Chapter eight: The friendship of enemies.

T: This is where everything started to run away from me as far as plot development and characterisation, therefore I apologise in advance if some of my reasoning seems off

Warnings are the same and I still have no ownership in the series, I'm trying though!

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It was odd to be again viewing the world in three dimensions, yet it had taken him only a few hours to adjust back to this 'normal' sight once it had been restored to him.

It was harder to get used to Seishrio's reasoning, harder to understand that Seishrio had not changed simply because he loved Subaru. That beneath this new emotion and the heat of it lay still the cold diffidence of the Sakurazukamori.

He had known, subconsciously, that this had been the case, but to hear it voiced in such a manner…

For Seishrio to admit that he viewed Subaru still as a possession…

Shivering he cast his gaze away from the little mirror that stood over the sink and returned to the business of brushing his teeth.

Once done he left the bathroom and proceeded down the hallway to the doorway of the spare bedroom.

Knocking once he crossed into the tiny space and knelt down onto the bed.

Kamui was rolled away from him, his fingers clenched in the bed spread and his body coated in a thin film of sweat that warned that he'd experienced another nightmare.

Thus it was with the greatest of care that Subaru woke the other; taking the time to set a hand against the boy's shoulder before he called his name.

The boy stirred and turning he blinked sleepily at Subaru before he remarked,

"I've just had a very interesting dream."

"Yes?"

"Your sister came to tell me why all our spells seemed to achieve nothing and after she did that she told me a few things that I needed to hear."

"Such as?"

"Such as the fact that you've been dreaming about setting me up with a certain class mate of mine."

"I think you would be cute together and anyway you've met Hokuto, you can't live sixteen years with someone like that and not be influenced in some manner."

"True." Kamui replied.

Silence filtered in a moment and then it dawned on the boy that he was not where he should be and he enquires,

"Where am I?"

"You fell asleep over the books yesterday and I thought it was a little unfair to expect you to walk all the way back to campus when you were in such a state. Therefore I decided to put you up in the spare room."

Given that Kamui had shown on several occasions how little he liked being around Seishrio he reacted to the news in an odd way…by simply smiling.

Curious as to what his sister had said Subaru thought to ask Kamui about the matter, a thought that was scattered as the younger boy finally rolled himself out of bed and discovered the attire that Subaru had clothed him in.

"Were these your pyjamas?" The boy enquired as he pulled at the polka dotted outfit.

"Yes."

"You really were a very cute child, weren't you, Subaru?"

He felt himself flush at the impromptu compliment and in an attempt to distract Kamui from this fact he enquired,

"Do you want to join us for breakfast?"

"Yes please." The boy remarked as he headed for the door.

Subaru almost believed that he had gotten away with it until Kamui turned and remarked, "You're blushing, by the way."

……………………………………………………………………………

Breakfast was an intriguing affair.

Seishrio noticed quite quickly that Kamui was dressed in Subaru's old pyjamas and that had lead to the revelation that Subaru had kept a few of his more beloved of Hokuto's outfits if only for the sake of sentimentality.

Which in turn had led to Kamui enquiring as to whether he might take the outfits off of Subaru's hands.

"Fuuma's outfits seem to be changing every day, at the moment and I'm beginning to feel as though I'm letting our side down by remaining steadfastly to my school uniform." Kamui had explained when Subaru had asked why the boy wished the outfits.

The rational was a little convoluted and Seishrio knew that there was more to it than Kamui was saying and yet he knew that they would most likely never know the whole truth.

Subaru had leaned over to the other and enquired something of him to which Kamui had replied by breaking into a bought of laughter.

It was a tiny show of familiarity and yet it twisted again at the possessiveness that was at Seishrio's core and as his mood visibly darkened the light banter from the other two faded into silence.

Subaru had left eventually on business and Seishrio had expected Kamui to leave for school a little after that and yet the boy had simply remained in his seat across the table from Seishrio.

It mattered little, Seishrio could tune out his presence until a fax came and he could ask him to leave without appearing rude.

Kamui, however, seemed to have other ideas.

"Sakurazuka-san, I wanted to talk to you about the marks upon Subaru's hands and about why I'm here."

"Subaru believes you can help him to gain the sakura's strength without killing me. As to those marks…they are my business."

Shaking his head he remarked,

"Hokuto-chan warned you'd be stubborn."

Ah so she was behind this was she?

He should have known that she couldn't resist the temptation to meddle in her dear brother's life.

"Hokuto-chan should know better than to tell others about my affairs. She should be especially aware that I have no like of you, Kamui Shirou, or how close you and Subaru have become."

"Is that because you love him and are jealous that he can not yet give his loyalty completely to you? Or is it because you have marked him as yours and wish others to respect that fact?"

"Do you really believe that you can separate the two? I love Subaru and thus I wish to possess him completely. I own Subaru and thus I have learned to love him, learned to see beyond the mask that he presents to the world."

Kamui begins to laugh then, the sound distinctly odd in the context of the conversation they had been having,

"Hokuto told me that you were more than Sakurazukamori and I see now that she was right.

"After all that individual would not attempt to rationalise his want to possess, would have long since killed me for owning a part of that possession which you can not."

"Perhaps I am simply lying to you, Kamui, in hopes of finding some weakness in you that I can present to my auspicious leader."

"Fuuma knows already my weaknesses. We are one, after all." Kamui remarked, his smile fading as his mind settled upon thoughts of his Twin Star.

Seishrio had been rather enjoying the banter between them and thus smiling his empty smile he remarked,

"Which is precisely why he can no longer see your true wish."

"What do you mean?"

"You do not understand the true wish of your heart and thus neither does the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth. He believes he understands, but I think that for once his belief is off.

"That he sees only the old wish of your heart; the wish to be allowed to love that 'Kamui' free of guilt or restraint."

Kamui starts at that and placing a hand to his heart he says,

"I suppose that once I loved him, that if things had gone differently I would have continued to love him within the depths of my heart.

"Yet meeting Subaru placed a doubt in that love, a doubt that has grown since I have viewed what love could be and since Hokuto-chan opened my eyes to my blossoming feelings for Keiichi-kun."

"That shall be your advantage, Shirou-kun. For 'Kamui' believes that you love him still, that through that love you will be unable to destroy him."

Kamui regards him for a while and then a smile coming again to his lips he says,

"I would never have believed that you, of all people, would show me kindness. But then what happened on Rainbow Bridge has changed you as much as it has changed Subaru."

"It has set me free of my destiny, if only for a little while."

"I might be able to help, Sakurazuka-san, but I shall need your aid."

"Why?"

"Because the markings on Subaru's skin are wards as well as a link between you."

So that was why Hokuto had told him that he alone could kill Subaru.

At the time it had seemed a silly statement, Subaru was, after all, vulnerable to harm in his line of work.

Yet if in his childish inexperience Seishrio had placed a little warding magic into the marks…

"I shall do what I can to help, Shirou-kun."

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T: I really like the idea that Fuuma is working under a false impression, that Kamui now possesses a different wish but that because he has not yet acknowledged it, it is not truly his wish. Yeh it's complex reasoning but hey perhaps Seishrio's lying simply to cheer Kamui up!

R+R and I'll try to stop at a sensible number of chapters.