudden; she felt as if she'd been caught unawares by a whirlwind, and now had no choice to see where it left her after it had blown itself out.
Just what did the stars have in mind for her, after all? She looked up to the sky, but a thin layer of cloud hid any answers from view.
* * *
Tokyo. She was in Tokyo; although she'd never been there, only seen pictures, she felt as though she'd lived here her entire life. There was the Tokyo Tower, rising above the buildings, and here she was standing on a bridge spanning a dark blackness of water. Lights twinkled at intervals along the cables, bright stars against a cloudy sky in which the real stars couldn't be seen.
She couldn't hear anything – not the singing of the stars, but not the sounds of the city, either. Not the sounds of her own breathing or heartbeat.
One hand flew to her chest, as she felt momentarily out of breath, but her heart beat steadily beneath her fingers, and after a moment the feeling of drowning passed. It was then that she looked ahead of her, down the dull asphalt that stretched along the bridge and into the city beyond, and saw them.
White and black, light and dark, strong and weak, she saw two men standing on the pavement, watching each other as though that alone could decide some battle between them. Because they were here to battle. She knew that.
A sakura petal drifted across her vision; she raised one hand to catch it as it lilted along on the breeze like a lost melody, and as she caught the petal between her fingertips it shattered and each shard stung her skin like glass. She winced and pulled her hand back to herself, inspecting her fingertips, slick with blood, frowning.
It was then that the dark one struck.
But suddenly they weren't two men, they were two dragons, twisting and writhing in the thick city air, and thunder flashed overhead but it wasn't raining. Not water, anyway – sakura petals fell from the sky in torrents, masking the bridge and even the dragons from her view, but she knew they were there, she could feel the heat of their battle on her face and she lifted one hand as if to shield her face –
Something stung her, and she withdrew her hand again as the sakura vanished, the bridge vanished, the city vanished and she was left alone in some cold and dark and empty place, staring at her hand. Her skin was on fire and blood dripped into her lap; she didn't care.
She was staring at the pentacle immaculately burned into the white skin of her palm.
