Author's Note: This is a ROUGH DRAFT COPY OF THE CHAPTER, though the same as the one ORIGINALLY POSTED.

Also, if you don't have anything to say beyond "OMG!111 You updated!111" or some such thing, just don't bother reviewing at all. Please.

Disclaimer: X and Tokyo Babylon, as well as all characters, events, and fictional places, belong to Clamp, and whoever else may own rights. I am simply borrowing for a non-profit means of entertainment, which only encourages further reading of actual Clamp materials.

Chapter Eight:

After...

Darkness swirled around her as she drowned within the dream of Fate, pushing towards her final destination, that of the Future, of the one true Future. She burst out of the in-between space and into a white, bright landscape that was hauntingly familiar, and then she realized that it was another yumemi's dream, or at least, that it would be. She didn't think she had ever experienced such a thing before, dreaming of a dream to be, but she had to say she was surprised.

Two figures moving farther away caught her attention and Hinoto ran to catch them, ducking quickly behind a strange floating fixture as she stared at the two there. The one she recognized as the yumemi of the Ten no Ryu, the person who's dream this had to be, and the other...

She stopped, a look of hostility flashing across her face. It was that bratty fag of a Sumeragi, standing there and flirting unabashedly with the silver-haired yumemi. How dare he steal her /Kamui/ and then go and try to get a Ten no Ryu, as well. She stopped, a wicked smirk appearing on her face as she realized just how dissatisfied Dark Kamui would be with this event.

The two were kissing now, the onmyouji pressing the yumemi, Hinoto recalled his name as Kuzuki, against the 'floor,' never once unlocking their fiercely battling mouths. She watched in a sort of horrified curiosity as he ran his hands over Kuzuki's suddenly naked body, the dreamseer moaning in pleasure as the emerald-eyed man touched certain spots. She had to say one thing about the Sumeragi, he knew what he was doing.

A movement at the corner of her field of vision caused her to turn away from the two young men and face two other figures, herself and another she recognized as the Sakurazukamori. The look on his face was that of obvious jealousy, and the look on her own was very self-satisfied. She glanced back at two males, who were now in the middle of some very rough intercourse that brought a blush to even her face, then turned and walked towards herself and the assassin. She was saying something to him, but he didn't seem to be noticing, instead his eyes were locked on the Sumeragi, burning with anger and a dark possession. He made to take a step towards the lovers, but she held out a hand, stopping him. Now he was listening to the words she was saying. Now he was also smiling.

Before...

Sakurazuka Seishirou glared at the open, and empty, door, mind following the two other Chi no Ryu until they were out of the building. He let out a growl, looking down at the trenchcoat in his hands in disgust. He couldn't believe /Kamui/ would be that rude, or that the Sumeragi would so easily allow himself to be herded away. It disgusted the assassin. That didn't stop his raging hard on any, though.

Walking out of the room and down onto the dance floor he ignored how uncomfortable his erection was confined within the hard, tight cloth of his pants. A figure caught his eye at the bar, and he recognized her as a girl who had been there when he and the Sumeragi had met. She had thrown a few glances towards them, but he had dismissed her, she was hardly the only one looking at the two of them. Walking over to her now he stopped infront of her still figure, an imposing sight even with the smeared black lipstick still painting his mouth from the younger onmyouji's kisses.

"You. Come on," he said simply, not wasting time for useless words.

She blinked, surprised, but followed him as he walked away from the bar, out of the building, and down a small side alley. She came up beside him once he had stopped, gasping as he pushed her against the hard concrete wall of another of the buildings, tearing off her clothes with an impressive show of strength. She tried to say something as he began fondling her, but he cut her off with a kiss, weaving an illusion around them quickly. He worked within the maboroshi, creating an elaborate scene of a decadent hotel room and soft bed, clouding her mind of where they actually were.

He wasted no time in taking the now-eager girl, pounding into her flesh but finding himself wishing, imagining, that it was the beautiful emerald-eyed boy beneath him. He didn't know what it was about the Sumeragi, but something inside of him craved the younger man, called out to have him, possess him completely. Strip the boy of ownership of his heart, body, and soul. And have the bishonen begging him for more. With anyone else that wouldn't be a problem, but with the Sumeragi, someone of at least near-equal power, that would be almost impossible without some sort of leverage.

He was brought out of his thoughts for a moment when the girl let out a loud round of giggles, muscles clenching around his cock as he groaned and dug his fingers deeply into her hips. Looking up at her face he found her eyes wide open, staring at him but not truly seeing him. He knew that a certain pair of emerald eyes would never take their gaze away from him, would follow his every movement, if only out of suspicion. He found himself wanting to gauge out the lavender eyes of the girl, wanting to punish her for not being who he really wanted to fuck, for not being his rival and ally. His opposite, if it was only in title.

She was crying, now, face burying into his shoulder as the pleasure pounded through her. He wondered if the Sumeragi would cry, if the Sumeragi had ever cried. The supposedly benevolent young man was cold, almost harsh, and Seishirou didn't think he had experienced many intense emotions in his almost two decades of life. The assassin was convinced that he could change that, though...that he could make the Sumeragi's icy heart shatter like glass with a word. He smirked, imagining that it was the Sumeragi's tears that were soaking into the shoulder of his jacket.

The thought of the emerald eyed boy in such a vulnerable position sent the Sakurazukamori over the edge, his eyelids fluttering shut for just an instant as he came hard into the woman, pulling out as soon as he had reached full satisfaction and regarding her shaking body. Shrugging he collapsed the illusion, pulling the power back into himself until they were just two people standing in the alley behind a popular Goth club. Almost as an afterthought, as he walked away, he wiped her mind of the memories, frowning at the strong resistance it put up. It wasn't enough against his power, though, and soon there was just a dazed, naked and violated girl in the alley, all signs of the golden-eyed man vanished.

Sorata sat down next to Yuziriha, grabbing a stick of Pocky and sticking his tongue out right back at her when she noticed. "Kamui, you're actually doing your homework? Wow! The world must be...er...nevermind." He ducked his head down and nibbled on the chocolate snack. "Um, I was wondering if you guys wanted to go to a movie? There's a new horror flick out and I thought it would be funny to watch 'cause, y'know, they're not really that scary anymore."

The young girl nodded in agreement, but Kamui had to be given an encouraging nudge by Inuki before he voiced his decision to go along. "Okay, but only because it gets me out of doing homework."

When the shorter boy went to get his coat the monk cast a sly grin at the inugami mistress. "This was a great plan! I knew we could eventually get him to agree to leave the grounds! Now all we've got to do is keep him distracted all night, and maybe he'll actually give us a smile or something!"

Yuuto gulped as he stared at /Kamui/'s angry face and the Sumeragi's exasperated one. "S-Sorry," he began, fighting to stay calm. "Hinoto-hime told me, before she retired for the night, to come in at this time and, um, tell Sumeragi-san that he should go home and start packing if he wants to get any sleep and still be there on time." Yuuto frowned.

"She didn't tell me where, though."

Dark Kamui snorted and Subaru rolled his eyes. "Typical," the onmyouji muttered darkly, stepping away from the taller man and walking towards the door that the water master had entered through. "I guess she would know, though..."

He Who Hunted the Power of God sneered. "Whatever." Those golden eyes locked on Yuuto. "The Sumeragi is infiltrating the Ten no Ryu. If you see him, pretend like you don't know him, and treat him like the enemy. Tell the others to do the same. If I found out, from whatever source, that the Sumeragi failed because of someone else's inability to follow my orders, I would be extremely upset." The older Dragon's eyes widened, but he nodded quickly.

"...Right. I'll go and tell the others right now."

"You do that." Taking that as his dismissal Yuuto turned tail and hurried away, ignoring the Sumeragi's scornful gaze as the other followed him out, murmuring something about how the walls seemed as white as sakura petals in the lighting, which confused the water master, because he'd never heard of anyone relate a color to sakura besides pink.