© 2002 Copyright Original Storyline by Gold (E-mail: )

Disclaimer: By nationality I'm not CLAMP. I rest my case.

This is a story that's really nothing more than an angsty romance, which is why I don't like it. X usually needs amounts of darkness...there really is none here.

After The Fact (Version 3.0)
Part 6: Tale As Old As Time

It was really a very peaceful day. The soft murmur of conversation mixed with laughter, the clink of teacups and exclamations over the taste of the food.

"More tea, please."

"This is good—try some. I made it just this morning; it's very fresh."

"Does anybody want this last piece?"

"Your turn next to do a haiku."

"The sakura are particularly beautiful this year. See—that tree has blossoms that are almost pure white—almost, but not quite."

And then—

"Do you know why the flowers are pink?"

The cup fell from Monou Fuuma's hand. It landed safely on the grass, unbroken, but the tea in it had spilt.

"There is a legend that tells why the sakura is pink."

Sumeragi Hokuto pounced on the speaker. "Sei-chan! You know the story?"

Sakurazaka Seishirou's eyes were closed, and sakura-laden branches over his head scattered soft petals as the breeze blew. "It's not a story I care to remember. And it was a long time ago."

"Then it must be a love story!" decided Hokuto. "I love romances!" She clasped her hands and leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "So, Seeeeeeiiiii-chan…is there love in this story?" she teased. "A lot of love?"

Seishirou gave her a forced smile. "Yes."

"Good. Then tell us," commanded Hokuto, settling herself comfortably against Kakyou. "It'll be a sight to remember, to see Sei-chan telling us a love story!" She giggled and shot a sly glance at her brother, who was blushing very hard and trying to hide his face in the ice-filled cooler. "And I'm sure Subaru would like to hear it too—"

Seishirou suddenly stiffened. "It's not a story I care to remember," he said coolly. He reached into his pocket for a cigarette and drew his brows together in a puzzled frown. Then he looked up sharply.

Hokuto was bouncing a packet of cigarettes up and down on the palm of one slender hand. "I took them from your pocket," she informed him. "You're not supposed to be smoking, Sei-chan. It's bad for your health. Now tell us the story. After all, you brought it up. Why are the sakura pink?"

Seishirou's eyes were calm and distant as he faced her. "There are bodies buried beneath the sakura tree, and the blood makes the petals pink."

Nekoi Yuzuriha gave a small scream and shifted about slightly, but Hokuto only sat up straighter.

"It's just a legend," she said in her loud, cheerful voice. "Don't mind Sei-chan; when he tells a story, he really knows how to tell one. And if you're scared, just cuddle up to Shiyu-san!" She grinned at the blushing faces of Yuzuriha and Shiyu Kusanagi. "Go on, Sei-chan—and mind you get to the love part quickly!"

"There are no more bodies buried under this tree," Seishirou said gently, looking at Yuzuriha. "The story I'm telling happened more than a thousand years ago, before the earthquakes, when there was still magic in this world." He drew a deep breath.

"In Ueno Park a thousand years ago, the largest, most beautiful sakura tree here was a guardian of the Balance, a part of the Balance that keeps the world going. It was a centre of the most powerful dark onmyoujitsu in all of Japan, and it absorbed the powers from the souls of evil-doers, before releasing the souls onwards to face judgment in the afterlife."

Yatouji Satsuki lifted an eyebrow. "I think I can see where this is going. Let me guess. The tree manifested in spirit form and haunted Tokyo, hunting—"

"No." Seishirou cut her off. "Nothing quite like that. The Sakura Tree had a Guardian, a mortal man who did the hunting, and killed those who practised the black arts indiscriminately. Being a Guardian of such a powerful ancient Tree meant that he was gifted with extraordinary powers. He was an onmyouji, and the most powerful of those who used dark onmyoujitsu. But the way he killed was special only to the Guardian of the Tree." Seishirou gave an ironic little smile. "The Guardian killed by driving his fist through the heart of the living body." Seishirou clenched his left fist and looked down at it as if it was stained with blood. "The bodies were always buried beneath the Tree. The Tree fed on the bodies. No different from fertiliser." He added quite calmly, "The Guardians of the Tree could never feel emotions—they had no feelings."

"But Sei-chan, that's horrible," wailed Hokuto. "How can anyone—how can anyone just kill like that, and someone with absolutely no feelings either—"

There was a brief flash of pain in Seishirou's eyes. "You can't—unless you are trained from childhood. And no Sakura—" he bit his lip and corrected himself—"no Guardian can feel emotions—they lock away their emotions, because it is their duty to kill." He drew a deep, shuddering breath. "If they didn't lock away emotions, Hokuto-chan, they ended up mad. That, in the end, was to be their fate, because though there may be deeds irreparable in this world, there is no such thing as a person who is unable to love. Love…is a very strong, very passionate emotion."

There was a little silence.

"What happened next?" Hokuto asked finally, a little subdued.

Seishirou's voice softened. "When one of the Guardians was a young man, he fell in love with someone he could never have—a teenage boy from a family sworn to oppose the Guardians of the Tree until the end of Time."

"Aha!" Hokuto brightened immediately. "And the boy loved him!" she cheered. "Right?"

Seishirou's lips curved into a mirthless smile. "Right you are, Hokuto-chan, but the Guardian broke the boy's heart—"

"What? How?"

"There was a bet…and the stake was the boy's death at the hands of the Guardian…but the boy's sister, who looked very much like him, died for him instead. And—so, the boy hated the Guardian…" Seishirou's voice trailed off as he shut his eyes.

There was a long silence.

"Is that all?" asked someone softly, breaking it finally.

"No…" murmured Seishirou, his eyes still closed. "The boy was broken because the Guardian had told the boy he did not love him—and because the Guardian had killed his sister—and because for one year, the Guardian had been playacting that he cared for the boy and his sister…"

"Had he?" asked Hokuto quietly.

Seishirou opened his eyes and sighed briefly. "At the beginning, perhaps. But he did love the boy, and he didn't know it. So…nine years later, the Guardian met up with the one he loved, who had become a man. A broken man, who hated him, and had waited nine years to grow strong enough to hunt him down and avenge the death of his sister…" Seishirou's voice shook a little. He stopped, unable to say anymore.

"And the Guardian mistakenly believed that the one he loved wanted nothing more than to kill him, in order to avenge the death of the sister. So the Guardian killed himself."

Umpteen pairs of eyes swung round to look at the new speaker.

Monou Fuuma met the surprised looks equably.

"The Guardian killed himself?" blurted Hokuto.

Seishirou's voice was sharp and abrupt. "Yes." He hurled a fierce glance at Fuuma.

"But Monou-san just said—it was a mistake—why—" began Hokuto.

"No mistake about it," answered Seishirou in a hard voice. "The one he loved…was too kind, too gentle to be able to kill anyone, and the Guardian knew that…so he did it—for the other…" His jaw was set and the sunlight seemed to glitter in his eyes.

There was a silence.

Then Subaru spoke very quietly. "But the one he loved didn't want to see him die."

Seishirou stiffened and threw a hard, sharp glance at Subaru. "Why do you say that?"

Subaru blushed, but met Seishirou's eyes bravely. "If—if he had loved the Guardian—really loved him, he wouldn't have wanted him dead, even if he hated him…" he said softly. "And I think he still loved the Guardian…"

"Except," said Seishirou with a bitter smile that somehow managed to cut straight into Subaru's heart, "that by then, the Guardian did not believe that the other man could still love him."

"Subaru-san is right," said Fuuma unexpectedly, "and the Guardian was wrong. The other man loved him still."

Seishirou's smile was still unexpectedly bitter, but also resigned. "Yes, but the Guardian did not know that." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore. It was a long time ago—a very long time ago."

Kigai Yuuto stirred, carelessly pushing back blond strands of hair. "How did you know about this story—you and Monou-san?"

Seishirou shrugged nonchalantly. "Old legend I heard someone tell once."

Yuuto glanced at Monou Fuuma.

"I read it somewhere," Fuuma answered. "Or else I heard it told. Can't remember, exactly."

Hokuto's eyes were narrow as she eyed first Seishirou and then Fuuma. "I have this feeling that both of you know a lot more than you're telling us," she observed accusingly.

Seishirou gestured impatiently. "There's more to the story," he said irritably, "but that's all you really need to know. These old legends are always—always very long and complicated."

Hokuto frowned. "Yes, but this one—hmm. There's something I don't understand. Why did he kill the sister, if he really loved the boy?"

Seishirou ran his fingers through the short grass. He did not look up. "I think he had to prove to himself that he did not care for the boy…that he did not mind doing things that would break the boy's heart…" He flicked a sakura petal off one of his pant legs. "Let's not talk about this anymore, Hokuto-chan. As I said, it's not a story I care to remember."

Someone—Nekoi Yuzuriha—promptly began to chatter about another subject, and the others joined in, slowly at first, affected by the grave atmosphere, but then with growing enthusiasm. But Sumeragi Subaru was not one of them; his eyes were resting on a certain handsome young man with a strong, dear face, and kind, tired eyes of deep amber.

Across from him, the man who had been Sakurazuka Seishirou a thousand years ago wearily tuned out the voices around him and leaned back against the tree, closing his eyes. A gentle breeze shook the sakura-laden branches above him as pink petals drifted downwards.

And the heart of the teenage boy with the sooty-black hair and emerald-green eyes watching the man, was completely lost to him, as it had been once before, a long time ago.

Author's Notes:
Well! I belong to the school that believes Sakurazuka Seishirou really did love Sumeragi Subaru, and I think that it is highly likely he killed Hokuto for reasons which will be revealed soon.