Chapter four: Tangles of destiny:
T: I would just like to tell chaosdragon013 that as I am on holiday next week I shall be updating regularly and I would also like to thank them for being such an enthusiastic reviewer! Anyway warnings remain, as always, the same, though I'm reluctantly adding OOC to the list…bah silly ambivalent Seishrio!
Clamp own X-1999 and Tokyo Babylon…the lucky devils!
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His smile broke like glass and Subaru was again looking face to face with the 'real' Seishiro Sakurazuka.
"How?" The older man enquired.
Subaru informed him of the truth and unlike when he had had this conversation with Obaachan, no detail was spared.
"So the Kamui of the dragons of earth has granted your wish?"
"Yes, or at least he has granted the wish that was in my heart at that moment."
"How interesting." Seishiro remarked.
He pulled a cigarette free from his pocket and lighting it he gazed into the middle distance a while.
"It seems I must call an untimely end to our little bet, Subaru-kun."
This Subaru had expected and setting a firmer footing on the soil he looked Seishiro in the eye and said,
"You may kill me if you want, Seishrio-san, but aren't you curious also as to how things might have been?"
"Subaru, I am the Sakurazukamori and as such I have no emotions, not even such a base one such as curiosity." It was odd to hear his name without the honorific, yet if Seishrio was going to play this game then he would also.
"I was Sakurazukamori also; Seishrio and I can not understand why I could feel still love and grief as that individual, while you claimed always to feel nothing."
The older man tensed, just barely and Subaru smiled.
He had faced Seishiro always on an unequal footing before today, for he had believed all that Seishrio had told him of the Sakurazukamori.
Now, though, he was facing the other as an equal and that might give him an advantage.
The Sakurazukamori had always been alone, after all.
……………………………………………………….
Subaru was almost as Kamui had left him but for one thing.
He was no longer alone in his room.
Sorratta was sat at the Sumeragi's side, a fact that surprised Kamui greatly considering that the last he had talked to the monk he had had plans to confront Hinoto.
"Sorratta?"
"I was about to ask the princess about Arashi when I felt a huge surge of power coming from the north of Tokyo.
"I was worried it might be another barrier falling and I came running.
"Imagine my surprise when I find you entering an ambulance with Subaru."
"Sorratta…"
"You don't need to explain, Kamui. Subaru means a lot to you and no matter who he's working for he's still you're friend, right?"
"Right."
"The doctors told me that he should be awake by now,"
"I know. I think he might be walled up within his heart."
"So then what's the plan of action?"
"I am going to dive into his heart."
"What?"
"I went to see the previous head of the Sumeragi clan and she taught me the spell to go Within."
"It's dangerous, Kamui."
"I know, but it is the only hope we have of calling him back."
Kamui can see the doubt in Sorrata's eyes, the same doubt that plagued him still in the back of his mind. Yet despite this doubt the monk understands Kamui's determination and thus remains silent.
Kamui sits to the edge of the bed and placing a hand upon Subaru's forehead he begins to chant the spell.
He feels the surge of power and then he is plunged into darkness.
There is no resistance as he begins to walk in this shadow and though this is the first that he has done this, he knows this should not be the case.
There is a consciousness here amid this darkness, but it is not Subaru.
No this ancient presence full of blood and rage could be but one thing.
The tree.
'What have you done with Subaru?'
There was no verbal response, but about him the shadow shifted and Kamui was met with a vision of Subaru not looking at himself in a mirror.
He could hear the thoughts going through the other mans mind and he listened with ever increasing wonder at the confusion that was Subaru's thought process.
The Sumeragi lifted his head and the thoughts became clearer and clearer until they became a desire.
A wish.
The mirror shattered and Kamui saw Fuuma and heard his words before he was brought back again into the shadow.
Had Fuuma truly granted Subaru's wish or had he done something else to the Sumeragi's consciousness?
Unfortunately there was only one way to find out.
……………………………………………………
"I propose we maintain the bet, Seishrio, but that we extend the time frame. A year was never going to be enough to thaw your heart and you knew that well."
"How long would you like?"
"Until the year of destiny."
"What are the conditions of this bet?"
"Simply as before; that you shall protect me and in return I shall attempt to make you fell something for me. If I loose you may kill me…"
"If you succeed?"
"I am no longer a Sumeragi and thus I shall no longer become a dragon of heaven and so we shall not be opponents in 99.
"Therefore, if I win we have a chance at living our lives together. However, I will not force that choice on you, Seishiro, and should you wish us to go our separate ways in 99 then I shall allow that."
"Why should I agree to this new bet, Subaru?"
"Because you are lonely, Seishrio and because you wish for an amusement to liven the monotony of your life."
"True enough."
A moment later he was gone, leaving Subaru alone with the tree.
He stared at it a great while, pondering the many whys of this situation and thinking a little on what must be occurring in 99 at that moment.
Thoughts of the year of destiny brought him to thoughts of Kamui and he wondered if he might be able to help the boy as well as himself.
Yet any changes he might make to Kamui's life now might affect the boy's choices in the future.
Might affect the future itself.
A thought was creeping upon him, one that he had until now not contemplated.
Now that he was no longer destined to be a dragon of heaven he would not meet Kamui, which meant that the boy would remain trapped in his heart forever.
That the world would be destroyed.
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T: Ta da! I would just like to say that it was at this point that I began writing myself into a corner and so the next chapter might be a little…boring. Anyway next chptr should be out mon. R+R