Warnings: None, nope, nada, zilch I think. It's at least 99 clean... I'm not sure about the other 1.
Disclaimers: As always... the wonderful TB people are © the genius team of CLAMP.
Notes: Yesh, been a while since I updated well, maybe not, but I think two weeks is a while but I've had a ton of homework. In fact, ironically, I'm ignoring a science project to write this. Conventional? Maybe not, but that's how I prioritize badly, I might add. I'm still ambivalent on how long this will be... Maybe 13 chapters, because Subaru is the 13th Sumeragi head? But that doesn't really have anything to do with the story anyway... and plus, I don't think I'll have enough ideas to fill thirteen whole chapters. We'll see. But, anyway... enjoy. Also, Kakyou's birthdate was something fictitious, since I don't actually know what it is, and Hinoto seems to look very young but is very old in age, so yeah.
so jaded I can't see straight...
this coldness
because I won't be able
to see you
the ignorance
bliss, being with you
the hurt
because I love you
You forfeit today, but gain tomorrow.
Really? Is that true?
I would have thought there was nothing to gain from the miserable existence of a yumemi.
Kakyou was beginning to lose hope. Every day he spent with Hokuto, every lingering yet dying moment, meant that the time was inching closer to her death. And she was politely unaware, she didn't know... who her kind veterinarian friend truly was...
He could no longer find himself enjoying their "dates". Worry and anxiousness occupied every second he spent with her, and she mistook it for animosity, for disgust, and she didn't bother to hide her hurt. This made Kakyou even more melancholy... the fact that she would even perceive his feelings as dislike...
"Kakyou," Hokuto whispered softly with a hurt expression, "be honest... what exactly is wrong?"
He looked at her, and grimaced in his own pain. Once again, she misunderstood. "Kakyou! You need to tell me... do you really hate me that much?" she demanded. She took his delicate face in her hands as she had when they'd first met, and looked deeply into his eyes, fighting back tears.
Kakyou looked hopeless, and sighed sharply. "Hokuto... how could you think I hate you?" he muttered faintly, his fingers affectionately grazing her cheek softly. Her expression softened and she began to blush at his gentle touch.
"Then... why do you wince when you look at me? Why the pained expressions? Why?" Hokuto asked. Her usual overly light-hearted self had evaporated into the apparent bleakness of the dreamscape.
"Your brother..." he murmured quietly, trailing off.
Hokuto frowned. "What about my brother? Subaru? Did you... see something about him?"
Kakyou hesitated, than nodded weakly. "But I cannot tell you..."
Hokuto, for the first time, it seemed, glared at him with growing anger. "I have a right to know about my brother, you know! Kakyou, please... just... tell me..." she softened, looking slightly saddened.
"I cannot tell you much," Kakyou admitted, looking at her downheartedly. "But... your friend... the man they call... Dr. Sakurazuka..." he faltered slightly, then continued, "...he will take your brother someplace far from you... physically and emotionally and mentally..."
Hokuto seemed alarmed at the prospect. "B-but that time before... when I told you about all my insecurities about Sei-chan... why didn't you tell me anything before?"
Sighing, Kakyou shook his head. "Because I didn't want you to worry more... don't worry, Hokuto... everything will be fine..." he lied between his teeth, cursing himself for misleading Hokuto like he was.
"Oh... okay," Hokuto said in a tiny voice, looking uncharacteristically shy for a brief moment. Yawning, she seemed to regain her regular disposition in a matter of moments. Smiling widely as if nothing had happened, she chirped cheerfully, "Where would you like to go today?"
Kakyou grinned sheepishly, reddening slightly. "Tokyo Tower." Hokuto looked curious at Kakyou's red face, seeming as oblivious as Subaru for a small moment.
With a smile, she replied contently, "Of course! Ohohohoho!" Looking relieved at the presence of Hokuto's typical demeanor, Kakyou laughed to himself. He had foreseen the makeshift date Seishirou and Subaru had been on a few months ago, and he had the some sort of idea for today...
Upon changing the scene of the dream, Kakyou immediately dragged Hokuto up the stairs. She protested lightly, grinning in a sort of jokingly reprimanding manner. "Hey!" she objected, attempting to keep up with him. "Where exactly are you taking me, Kakyou-kun?" she asked curiously. He smiled slightly mischievously, surprising Hokuto with the sudden change of attitude.
Finally stopping in front of a fortune telling booth, Hokuto raised an eyebrow at Kakyou and stood on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear, "But can't you tell the future...?"
Kakyou smiled and nodded. "But I can't..." he whispered, then coughed and said loudly to the woman behind the booth, "Test for affinity, please." It had not been the woman who had done Seishirou and Subaru's test. Then again, Kakyou wouldn't have wanted the same results, either...
Hokuto blushed, her face turning bright scarlet in a matter of seconds, as the woman nodded and shuffled through some cards. "Birth date of the other person?" the woman asked pointedly, still browsing through her cards and beginning to organize them into separate decks.
"Uh, uh..." Hokuto reddened further. It was forbidden for the Sumeragi—namely, Subaru—to give away their birth date and birthplace, as onmyouji. But since it was a fake place anyway, and she knew she could trust Kakyou, she managed to mumble, "February 19th, 1974..."
"Birth place?" the lady continued, continuing to divide the cards.
Kakyou grinned, a bit embarrassed. He knew about the rule of spellcasters to not reveal those types of information. Just as he was about to tell Hokuto that she didn't have to say what it was, she blurted out very loudly, "K-Kyoto! In J-Japan!"
A small group of teenagers snickered at her; who didn't know that Kyoto was in Japan? After all, they were in Japan anyway. One girl smirked at Kakyou, especially at his long hair, which Hokuto personally thought was very beautiful.
Slightly flustered, he looked politely humiliated. Even dreamscapes had its flaws. He jumped as the woman addressed him, caught off guard. "And yours?" she asked dully.
"May 3rd, 1958... born in... Tokyo." Kakyou managed to keep a blank expression as he had said this. On the other hand, Hokuto seemed surprised at Kakyou's birth year. The lady seemed slightly astonished but said nothing, instead bearing a look of stubborn disapproval on her face, seeming old-fashioned.
The girls laughed. Hokuto glared at them, then turned back to face Kakyou. Giggling, she remarked in a teasing voice, "Wow, you're old, aren't you?" Blushing, Kakyou coughed to regain his composure. "I hope the results are as good as our relationship seems to be!" Hokuto continued incredibly cheerfully. Kakyou's face started to redden again, and he seemed slightly mortified.
"Here," the woman droned flatly after she'd finished inputting the information. With her aged hands she handed the two a crisp sheet of paper.
Eyes widening, Hokuto began to grin. "Kakyou, these results are wonderful! Much better than Sei-chan and Subaru's, at least," she commented thoughtfully. "Look, the only part that didn't score high was... the physical factor..." At this both Hokuto and Kakyou began to redden madly. Clearing his throat, Kakyou smiled.
"I guess our astrological signs are compatible...?" he said, face still a deep ruby.
Hokuto giggled loudly. "Kakyou..." she said, looking at him with a half-serious, half-joking expression, "we're perfect for each other!" She laughed thunderously, "Ohohohohoho!"
Kakyou blushed, but began to grin in spite of his growing embarrassment. "Y-yes, it seems that... yes..." He continued to bear a slightly flustered smile on his face, and Hokuto unexpectedly embraced him in her euphoria. Taken off guard, Kakyou's eyes widened in awe. The teenagers began to snigger again amongst themselves, but to Kakyou, it actually felt sort of comforting, relaxing... Hokuto's hug was quite fervent, and her touch was pleasantly warm yet at the same time faintly cool...
Hokuto grinned, gently letting go of him. "I wonder... have you ever had a real koibito before?" Blushing and surprised, Kakyou shook his head almost fiercely, sheepish. Several sweatdrops also began to appear on his head for comical effect.
"Well, before you met me, you didn't know you could have this much fun, could you?" Hokuto asked, striking a cute pose flauntingly. Dreamily, she held her own face in her hands and closed her eyes reminiscently. "Karaoke, tea, affinity tests, dancing, movies, shopping, foreign delicacies like 'pizza', native foods like sukiyaki and sushi, water skiing, the sea..." she recollected retrospectively. Kakyou nodded relatively obediently.
"So... would you say you love me?" Hokuto asked on the spur of the moment in a rather cheerful voice, putting her index finger up thoughtfully. Kakyou fell over bashfully, then regained his calm in a few moments, face crimson. Hokuto frowned, then turned serious. "No, really... do you?"
Turning serious to match Hokuto's mood, his expression became almost grave in its somberness. "... what about you?"
Momentarily Hokuto seemed to return to her normal personality. "No, I asked first!" she protested, her expression solemn again. "Um..." Looking slightly uncomfortable, she looked up at Kakyou. "It really just depends on your answer..."
Kakyou sighed, turning away weakly. He smiled to himself. "I don't really understand what 'love' is... I've only seen it in my dreams, and here with you... but I don't think anybody really understands what 'love' is..." He rotated himself to face Hokuto. "But I think my emotions to you can be interpreted as 'love', or at least something close to it..." He smiled at her, blushing and looking flustered. "But, ah, what do I know?" He reddened slightly.
Hokuto smiled. "Then I guess I 'love' you too..."
!jaded.END/