First Day.
T: I wanted to get this out yesterday for my 21st but got sidetracked into going ice scatting for the first time…needless to say I am very bruised but I enjoyed myself so it's all good! Probably a little spoiler for TB and there is minute slash here other than that I think we're safe! Unfortunately despite my best efforts I remain an ordinary citizen rather than a member of Clamp!
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The jet black wings of the Shikigami keep flickering out of his periphery vision and he is forced to constantly turn his head skywards.
Already twice he has bumped into one of the many commuters that crowd the station and he can feel the heat on his cheeks for the embarrassment of it all.
He feels his feet catch in a crack in the concrete and then with an almost humorous inescapability he falls flat onto his face.
The commuters mill about him as though he has been there always, then, suddenly, a hand appears into his line of sight.
Grasping onto it he is pulled towards a pair of hazel eyes that flash in his mind an image of the sakura before he is simply looking into their depths again.
"Arigato." He remarks, bowing deeply before his 'rescuer'.
The older man smiles and bowing remarks,
"I am Sakurazuka Seishiro and consider it my honour."
"Sumeragi Subaru." Subaru replies as he bows again.
"I was on my way to have a little something sweet, perhaps you would care to join me, Subaru-kun?"
Both the question and the use of his first name as rather familiar for a first meeting and yet…
He feels as though he has met this man before…feels as though there is something significant that he should recall about this other, something that seems always to slip just beyond his conscious thought.
He feels also oddly secure within the presence of this older man and finds himself agreeing to accompany him before he dwell too long on why such an agreement is all but foolhardy.
By the time their deserts arrive they are talking together as old friends and he finds that all his initial apprehension has faded away into a comfort that he has only experienced with his sister before this day.
The shrill cry of his beeper interrupts the quietly comfortable atmosphere and he feels himself flush deeply as he scrambles across the room and squashes himself as far as he can into the booth of the payphone.
He dials the number displayed on the screen without actually taking much account of it and thus he jumps a little as his sister's shrill voice breaks onto the other end of the line.
"Hokuto-chan, you shouldn't be so loud! What if I had been Obaachan or someone else of importance?"
"Mou, Subaru, you worry too much what others think of you! And anyway I am allowed to be loud today! Do you have any idea of what time it is?"
He glances over his shoulder to look at the clock on the opposite wall and as he realises the lateness of the hour he feels guilt wash over him,
"I am sorry, Hokuto-chan, I took a tumble today while at work and I must have lost track of the time."
"Subaru, you aren't seriously hurt, are you?"
"I only hit my head a little and Seishrio-san says that by tomorrow the bruise should have all but faded."
"Seishrio-san?"
The high pitched laughter that followed was enough to make him regret even mentioning his friends name and the enquiry of "Are you on a date?" Makes him flush again before stammering out,
"H-Hokuto-chan!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho! Where are you, Subaru? I want to meet the lucky man."
He reluctantly informed her of his location and rounding up the conversation he crossed back over the room to join Seishiro again.
By the time his sister appears, dressed in one of her typically flamboyant outfits, Seishiro has been suitably warned of her rather odd persona.
For a while it seemed that such warnings were to prove unnecessary and then Hokuto enquires,
"When are you going to make an honest man of my brother then?"
Subaru feels himself flush and there is an admonishment on his tongue when Seishiro replies,
"When he accepts my affection."
He freezes and turning to the man he enquires,
"You are joking, aren't you?"
"I loved you from the moment I saw you, Subaru-kun." He replies.
Hokuto breaks again into her high lyrical laughter and Subaru grabs from the rim of his hat in the hopes that he can pull the thing far enough down his head to simply vanish.
Despite his embarrassment there is a faint fluttering hope in his heart that Seishiro is telling him the truth.
That the older man does, indeed, feel something for him.
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T: I am well aware that cannon wise Subaru does not have a beeper until book two (I think) but it was the only way I could think of to let him know that Hokuto wanted a word. R+R as it has been scientifically proven that authors require praise to survive!