DISCLAIMER: As before, all characters and specialised words etc, relating to the characters used are owned and credited to CLAMP. Certain images and events are also credited to CLAMP. However, the interpretation of events and the story that follows is written by sakurazukamori. Enjoi, R/R.

.:Chapter 6 – Strength:.

"The shadow of Strength is the Lust for War."

You are too kind…

...but your kindliness will be your downfall…

…Subaru-kun.

It felt as if his heart were being physically torn from his chest. Each word bludgeoned its way through the Sumeragi's inner being grasping at his hopes, crushing them with such severity that they could never hope to be restored. The Blossom Star smirked as he rubbed the tears from his thumb onto his night-black overcoat, consigning them to their insignificant fate.

"Kindness," he intoned slowly, "it was something your beloved sister had in ample supply also. It is such a shame that her kindness led to so bloody an end, don't you think Subaru-kun?"

He took a long pause as he leisurely ran his thumb along his lips, feeling the clammy remnants of the salty tears.

"Hokuto's fate... the same fate that will befall you," he continued, smiling as his tongue seductively brushed across his parted lips taking with it the taste of the Sumeragi's innocence, "unless you are one for challenging fate's deceitful course?"

Subaru felt his heart knock harder against his chest when he heard the assassin talk of his sister's fate. He felt the guilt surge inside again, breaking through his emotional barriers, flooding his conscience bringing with it her bloodstained face.

It flashed in his mind growing closer with every heart beat, until the onmyouji could make out each tear that laced her lifeless face, until he could see the emptiness of their emerald eyes. The assassin's cold-hearted regard for his sister pierced through the onmyouji's hardened numbness allowing trickles of real grief to work their way through the cracks that had formed in his defences. He had never truly mourned his sister's death, he felt he should not have the privilege; after all it was his fault that she was dead.

It was... it was all my fault.

"Yes, in a way you are right, my dearest Subaru-kun," announced the assassin triumphantly, "she did give her life for your sake. She died so you could survive."

How? How could he have…

"Read your thoughts?" finished the Blossom Star, laughing. "You haven't forgotten, have you?" he teased, "Your fate is still sealed by the blossom. Within this illusion, I can do anything I like to you."

Instantaneously, the onmyouji felt the mark on his right hand burn with a scorching heat as the pentagram once again seared through his skin, causing him to grimace in pain. His teeth ground against each other as he vainly attempted to conceal the torturous agony that had begun to take hold of his whole body. His muscles felt like they were being sloughed away layer by layer, his eyes bulged when he felt his skin burn as if it were being subjected to the most blistering heat imaginable. The pain was too much… his whole body convulsed in one single movement as he cried out in agony.

"AAARGGHHHHHH," screamed the Sumeragi. "S-stop!"

The sakurazukamori stepped closer, muttering the chants of dark onmyoujitsu. His overcoat flew out behind him accompanied by a whirlwind of sakura blossom as he intensified his concentration on the shaking youth before him. He focused his pitiless malice and relentless contempt bestowed upon him by the malevolent Sakura Barrow, boring it into the Sumeragi's very soul. He watched the onmyouji cry out each time he forced more anger and cruelty upon him, relishing each scream that accompanied every contortion.

"My, such a lovely voice," taunted the assassin mercilessly.

"Unghh, s-s-s-top," stammered the onmyouji through gritted teeth. "S-stop..."

The Sumeragi's lithe frame began to crumple as he felt his knees shake violently beneath him. This pain was worst than anything he had ever felt; it was tinged with the festering hatred of something that knew nothing of love or compassion. A hatred so unnatural that it was too intense for any human to conceive. The onmyouji knew this was not the assassin's doing, but something wicked more heartless…an evil that had turned the assassin's soul black decades ago.

The utterings and whispers of the Sakura Barrow coiled about the Blossom Star strengthening his will, fuelling him with the most vicious cruelty.

"Take him…" "…make him one with Us."

"His fate is sealed…" "Infuse him with Our hatred…"

"Seishiro…" "…My Star."

He could feel the Barrow's sinister shadow consuming his very being, taking control of him again, enforcing a soul-crushing hatred on the youth crumbling in front of him. The assassin amusedly watched as the Sumeragi reached out for him silently pleading for him to cease his noiseless torment, but something other than the Barrow prevented him from doing so, something more primordial: his lust for power over innocence.

The weight on Subaru's soul was more than he could bear. He could see each victim that the Barrow had consumed; he could feel their misery as they were dragged beneath its heaving roots shrieking and crying. His mind was assaulted with petals and blood as one after the other they met their untimely demise; the nightmares that had once only haunted his nights haunted him whilst he was awake, unrelenting.

A merciless smile spread across Seishiro's curved lips as he continued to watch the youth convulse in the throes of agony yet something didn't feel right. A shift in energy alerted him to the boy's right hand.

A flash of white…

A single shining ofuda lay in the Sumeragi's pentagram-emblazoned hand ready to be thrown, its carmine pentacle glowing in anticipation. The aching muscles in the onmyouji's fingers tensed underneath their ashen shroud; each of his knuckles somnolently rose up, pulling with them the outlines of hidden tendons.

His hand swiftly sliced through the air in one fluid movement, effortlessly winging its way towards its intended target. Seishiro's sleeve snapped as it whipped through the air, his hand clasping around the fragile wrist of the onmyouji ceasing its movement.

The ofuda fell from the Sumeragi's grasp, fluttering to the murky ground dissolving into a whisper of white feathers. The onmyouji gasped as he felt the forceful arm of the assassin snaking its way around his waist pulling him closer. The grip on his wrist tightened. He was trapped.

Seishiro smiled. He had him just where he wanted; there was no way he could escape, no way he could resist. Seishiro could feel the quickening pulse of the onmyouji through the tightening grip he held on his wrist. His right arm had deftly slid underneath the blood-smeared overcoat of his victim, wrapping itself about the taut lower abdomen of the weary Sumeragi. The sakurazukamori felt the ragged breath of the onmyouji on his face, rising and falling as he leaned forward. His cheek brushed against Subaru's tear-streaked countenance as his nose gently nuzzled its way towards the onmyouji's flushed ear. He felt the muscles squirming underneath the Sumeragi's translucent skin as he graced past the sharp cheekbones. The assassin's breathing deepened excited by the onmyouji's emanation of innate fear.

"It would be foolish for you to try and resist me," the assassin purred breathily into the Sumeragi's ear. "After all, you are mine Subaru. You always have been and always will be… forever."

You are mine

always

forever

mine

The Blossom Star's words seared themselves into the onmyouji's mind; he had always been Seishiro's and he would continue to be Seishiro's, both physically and emotionally. His eyes closed allowing two single tears to trail down his cheeks; he recalled how he wished Seishiro had said those words to him when he wanted, needed to hear them, now the same words he wished to hear held a different, darker meaning. Their fates were intertwined like the yin and yang, dark and light, forever in conflict yet forever destined to be as one. He felt the assassin gently grace across his cheek once more, pulling back until the mismatched eyes were level with his own. The fiery amber and the deathly white reminded Subaru of the sakurazukamori's tumultuous confliction: warm yet cold, alive yet dead, caring but cruel. He felt Seishiro's warm breath on his face, bitter with nicotine yet indescribably sweet – the scent was intoxicating and once again, the onmyouji's fear and desire merged into one. However, each time he felt the desire rise up in him he saw his sister's dying face resonating in his mind over and over again, as if she were punishing him for such wantonness.

Seishiro looked into the Sumeragi's glazed eyes and realised what it was that had drawn him to the youth at their first meeting. The hauntingly green eyes of the onmyouji looked into his, pleading, just as they had done all those years before. He felt himself subconsciously exhale, his hand moving to caress the prominent hipbones of the Sumeragi, smiling as he heard the release of a soft moan. It was such a thrill to know that he had such absolute power; power he could exploit, power that he would exploit. The assassin watched Subaru's mouth begin to slightly part as if to form a word or another moan…

"Why have you brought me… here?" Subaru whispered listlessly. His eyes lulling open and shut, his lips cracked and dry.

A seductive smile passed over Seishiro's lips as he leaned in towards the onmyouji, inches away from the boy's parted curvature. He pulled Subaru closer as if to tenderly caress his parched lips, but instead he allowed himself to softly sweep against the side of the Sumeragi's face. His eyes remained focused on those of the onmyouji, as he moved once again towards the youth's ear. His tormentor paused as he lingered and calmly breathed in the scent of the Sumeragi's skin – a mixture of sweat, tears and jasmine.

Exhilarating

"I brought you here," purred the assassin, "because I know that your wish is to kill me. Yes me, the one who killed your precious sister."

"Why couldn't you have killed me?" gasped Subaru disbelievingly. "You know, you've always known where I am."

"Where would be the fun in that, my naïve Subaru-kun?" laughed the Blossom Star cruelly. "If I had killed you then I wouldn't be able to indulge myself with these…" he paused, "…intimate moments, would I?"

The Sumeragi turned his face away from the assassin in shame as tears of hurt threatened to run from his closed eyes. He felt so powerless and ashamed; he was there for the sakurazukamori's sick pleasure so that the assassin could dangle his greatest wish in front of him and then take it away.

Can he? Does he know my real wish?

The onmyouji bit down on his trembling lip as he realised just how much it still hurt him to know that the man he loved, could not and would not love him back.

My wish for him to…

Even after re-editing this chapter, I still feel that something is lacking. It was really difficult combining the two perspectives together. I know Subaru is a little OOC with his crying all the time, but I just wanted to show his fragility. I'm happy with the description and style, but the characters are stupidly hard to get right. Hope I did okay.