Series: Tokyo Babylon, before the first tankubon.
Rating: PG for shonen-ai and horrible misuse of a sumeragi
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Tokyo Babylon, I don't. The muses made me do it. Should either Onmyouji kill me in my sleep, I bequeath all possessions to my roomate, Kate. Should I be sued for copyright, I defer all accusation to my roomate as well ^^.
Notes: Since this part doesn't even have an encounter in it, there will be more to come... I'm doing this chapter because 1) I'm procrastinating on a handful of english papers 2) you shouldn't trust an amatur to write smut, not yet, and 3) you guys seemed to like the predatory Sei-chan. I get hyper and happy over responses, both positive and negaive, so I'll be much obliged if you let me know what you think. Yay!

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Seishirou: Please?
Subaru: No.
Seishirou: ...Please?
Subaru: No.
Seishirou: *whispering velvet tones directly in Subaru's sensative ear*
Subaru: Ack! NO!!

Seishirou: Well, it was worth a try. *shrug*
Gray: *pats Sei-chan for his efforts*
----



What Dreams May Come - Chapter 2

Subaru awoke to the smell of coffee and muffins; Hokuto must be at it again. He appreciated the kind gesture on his sister's part, because they both knew he wouldn't eat the most important meal of the day if it weren't for her intervention. He got up, absently rubbing the back of his hands, and the thought struck him - he'd dreamed again.

It unnerved him that he couldn't remember what it had been about, but the residual feeling told him it was a nightmare. Dreams, when Subaru had them, might be precognition visions, so they couldn't be ignored. He felt exhausted, even though he'd slept for more than... nine hours? It seemed he'd really only gotten five, probably less. It bothered him; what had he dreamed about? He closed his eyes and laid back down to focus. Sometimes you could recapture a dream that way, but nothing came. There was only darkness.

He focused on the feeling, trying to refine it into an image.

A man

Gee, that was useful. He rolled his eyes mentally, then a second thought overlaid the first.

Danger

He let his thoughts drift and bob in the emotion, desperate to interpret what had happened.

A man he knew, and danger to himself. The scars. An acute desire. To belong.

Subaru patiently waited for further clarity, but beyond these fragments, nothing came. He'd just have to accept that he wouldn't be able to understand them this time, and he knew from experience that if it was precognition, it would come again until he either understood the meaning, or until it was too late to do anything.

"Subaru~~! Your breakfast will got cold if you don't come down and ea~t something!"

He smiled. What would he do without Hokuto? "Hai, suguni ikimasu yo. Just give me a minute?" He double-checked his gloves. The scars were shining, but through the thick black material, no one would ever guess. It felt awkward to hide things from his twin, his other half, but he reminded himself that it was for the best.

Breakfast passed uneventfully. If Hokuto noticed his behavior was a little off, she didn't say anything about it. They chatted about the new job Subaru had gotten, how big of an honor it was to be working for the Chamber of Public History, investigating a few odd artifacts the archaeologists discovered while renovating an ancient district of Kyoto. It was rumored they were shards of the katana used in the revolution, and that they were still haunted by restless spirits, but Suabru had his doubts. Many 'haunted' items he was called to exorcise were just plain bits of metal or glass, devoid of spiritual energy, but the people who owned them were superstitious and flighty.

He nibbled at the blueberry muffin and took a small sip of milk. His lips tingled.

"-- and like I was saying, you know you're the youngest person to work for the DPH in three decades, and... Subaru? You alright?"

He had passed out on the floor.

"SUBARU!"

Luckily for the both of them, it was only a small faint. He came around in the next minute, blinking up at his sister, mumbling, "Ah... gomen nasai... I guess I was more hungry than I thought, huh?"

Actually, it was the combination of sleep deprivation, mild dehydration, and stress from the sharp fragment of dream all together at once that made him black out, but he couldn't well explain that to Hokuto. He couldn't even explain the dream to himself without getting confused, so it was a lost cause to try and articulate that he had dreamed of being kissed by a handsome stranger. A male one. And that he had enjoyed it. God forbid Hokuto know; she'd probably conjure up wacky ideas about "fated love" and tease him about being perverted in thinking about men that way. Not an option.

"Ano... I think I'll spend the rest of the day in bed, if that's alright." He smiled weakly.

"Hah! You'd better. If you even *think* about going out, I'll have to personally restrain you."

---

Seishirou's clinic was bustling. Here was an iguana who wouldn't eat regularly, a pregnant field mouse, kittens who needed their baby shots, and even a rabbit who was changing color. He smiled and welcomed each new patron who entered, despite his underlying annoyance. People could be so ignorant about animals; it was brain-bleedingly annoying how stupid they could *actually* be.

He tried to be patient with the girl in braids who'd begun to cry. He spoke in a calm, professional voice, "I understand you're concerned, but I can assure you that it's natural. With the shorter daylight hours because it's nearly winter, usagi-chan here is just adapting to the seasons. She looks like snow when it gets cold, isn't that interesting?"

All day, his thoughts were focused elsewhere.

He contemplated the current situation with the boy. Unless he grossly underestimated his plaything's power, Subaru would only be able to remember the vaguest wisps of their encounters. It was Seishirou's safeguard against premature discovery. But it also meant that he had to begin again each and every night, readjusting Subaru to his presence.

There was a fine line - seduction was fun, but rape was not. By morning, Subaru wouldn't even know they'd met, so getting the Sumeragi used to physical affection was tricky.

Each time they kissed, it was Subaru's

very
first
time.

And Seishirou was growing impatient.

Was the simple solution was to let his plaything remember the physical sensations of the encounter?

Well, that wasn't so simple. Memory was a tricky thing, dependant on things like smell, touch, sight, and every other sense, and to block a memory meant blocking every sensation related to the event. It wouldn't work.

He resigned himself. It seemed that the most practical method would be to just discover what was most effective in Subaru's seduction. He would need to find out, through trial and error, where Subaru's limits were. He would have to know what made his toy work, when to kiss, when to pull away.

It seemed great fun.

Ideally, he'd be able to encounter the boy, reduce him to a puddle of goo, then bed him before sunrise. Seishirou smirked. It was a challenge worthy of accepting.

But it wouldn't be easy: Subaru seemed awfully naïve, let alone unaware of the possibility of same-gender relationships…

And he probably wouldn't be less than chaste in any situation, regardless. It'd take all of the man's skill to break down the boy's defenses.

Luckily, Seishirou had all the time he needed to perfect his methods. It would be like taking a course on the Sumeragi; once he'd perfected the art of seduction, he would formally introduce himself and begin the bet.

Was that an unfair advantage?

If it were, it would be entirely on the Sumeragi's side.

Seishirou knew that he would find it difficult to be cold against innocent love. Making the boy love him was… let's say, evening out the playing field a little bit. As it stood presently, Seishirou had no reason to feel anything but ownership for his possession. It would be sportsman-like to at least give him a weapon of his own… Something that made the bet more of a challenge.

He would learn how to make Subaru fall in love.


(Author's comment: Woah, It actually turned out rational?! You've got to give it to Sei-chan for being able to justify anything... seducing Subaru *somehow* makes sense when you put it in that light.)

---

Subaru finally persuaded Hokuto to leave him alone for a few hours. He'd changed back into his polka-dot pajamas and made a cup of warm tea to soothe his jumbled emotions. Subaru was jumpy; sudden movement and noise made him reflexively reach for his ofuda, and he hated losing control of his power over his mind.

He decided to meditate.

Regaining his center was usually easy, but this time it kept avoiding his grasp. Maybe if he'd *found* his center, he wouldn't like what he saw…

It kept bothering him – he had dreamed of being kissed deeply by an older man, and he had enjoyed the contact.

Maybe dreams were more abstract than he thought. Surely one dream of one encounter with a strange man didn't mean he was weird… Oh forget it. He wasn't going to even consider the possibility.

Subaru shook himself.

He was not a homosexual.
He was not hallucinating about various fantasies.
He was the 13th head of the Sumeragi Clan.
And he needed a shower.

---



Gray: Sei-chan, you amaze me!
Subaru: Oh, give it a rest. You're just brown-nosing now.
Gray: And what if I am? ...You're not getting jealous or anything, are you?
Subaru: Of course not. I know you're infatuated with him, but if you take him away from me, you'd be writing a Mary-Sue. And we all know you wouldn't do that.
Gray: *glint*
Subaru: ...I'm not even going to dignify that with a respone. *walks away*

Gray: So, Sei-chan! Thanks for rescuing me from writing smut with a non-consenting Subaru.
Seishirou: My pleasure. He's much more fun when he's conflicted. And rape, even in a 'dream' is so messy...
Gray: So wait, are you influencing his dreams, or actually visiting him?
Seishirou: Maboroshi, actually. Then erasing his memory.
Gray: You're such a bastard.
Seishirou: Oh, stop it already. *grin*