6. Anger.
T: I apologise both for this hiatus and the one coming up, my only excuse is that Christmas really is eating up my time! Trust me when I say that the chapters are coming to you as fast as Silver Salamander (Bless her lovely beta heart) and I can manage! Beware the ANGST and the little bit of BLOOD that appears in this chapter…Okay now that I have no readers what so ever! I do not own anything here other than the plot and even that seems to have taken on a life of its own!
kuraitsubasa: Yep I'm afraid the angst is inescapable…as for Sei-chan's feelings…wait and see!
Kakyou-chan: Blush thank you for the kind praise and don't feel guilty about not reviewing as I'm a closet story lurker myself! As to the present tense thing…meh it helps me develop the characters emotions and allows me to believe more in the story I'm creating. Will stop now before I make myself sound any more like a pretentious authoress!
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The doctors had asked many questions, yet somehow he had managed to avoid them without them noticing.
It has been an hour since he had felt Subaru's distress…since he had come to the hospital to find his friend unconscious on the floor.
He had a suspicion as to who was at the rout of this and yet until Subaru came back to himself he could not be completely sure.
"Subaru?" He enquires, hoping that this time he will get a response.
For an instant he thinks he will again get nothing and then Subaru's working hand lifts to catch onto his own.
"Kamui…Kamui why does my side hurt so?"
"Do you not remember?"
Subaru flinches and his hand falls back down to touch the fresh bandages at his side.
"I dreamt an odd dream last night…a dream that can only be true and yet…"
"Did Seishiro do this to you, Subaru?"
"He told me that he did not love me…he had never loved me…that I was as unremarkable as a glass to him…"
"Subaru…"
"Do not pity me, Kamui. No matter what he has said, the truth of his identity or the force with which he has driven home his point, I know he does not mean it.
"For his eye tells me a different tale."
"Then why would he do this to you? Why would he say such things?"
"He is Sakurazukamori and thus he is destined to fight against me…destined to be my enemy in this war.
"Somehow the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth must have discovered our connection and used me as a threat."
"If that is true then perhaps you should not pursue him, but rather wait for him to come to you."
"You believe that I am being idealistic."
"Perhaps and yet I do not know him as you do, Subaru."
Subaru is silent a moment and then he remarks,
"Sometimes, over the years, I have wondered if he truly cared for me…what is there about me to love for once such as him, after all…
"But then I would see his blind eye or recall our first kiss…" There is a smile again on Subaru's lips and though it hurts a little to do as such Kamui enquires,
"Will you tell me of it?"
Subaru seems uncertain a moment and then, his smile blooming, he begins to spin his tale.
"We had been dating for a month and Seishiro had taken me out for an evening meal…"
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"It seems you enjoy playing with the Kamui of the Dragons of Heaven." Seishiro remarked as 'Kamui' sets down at his side.
"It amuses me to see him look so broken…also there is a want in your heart to see him set to one side."
"You are all together too blunt on occasion, Kamui-kun."
"Perhaps or perhaps it is rather than you do not care to hear your thoughts voiced."
He reaches for a cigarette and taking a few breaths of the acidic smoke he enquires,
"I wonder if you can truly see the Wishes of others, Kamui-kun, or if you are simply drawing your own conclusions."
"I can not see your Wish, Sakurazuka, if that is what you fear…as to the Wishes of your doll…
"It seems he comes closer to choosing between them and yet still there are things that tie him down to indecision.
"The lie that you hide within your right eye, for example."
'Kamui' is smiling a little now and Seishiro raises his free hand to cover his blind eye,
"It seems I can not hide anything from you, Kamui-kun."
"Your ties to that person have not been completely severed."
"No, but the end draws nearer." He lowers his hand and a blank smile fixed onto his lips he informs the other, "I would make sure you keep your other self close, Kamui-kun."
Tossing the cigarette to the floor he stubs it with his heel before leaping off the building and heading towards home.
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There had been something in the tone of Hinoto's voice that had made him a little uncertain of her advice.
However, his want to help Kamui as much as he could, had won out over the niggling doubt and thus he stood now upon the Rainbow Bridge, waiting, patiently, for his opponent.
An arm comes to settle about his waist and Seishiro's familiar scent enters his nose.
"I have missed you so." He remarks as he turns to look the other in the eye.
He believes, for an instant, that his eyes are playing tricks with him and he steps a little away from the other for a second glance.
Yet even with a little distance between them, the change to Seishiro's face is still very clearly present.
Seishiro's right eye is still, very clearly, present again.
"So you have noticed…I had thought that I would have to point it out and yet it seems you are more observant than I had given you credit for."
"How? I heard the doctors assessments…was at your side as you learned to cope with this disability."
"The doctors were swayed, as you, into my illusion and as to the adjustment period…a little ham acting was all that it took for you to believe, Subaru-kun."
"Why?"
"Why? I acted on instinct when I stepped between you and that woman and thus I only thought of the consequences after the event.
"You knew that I had a little magical skill and yet for me to recover from such an attack without some injury would have been as a testament to the truth of my power.
"Thus I thought to allow you to believe me blind in that eye until the conclusion of The Bet, at which point I would have let the illusion go.
"When I made the choice to extend The Bet a little further I also decided to keep up this lie."
Subaru feels the final pieces of his fragile hope shattering about him and for the briefest of moments he believes that he shall lose himself in despair.
Looking, however, to Seishiro's right eye, he finds that the despair melts away into an irrational anger that intensifies with every moment.
"That look becomes you, Subaru-kun." Seishiro remarks as he reaches to pull free his Ofuda.
Concentrating on the thought of protecting his sister's happiness Subaru pulls a Kekkai about them and then reaches for his own Ofuda.
The fight is hard, Seishiro never relenting and the anger within Subaru grown strong enough that it drives his every action.
Seishiro attempts, once, to hurl him into the snare of illusionary branches, yet he has learned this trick well and dodging the tendrils he moves until he is clear out of their reach.
"Give me back Seishiro, Sakurazukamori!" He demands once he has his breath back.
"I can not, for the one you ask for was no more than an illusion."
"Then I would claim my eye!"
Subaru jumps then, the bandages about his blind eye unfurling to drift about him almost as wings.
There is a hard sound as his hand digs into the muscle of Seishiro's eye and the faintest of cries from the other before he falls weakly, into Subaru's arms.
Drained completely of all emotion Subaru pulls his hand free of Seishiro's head and casts a protection spell about his precious cargo before he calls for an ambulance.
He waits until he can hear the sirens in the distance and lowering his Kekkai he leaps away from the scene.
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T: In an attempt to diffuse the mood I wish to note that the mobile that Subaru used here was bought by Hokuto as a birthday present and was chosen because it was almost a perfect match for Sei-chan's. Right that said I make no apologies for the whole Sei-chan not actually losing his eye thingy, as you know as well as I do that Clamp have probably thought the same thing and its actually his right eye that Subaru receives rather than his left! R+R I need to know I haven't actually scared you away!