Disclaimer: I can't even hold a candle to CLAMP's greatness. Therefore, these lovely characters are obviously not mine. Except Nibai. ;)
Twin Star
Part 4
Kamui was gorgeous. There was no other way to describe it, she thought dumbly, even as she'd turned to face Hinoto – their Dreamwatcher – and bow to her. Kamui was gorgeous…
"Welcome," the princess said, also inclining her head slightly. "You can indeed help us. I would like to show you how." Nibai nodded, as her eyes were inexplicably drawn to Hinoto's porcelain features.
She took one breath and fell into Hinoto's pupil-less gaze.
The world around her shifted and changed; she was suddenly standing beneath the Tokyo Tower, the nighttime sky glowing blue-velvet above her. She glanced around and gasped – although the Tower stood unscathed, the same could not be said for the rest of the city. All around her, the buildings lay in ruin, crumbled and torn.
"This is the final battle," Hinoto's voice sounded behind her. Nibai whirled around, staring at the princess, floating encased in a clear bubble not two feet from her. Her blind eyes surveyed the scene before turning back to Nibai. "This is the fate of Tokyo – this is the fate of Kamui. Look." The princess pointed a delicate finger at the Tower; Nibai turned to look and saw two figures standing high atop the observation deck. They were too hard to make out from here...
And suddenly she could see them clearly. Kamui. And someone else, someone taller, stronger, smiling as he surveyed his opponent. Dragons made of lightning danced and twisted in the sky, arcing over Tokyo in a deadly dance. Twin swords clashed, as twin stars fought for the last kekkai in Tokyo –
Nibai gasped as the scene disappeared. She was left in darkness, staring at Hinoto floating before her.
"What -?"
"The final battle," Hinoto repeated. "Kamui is the Chosen One – he alone can fight to save the city, and all of humanity."
Nibai blinked, slowly taking this all in. "And... where do I come in, then? The stars told me – "
"You are something we had not exactly counted on," Hinoto admitted, looking up at her. "You are our trump card – you are Sorata's twin star, destined to play a role matching his."
"Uh-huh. And what does that mean?" Nibai asked, not quite understanding, but beginning to get a sinking feeling in her stomach, all the same.
"You have powers," Hinoto said.
"H-hai," Nibai agreed, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the mention of something that she had been taught to keep hidden. Yui-san had told her when she was very young and had thought them normal that no, not everyone could leap as high and fast as she could. Not everyone could create lightning and power out of need. Nibai had been frightened at first, but under the priestess's limited tutelage, she had gained some measure of control before ceasing their use entirely. Not even Miki knew about them.
It looked like she was going to have to pull out that ability quite soon.
'You are a Dragon of Heaven – your powers exist to protect and aid Kamui. You also have the power to create a kekkai of your own."
Nibai blinked. Her own kekkai? She had heard such things could be created – shields, barriers, to protect the innocent while higher powers battled unbeknownst to the rest of the human race. Yui-san had told her about those too. But she didn't know how –
"You will learn how," Hinoto answered her unasked question. "Sorata will teach you, it is only fitting."
"All right," Nibai consented after a moment. "After all... I am here for this. The stars told me I had something important to do here. And…" She paused, suddenly smiling. If this was destiny, really, then what could she do to counter it, anyway? No, she been brought up to see the paths that the stars laid out for each and every human that walked the Earth, and she knew better than to try and ignore those invisible lines of force that controlled more than most people ever knew.
"It sounds like it could be interesting," she finished, eyes flashing as she realized that she might get to actually fight battles, like the tales Yui-san had told her when she was small…
Hinoto sighed, the smallest of sounds. "Regardless… Kamui will need all the support he can get."
Nibai blinked. Kamui. Well, she was more than willing to give him all she had to offer. She felt her cheeks grow warm, and shook her head imperceptibly, forcing the heat away. This was no time to be thinking of things like that –
"There... there is one more thing," Hinoto said softly, blind eyes looking to the floor rather than at Nibai. "I will tell you, because... nothing you can do will change your fate. You are Sorata's twin star, as I have told you –"
"Not a bad person to be a twin star to, I'd think," Nibai said with a smile – she liked Sorata, he seemed much less... serious wasn't the word, really, but he seemed less weighed-down than the rest of these people. He seemed content – that was it. Content with what he was there to do.
She realized that if she were going to bear any of this and not go insane, it wasn't a bad idea to be content with this path laid out for her. And already the idea was beginning to settle with her, as odd as that felt, and although she couldn't explain it, she decided not to fight it. There was no fighting fate. It seemed to call to her, tell her that this was where she belonged, and she could feel herself slowly accepting that.
"Sorata is very important to us," Hinoto agreed. "But... Sorata's fate – your fate – is not so easy to accept."
"Well... what is it?" Nibai asked, suddenly impatient, ignoring the feeling that was still weighing down her insides – the feeling that suddenly intensified at the sound of Hinoto's voice. The despair beneath her words.
"Sorata is fated to die not for Kamui, not for the fate of the world, but for the sake of a woman. He has chosen Arashi," Hinoto said, and then went on before Nibai had a chance to absorb what she'd just said. "As his twin star, Nibai, you are fated to die for the sake of a man."
The words sunk in, and Nibai was alone, falling through cold, dark water, without a surface to swim towards, reaching for help, knowing none would come...
And there was only one word, one name, filling up the darkness that closed in all around her.
Kamui...
* * *
"Oy! Hey, Nibai-chan, you okay? Nibai-chan?"
She blinked heavy eyelids, the world slowly coming into focus and she looked up and saw Sorata hunched over her, waving one hand before her eyes.
"Sorata?"
"There you are!" His face brightened and he sat back on his heels, allowing her to sit up. She had a splitting headache; the room was spinning slightly, and the light seemed too bright. She put one hand to her temple, massaging it and hoping it might relieve the tension and ache there. It didn't seem to help much.
"I am sorry, Nibai," the princess's voice came from above her, and Nibai realized that she must have collapsed in front of Hinoto's platform, here beneath the government building.
"I'm fine," she found herself saying, waving her hand slightly at the princess, although not really knowing why. Hinoto had, after all, just told her that her fate was to die for the sake of a man...
And there was no fighting fate.
She looked up, looking for Kamui. He was standing there, looking at Hinoto with an expression somewhere between boredom and exhaustion on his face. In fact... he didn't really look well at all. Nibai got the distinct feeling that he should probably be tucked into a warm bed somewhere, sleeping peacefully instead of standing here dealing with the end of the world.
She squashed that thought, as well as all of the protective instincts that came with it.
"Well, here," Sorata said, standing and offering his hand. She took it and levered herself up into a standing position. "Ne, Hime-sama, is there anything else you need tonight? Otherwise we should be getting Nibai-chan back to her dorm."
"No," Hinoto replied. "I need nothing more of you tonight. Be careful," she advised them all. Souhi and Hien seemed to take some unspoken hint and moved in around the princess. Karen nodded and cast one glance at the rest before waving her goodnight and exiting. Kamui turned on his heel and strode out after her with Yuzuriha jogging to catch up. Arashi turned towards the door as well and Sorata followed her, beckoning to Nibai.
She cast one last glance at the princess before following them out.
"Please, Nibai," Hinoto's voice broke into her thoughts as she crossed the threshold. She stopped and turned to look back again at Hinoto. "Please, help Kamui."
There was a moment of silence before Nibai nodded and turned, heading for the elevator where the others were waiting.
She stood on the opposite side of the elevator as Kamui, all the better to steal surreptitious glances at him. He didn't seem to be paying attention anyway; he was staring at the wall, silent and introverted. Sorata was chatting happily away at Arashi, who didn't really appear to be listening. This didn't seem to bother Sorata in the least.
"Ne, so you're here to help us?"
Nibai looked down and saw Yuzuriha looking happily up at her.
"Hai, I guess so," she replied, reaching back up to massage her still-aching temple again. "Sounds like a wild party to me."
"That's great! Inuki thinks so too."
"Inuki?"
"Hai!" Yuzuriha nodded and glanced down – Nibai followed her gaze, and for the first time saw the huge wolf-dog sitting complacently at the girl's feet. He gazed up at her serenely, with a look that seemed to convey acceptance as well.
"Ah," Nibai said. "He's a beautiful dog."
"Really? You think so?" Yuzuriha's eyes lit up.
"Hai," Nibai nodded. Truthfully, although he was obviously not merely a pet, Inuki had a serene beauty to him that she had never before encountered in an animal.
"Arigato! I can tell, he already likes you."
"Ah, well that's good," Nibai said with a small smile. She shifted her gaze and suddenly realized that Kamui was looking at her –
There was that inadvertent rush of heat into her cheeks again; Nibai quickly stared at her feet, willing it to go away. She sighed, wondering what to make of all this, really. She wasn't depressed, really, but it was a lot to take in all at once. What she wanted most was to laugh and joke and shrug it all off, but she felt almost too tired to do even that.
Laugh and joke and shrug off fate indeed.
But… maybe that was exactly the way to deal with it. Accept it and whatever came with it. She was bound to a path – she had known that, long ago – and now she merely knew what that path was. It was illuminated before her, a little at a time, but moreso than it had ever been before. Why not enjoy the knowledge, instead of brooding? Brooding was boring, and depressing, and she was damned if she was going to spend her time in Tokyo like that.
She smiled. Exactly. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. So she might as well enjoy it.
And then there was Kamui…
The elevator came to a halt at the main level and they poured out, Yuzuriha bounding ahead, followed by Inuki. Kamui followed her silently, staring straight ahead now. Sorata trailed Arashi as Nibai followed them as well.
"Ne, do you want us to escort you back to campus?" Sorata asked.
"Ano..." Nibai gave his offer some thought. She decided that yes, she would like someone with her on the way back. It might give her some distraction so that she wouldn't have to think about all of this just yet...
"Yeah," she answered. "I wouldn't mind."
"No prob, babe!" Sorata winked and tipped his hat at her. The action made her smile even more as Arashi rolled her eyes before pointing to Yuzuriha.
"Yuzuriha, you take Kamui home then."
Kamui sighed, much with the air or someone who did not feel they needed to be "taken home" by a fourteen year-old.
If she wasn't being escorted home herself, Nibai would've loved to take Kamui home.
"Hai!" Yuzuriha saluted before grabbing Kamui's wrist and veritably dragging him out the door.
Nibai couldn't help but giggle.
"There, I knew you'd start having some fun here!" Sorata said suddenly. "You were starting to remind me of Arashi-chan here," he placed a hand on Arashi's shoulder.
She shook it off, glaring at him. But the look wasn't all malice, Nibai noticed.
"I have some things to take care of," Arashi announced. "Sorata, you take Nibai back then. I'll be home later."
"Awww... are you sure you gotta leave?" Sorata whined, winking at Nibai. She tossed him a knowing grin in return.
Arashi sighed and swept towards the door.
Sorata shrugged, then grinned down at Nibai. He offered his elbow to her. "Well then, shall we?"
"Hai!" she nodded, taking his arm. "We shall!"
* * *
But even with Sorata's constant chatting about nothing truly important, she could only stay distracted half of the way back to CLAMP campus.
"Ah, well, I mean, I knew that it really wouldn't be a good idea to cook the potatoes in the microwave, but – "
"Sorata-san?"
Sorata stopped and looked down at Nibai, who was looking much more serious suddenly.
"Ne? What is it?"
"I... know that we all have our fates. And I don't mind that. Like I said… this does sound like it's gonna be one wild party, " she smiled. "But…"
She paused, focusing on the one part of this that was bothering her, the only part that she was really finding it hard to accept. Fighting for humanity, that was easy, there were tales about that and, well, if the end of the world was near, she was definitely glad to have a say in it. But the things she didn't have a say in…
She sighed. "Your fate. Our fate. That part… Doesn't sit too well with me."
"That. Yeah." he shrugged. "Well... Can't say I blame you. I mean, it's not like it doesn't bother me at all, but really… I suppose it's just that I've known about it all my life. And I know better than to say 'no' to destiny, ya know?"
She nodded. "I know that much, yeah," she said, a wan smile crossing her lips.
"So hey, I decided the moment I knew, that if I was gonna die for a woman, then she had better be hot babe. And Arashi ain't half bad, ne?" He grinned down at her.
She laughed a little at that. "No, I guess she's not."
"Nope! She sure ain't." He paused. "So Hinoto told you... about your fate, then?"
Nibai nodded.
Another pause.
"I heard what you said about Kamui."
Nibai stared up at him. "You....?"
He looked sheepish. "Gomen, gomen, but I just overheard. I know you didn't mean it literally, of course, but… I don't think it's a bad idea, really – I mean, I'd give my life to protect him if I could. I'm sworn to him first." His eyes had lost their boyish glint and had turned much darker, more serious. Even his voice had a grave note behind it.
"I'm a Dragon of Heaven, and I fully intend to do everything I can to back Kamui up. You should, too," he said, looking down at Nibai. Suddenly the mischief was back in his eyes. "And hey, if you get somethin' good out of it as a side effect, well, no complaining there, ne? And, well, I'll tell ya," he said, elbowing her lightly in the side, "That boy could use it."
Nibai though about this for a moment. About what the stars had told her – about what her heart had told her, for as long as she could remember. That she was born for something important. And that nothing could change that path. She knew that. And she knew better than to oppose destiny, even if she didn't always like it.
And somehow... she was all right with that.
And, well, there was Kamui…
She smiled up at Sorata. "Hai. That wouldn't be so bad, I don't think."
"Hah!" Sorata laughed and clapped her on the back. "That look suits you much better, I think."
"Does it now?" she asked slyly.
He nodded. "It's hard being serious all the time, you know? It's no fun."
"You got that right," she said, nodding. "No fun at all."
"Somehow... I think we're more alike than just our fates," Sorata grinned. "Hm... you up for a game or two before we call it a night? I know this great little arcade just two blocks over..."
"Sounds like a good idea to me!"
