Kamui and the Seven Chibi
Author's Notes
Warning: This fanfic has shonen-ai, also known as boys' love. If you don't like it, don't read. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: X/1999 and its character does not belong to me, or I won't be writing this fic, I'll be making it real.
Seluna says: Like what I did with chapter 1, this one is previously the chapters 3 and 4. I decided to put I together as well so to cut the space..
Chapter 2 – seven Chibis and seven Guardians
Cracking open one prized emerald eye, Subaru felt his jaw bone moved itself of its hinges while his eyes decided to have more exposure to the surrounding. Everyone in sight, including himself, except a dog, seems to have fatten a little then shrunk to one-third of their normal size and had their eyes enlarged during the flash. In simpler words, they got chibified.
'As if finding our dear First Princess here in the forest is not enough of a shock.' The magician with a pending headache thought when he glanced at the purple eyed chibi who somehow got even more cuter than before. He frowned, just a little, wondering how Kamui got out of the castle area with all the wards and shields that were set up around it to protect its occupants.
Before he can think some more, a loud wailing demanded and got his attention. The source of the sound is the woman he was fighting with, a certain Hinoto, a Psychic Mage whose sister is the notorious witch Kanoe.
Unlike her sister, Hinoto is a rather secretive person and not much is known about her except for the knowledge that her hair is two times longer than her body, and in some mystical ways, it seem to retain its length when its owner decreased in size.
Now, said Psychic Mage had gotten all wet from her own fountain-like tears and the sound that babies perfected has not yet decreased in volume. Subaru strode over with his stubby little legs and tried pacifying her, "Hinoto- san, why are you crying?"
Hinoto blinked her teary red eyes at Subaru, hiccuping and sniffing as she spoke, "I'm so hic sorry! I don't sniff want to fight you at hic all. But she always hic win me at scissors-paper-stone! sniff Wah!"
She exploded into more tears and an even louder wail. Subaru cringed slightly at the sheer volume of it as he felt the pending headache screaming at him along with the terrible noise.
"Subaru-san, can you tell us what is going on?" A melodious female voice floated into his ears. He turned and saw two small chubby figure standing at the door of the cottage.
"Karen-san, Seiichirou-san." Subaru addressed the lady chibi with flaming red hair and her companion, a gentle-looking male chibi with glasses. He easily saw the barely hidden confusion and shock in his two guests and sighed, knowing he's going to have lots of explanation to do.
He looked around, at the white-hair wailing chibi, at his best friend the Princess and at the royalty's new friends, at the couple at the door and last of all, at himself. He groaned, 'lots of explanation' is a big understatement.
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Kamui wondered what Sorata drinks to be able to talk so long and so continuously. And how he never seems to run out of things to talk about. Not that they are dull, in fact, it's quite the contrary, even in the castle Kamuihad never heard such story-telling talent. He was so absorbed he didn't hear hisbest friend come into the cottage until Sorata stopped talking.
"Subaru!" He jumped off the chair, bounced towards the green-eyed magician and hugged him like friends do. "I missed you! Why did you have to leave for so long?"
"Missed you too, Kamui-chan." Subaru smiled and hugged back. He pulled back and ruffled the other chibi's hair, "I need time to recall then recover all my spells. My memory won't work when Sei-chan is around, you knowthat. Now, tell me why you are not in the castle?"
The young royalty blushed embarrassedly, "I went to stroll in the garden because I was upset that Kotori died, but I forgot Sei-san was rearranging the garden formation. I walked into the forest and got lost, and while I'm at it, I met these new friends."
"I see," Sighing at his boyfriend's occasional carelessness, Subaru turned and smiled at Kamui's new acquaintances, "As his friend and guardians, thank you for taking care of Kamui. I'm Sumeragi Subaru, as Kamui would have told you. May I know your names?"
Yuzuriha grinned and swallowed the cookie she was eating, "I am Yuzuriha Nekoi. It was nothing much, Subaru-san, we were lost too."
Everyone, including Subaru, have not one, but two big sweatdrops behind their head.
"It was nice meeting Kamui-san, as is meeting you. I am Kishuu Arashi," Arashi smiled back politely, with Sorata enthusiastic and vigorous bobbing... eh, nodding of his head beside her. "And this idiot is my fiance Arisugawa Sorata."
The magician's smile deepened as he watched the obvious couple quibble, for he knew by his nature ability to identify evil that these people meant no harm to Kamui.
Subaru interrupted the lovers' quarrel politely, "Pardon my intrusion but I have a need of help which I think these two ladies here can well accomplish."
Sure enough, the argument stopped and Yuzuriha inquired cheerily, "I will help if I can, what do you need?"
"You know the lady I was fighting with just now? Her hair is too long for her to braid herself. Can you ladies help her? She is actually a very nice person and I think you ladies will like her."
"I'm not sure if our current hands can do much, but we will try our best. Right, Yuzuriha?" Arashi glanced at her cute little hands before answering.
"Yep yep!" The younger girl had already switched from sitting on a chair to on Inuki, riding the dog that's now larger than her. Somehow the dog escaped the unfortunate predicament that its mistress suffer.
Arashi got off her chair and hurried after Yuzuriha and Inuki who sped out of the cottage very quickly.
Kamui watched the girls with a grin which faded when he turned to Subaru solemnly, "Subaru, are we going to be stuck in this form? Can I go back to the castle even?"
"Kamui, even if I have to return to the castle, I will get you back. Fuuma will be very worried about you when he finds you missing. As for all this chibi thing, I will explain later to everyone." Subaru ruffled the smaller boy's black hair again.
"Subaru-san, the girls are doing fine with Hinoto-san." Seiichirou smiled as he walked into through the door of the cottage which had not been closed for their convenience.
The magician thanked him for his help and winked, "Karen-san is in the kitchen. I believe she is trying to make tea for us."
The older man blushed into a cute shade of pink and excused himself before he promptly fled into the kitchen.
Amused by his reaction, the trio in the room struggled from laughing out loud. Kamui even had some tears in his large eyes as he turned to his friend, "Subaru, who are they? They seems nice."
"They are nice, Kamui-chan. You can know more about each other later." Subaru grinned, then turned abruptly towards the kitchen, as if he heard something from there. Frowning slightly, he excused himself and hurried into the kitchen on his stubby legs.
When Sorata looked at Kamui imploringly, the boy shrugged his small shoulders. He knew that Subaru would probably explain himself later, like many times similar incidents happened in the past.
Feeling better and more relaxed after talking to his best friend, Kamui struck up a conversation with his new genki pal, "Tell me, how did you managed to make the polite Arashi..."
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Karen sighed as she stepped off the short stool for the tenth time. She had volunteered to make tea for everyone to drink during the possible long talk as she is more familiar with the kitchen, but she had not count on her size to cause problems for her.
The stool had been a great help, but she was still too short and chubby in all aspects, making it hard for her to reach things. To make things worse, the most important and the one last thing she need, the tea leaves, was left in one of the upper shelves.
She wished Subaru could help her but the magician chibi and Seiichirou had stayed outside to calm the white-haired girl called Hinoto down. She had no idea who the others are, except for a purple-eyed boy whose looks are vaguely familiar, so she didn't ask for their help.
With a great effort, she pushed a chair which now seems as tall as her towards the shelves to see if she can reach the tea leaves. She moved the stool and used it to climb up the chair. Then, she reached towards the shelves. She smiled when the jar of tea leaves is just fingers away, now she only need to put in a little... more... effort...
Almost... there... a little... closer...
"Karen! What are you doing!"
"WoahhH!" She slipped from the chair and flailed about wildly to regain balance. Before she could suffer the humiliating landing, she felt herself being lifted up by some unknown forces.
Karen stayed in a state of stunned shock until she felt a pair of chubby arms around her and heard Seiichirou's voice frantically speaking to her, "Karen! Are you hurt! What are you doing on the chair? It's dangerous!"
"Seii...chirou? I was just taking... tea leaves..."
"Tea leaves? Oh, I'll get them for you." Karen felt a gust of wind and when she looked up, she saw a few stray leaves that came in through the window circling the jar of tea leaves which seems effortlessly pulled off the shelves and into Seiichirou's hands. "Don't be so reckless next time, Karen. I will worry."
She stared at the jar he pushed into her small fat hand, then at the person who took it off the shelves, "Erm... Seiichirou, did you know what you just do?"
"What I just did? I took the tea leaves down from the shelves... dear gods! How did I do that?" Seiichirou, as usual, displayed his absent-mindedness which Karen thought was cute for a grown man... eh, current chibi.
A calm steady voice that sound less deep than it usually does answered the question, "I think that's one of the possible side-effects of what happened to us. I will explain later, along with everything else. Karen-san, would you like me to make the tea instead?"
Karen shrugged good-naturally, "I can't be of much help now, I guess. I might as well take a rest."
Subaru smiled as he came into the kitchen, "You have helped and that's the thought that counts. Why not go outside and introduce yourself? I believe all of you are interested to know about each other and if I'm not wrong, the others should be gathered together soon."
"Subaru-san is observant." Seiichirou grinned sheepishly, "I must admit I am curious about them."
A rare impish grin touched Subaru's plump face, "How I want to see your faces when you introduce yourselves to each other, it would be so interesting"
Karen giggled, she knows that although Subaru is a quiet man, he is also very humorous and fun to be with since he is very knowledgeable. If he says it's interesting, there's no chance it'll be boring. She's already looking forward to see what kind of interesting things will happen.
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"Fuu-chan! Why am I not surprised to see you here?" A tall blond sat down on a chair opposite a dark hair teenager sipping on a mug of some well-known homemade lemonade of the bar.
"Can you not call me by that abominable nickname?" Golden eyes flicked to glare at the older man who just waved a serving boy over for some ale. "Are you sure my dear Head of Security, your newly-wed wife approve of that stuff, Yuu-kun?"
Kigai Yuuto, Monou Fuuma's childhood buddy, the Duke of the Southlands, smiled in his usual gentlemanly manner, "Alright, Fuu-cha... I mean Fuuma. Satsuki prefers that I drink more refined stuff like grape wine, but she doesn't disapprove of ale."
"She's good for you ne, Yuuto?" Amber eyes softened as he talk about the quiet genius he care for as a sister.
The Duke's smile became indulgent, "She shows me things I would never discover, about the world and myself."
Fuuma's tone turned serious as he spoke, "The more important I want to tell you this. Remember the witch Kanoe?"
His friend paled visibly and gulped down some of the ale that just arrived. He muttered after he felt safe enough to talk. "I can never forget that. How can one forget being turned into a frog."
"She's creating trouble again. It wasn't widely known, but Kakyou's coma was also induced by her." He frowned as he recalled what happened to his gentle second-wife.
"For what reasons would she do that?"
The eyebrows squeezed at each other, "From what I know so far, Kanoe has an undying hatred towards good-looking and well-known guys."
The blond tried to make light of situation, "Gee, is that a compliment?"
Sure enough, the young prince broke into a small smile, "Yes yes, Mister-most-wanted-bachelor-till-last-month."
"Nah, I'm not. You are worth more than me, even after you married little Kamui."
The smile didn't last long, as it turn into a sigh. "Kamui is who I worry about most. Kanoe has targeted Kakyou, you and the Duke of the Northlands before, therefore less likely to come after you guys. The three Earls of the East and the Kinomoto Guardians in the West are protected by very strong magic of their land, she won't be able to touch them. So that left my Kamui-chan."
"I'm sure he's very well-protected by that crazy castle of yours. Besides, what about the two best magic-users serving the royal family? Although Subaru-kun moved out a year or two ago, I'm sure he still remained in contact with you." Yuuto grinned when he thought of another of his good friends.
Fuuma mirrored the grin, "Indeed he does, on the promise that I won't tell Seishirou. He's pretty mad with Sei-kun blowing up his spell-books and getting Hokuto-chan into a coma. But I thought it funny when he decided to hide in Sei-kun's sakura forest."
"I still think it's a wonder Sei-kun's magic always go out of control when the twins are around him, without fail. It must be something he did to them in his past-life or something. Maybe Sei-kun dumped Subaru-kun." The blond thought of something and voiced it out. "But won't Sei-kun know if his magic keep going bonkers on him when he is at a certain place?"
Fuuma poured himself some more lemonade, "If I'm not wrong, Subaru-kun borrowed a very powerful spell from Duke Clow to mask his presence. He told me he's not going to see Sei-kun any time before he get Hokuto-chan out of the coma. That is not going to be soon."
"I heard Sei-kun's been searching his head off and will continue doing that, if so, won't he be too preoccupied to keep watch on Kamui?" pondered the noble.
"I thought about that too, Sei-kun's mind has been increasingly more preoccupied and making his occasional carelessness increase. That's why even though I asked a favor from Kusanagi to help keep an eye out for Kamui should that little princess of mine gets out of the castle, I am still worried. In addition, I have been having a bad feeling since this morning."
"You asked Kusanagi? Hey, this is serious. And your 'bad-feelings' are always accurate. Hopefully nothing bad happens to your Kamui..." Yuuto stopped midway in his sentence when he spied his friend looking behind him with a grave expression. He turned, to see a huge man and a girl standing behind him with two equally serious expression. "Satsu-chan... Kusanagi..."
"Yuu-chan, Fuuma, we have got some bad news and good news."
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Meanwhile, in a place smelling like a Cadbury factory...
By some miraculous coincident, the moment Hinoto came into the cottage with Arashi and Yuzuriha behind her, each carrying a small bundle of white plaited hair, Karen and Seiichirou entered the common area from the kitchen.
Kamui and Sorata looked up from the table where they were chatting about how Sorata seems to be able to infuriate Arashi. They offered small polite smiles to the elder pair and praising grins to Arashi and Yuzuriha for their good handiwork.
Automatically and simultaneously, all the people who were standing went towards the table and took a chair, Arashi and Yuzuriha helping Hinoto onto one first before they climbed onto their original seats. Inuki, who followed Yuzuriha in, obediently lied down behind its mistress's chair.
"Erm..." All of the seven sitting at the table said in unplanned unison after three seconds of the much-used uncomfortable silence. Then, all together again, they blinked once and burst out laughing. One would wonder if they are connected to a same mind.
And that 'one' is Sumeragi Subaru, who had exploited the use of his magic on making tea in record speed and was at the kitchen door, carrying the tea platter, when he heard the chorus of laughter. Through some mystical magical ways, he instantly knew what was going on and smiled softly to himself as he continues towards the other chibis.
The roaring laughter had slowly died down when he reached the table and once again, the almighty mage abused his poor magic and levitated the tea platter onto the table neatly before he climbed into an empty chair. "Hmm...I see that you guys are getting along quite fine."
Karen winked playfully at him, "You are in time for the introducing ceremony."
"I'm glad." Subaru grinned, once more revealing his occasional mischievous streak, "Alright, let's start with me then. I'm Sumeragi Subaru, the Royal Magician of this country. You next, Hinoto-san."
The white-haired chibi blinked her unusual red eyes, "Oh okay. My name is Hinoto, I'm a Psychic Mage and I think you know my sister Kanoe much better."
"Oh! No wonder I find you familiar! Subaru showed me your picture before." Kamui blurted out in surprise. "Kanoe is your sister?"
"Younger sister, although I looked younger than her." Hinoto smiled pleasantly at the purple-eyed boy, "I'm curious as to your identity due to your relationship with Subaru-san, will you introduce yourself to us?"
Kamui smiled nervously and glanced at Subaru who gave him a grin and a nod before he began, "I'm Shirou Kamui, wife of Prince Fuuma and best friend of Subaru."
Subaru's grin widened when he heard the few surprised gasps that came from the three who didn't know about his friend's identity. He knew that this would happen and that it is only the beginning.
Kamui, on the other hand, had added hastily, "Eh... I would really appreciate it if you just treat me as a normal person, not as the First Princess."
Those three nodded, understanding the princess's feelings in their own ways. Kamui smiled, then nudged Sorata, "Introduce you and Arashi."
"I am Arisugawa Sorata," He put on his trademark genki smile and glanced at Arashi, "This is Kishuu Arashi, my fiancee."
"Nice to meet you." Polite as always, the long haired girl bowed her head a little.
Seiichirou frowned, "Kishuu... where have I heard the name... Ah! You are the new Baroness of Ise!"
Arashi looked impressed, "To be able to recognize my lineage so quickly, you must be of noble birth too."
The elder man blushed a little, "Well, I'm Aoki Seiichirou, Duke of the Northlands. And this is Karen Kasumi, my lovely wife."
Kamui, Sorata and Yuzuriha's eyes widened with surprise, while Arashi raised her eyebrows, proving that she had expected Seiichirou to be a high-ranking noble.
"Aw, you're so sweet, Seiichirou." The redhead teased her husband till he blushed a deeper shade. Giggling, she turned to Yuzuriha, "I believed we left only you, my dear."
Yuzuriha's now larger cat ears popped out as she spoke, showing her extreme good mood, "Thank you. My name is Yuzuriha Nekoi. This is my dog Inuki. I'm glad to meet you."
"Now that we finished the introduction, I will explain what happened." Subaru said, tone and face serious. He sipped his tea and began, "I believe that the collision of the two spells that me and Hinoto-san cast, mixed with certain unexplainable factors, triggered the 1999 curse."
"Nobody knows exactly what effect will the curse have, for the known cases had mixtures of different spells and factors. For our case, the main effect is chibification, while whether there are side-effects to all of you is unknown. What is known is Seiichirou gained some control of wind. So if anything unusual happened around you or with you, please let all of us know so as to be prepared."
None of them were very surprised by Subaru's explanation, as they probably had some similar possible conclusions of their own given that the change had taken place after the flash during Subaru and Hinoto's fight.
"Why did Hinoto-san attack you? She looks very different from before." Yuzuriha voiced out a question a few of them wanted to ask.
At that, Hinoto stared intently at her small hands folded on her lap and spoke in a soft subdued voice, "The person who attacked you wasn't exactly me. It's the darker side of me." She paused and continued even softer, "I have split personality."
'Stunned' could effectively describe what everyone except Subaru is feeling after hearing this piece of information.
The mage calmly took another mouthful of liquid then spoke, "Don't worry, Hinoto-san's dark side got sealed in when she was chibified. I felt the darkness disappear and re-confirmed it with a spell."
"Another side-effect?" The eldest of the eight asked.
"A good one," Subaru smile, "Hinoto-san's really nice when she's not the dark one."
Arashi frowned, "That doesn't explain why she's attacking you."
Still staring down at her lap, Hinoto said, "Kanoe challenged me with a dare, to attack and injure Sumeragi-san. I didn't want to do it but my dark side want to. We decided to use scissors-paper-stone to end it and I lost. My dark side cheated."
Once again, there was total silence in the room. An anime crow flew over their head, crowing on its way.
"Okay, so what do we do now?" Kamui broke the uncomfortable silence.
Everyone looked at a certain Sumeragi Subaru, currently most reliable and important chibified person in the chocolate cottage.
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