Author's Notes – Phew. I think we're going to have a short break to the present before venturing into the past again. . Happy Birthday, hun! (Just a side-note. 'Diminuendo' is a musical term, just like the titles of the X books (Overture, Crescendo, Duet, Requiem ect…) and it rhymes with innuendo so… Yeah… . )

Disclaimer – I don't own Kamui, Subaru, Seishirou, Fuuma or Keiichi. Nor do I own the kinky pink apron Keiichi will wear for the duration of his fic. I do, however, claim proud ownership over Seishirou's Sexy Sunglasses.

One Last Thing Before We Die?

Diminuendo – Innuendo

Back to the present, the remaining three occupants of Subaru's bedroom – so pure until recently – paused for a moment. Kamui was staring at Fuuma, but Keiichi looked strangely enraptured by the tale thus far.

"I remember that much…" Kamui muttered, raising his knees to rest his forearms on them. Fuuma smirked. Kamui flushed and dropped his legs, crossing them.

Fuuma opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Keiichi interrupted him. "…Uh… M-monou-san… when you say you bit Kamui, what exactly…"

Keiichi stopped. Kamui was staring at him with a slightly scared expression.

Fuuma smirked and moved into a crouch, starting to crawl forward, "I could show you, if you like…"

The Dragon Of Heaven meeped and hid behind his blonde friend. "Keep him away from me!"

"Keep who away from what?" Subaru and Seishirou had re-appeared, both dressed. The long black/white trenchcoats were missing, showing they had no intention of leaving just yet. "Is /Kamui/ molesting his little friend again?"

Strangely composed, Subaru seated himself on the floor and looked up at Seishirou timidly. The Sakurazukamori smiled and moved down to sit next to him. Thankfully, he kept his hands to himself.

Unfortunately, this composed entrance was completely ruined when Fuuma oh-so-tactfully pointed out that Subaru had a smear of red jam on his neck. Subaru flushed and wiped it off fussily.

Kamui blinked, "…Subaru… jam?"

Fuuma shrugged, "Hey, their fetishes are none of your business."

"F-fetishes?" Kamui had gone white.

Snickering, the assassin leant over and grabbed Subaru's wrist, raising the jammy finger and licking it clean, "Yes. Fetishes."

Groaning, Kamui buried his face in the back of Keiichi's neck, "…They have strawberry jam fetishes?"

"Not strawberry jam, per se, but..." The onmyouji flushed, then continued to shudder pleasantly as Sei leant up to lick the spot where the jam smear had been and proclaim it sweet.

The other Kamui raised one eyebrow, back to his sitting position now, and rolled his eyes, "…Others like sakura petals, red ribbons, trying to kill each other is a turn on, I think… I seem to recall something about voyeurism…"

Kamui blinked and peered over Keiichi's shoulder "Voyeurism?"

"Yeah. They've watched us a couple times…"

"I may never have sex again…" Kamui whimpered and hid even further into Keiichi's neck.

"Wait a second…" Subaru blinked and looked up from where Seishirou had started removing him from his shirt, "How do you know that?"

Silence.

Seishirou looked strange. His face was contorted into a sort-of grimace. The sign of someone trying not to burst out laughing and close to failing. But when the laughter finally spewed out, it wasn't from Seishirou.

It was Keiichi.

Everyone stared at him. The poor blonde tried to get his laughter under control and finally succeeded, clutching his stomach and still enjoying little giggles. "You guys… are…." Giggle, "…Amazing… you know…?"

Fuuma raised an eyebrow and raised one hand. It started to glow dangerously. Kamui, giving a soft squeak of panic, threw himself essentially into Fuuma's arms to stop him killing Kamui's revision aid.

Of course, this suited the destroyer of the world perfectly, as he smirked and grabbed Kamui under the chin. Lifting him up, he kissed him quickly and snickered as Kamui went red.

Although Keiichi and Subaru had averted their eyes modestly, Seishirou was watching opening – even with a hint of boredom.

.:You're as much of a pervert as I am:.

'They were just kissing.'

.:I didn't mean that. I meant the way you were looking at Kamui's ass when he dived:.

'Oh, that. Well… he has a nice ass.'

.:Yeah, I know…:.

'You do?'

.:Sure:.

'Should I be scared?'

.:You aren't to my tastes:.

'What about Subaru?'

.:…:.

'…Are you a boy tree or a girl tree?'

.:You sound like a third grader:.

'Answer the question'

.:…:.

"Subaru, did I ever tell you that-…"

.:Okay, okay! I'm a boy tree:.

"Tell me what?"

"Nothing."

'Well, that's good. …Wait… seme or uke?'

.:I'm… a tree..:.

"Well, actually… I was gonna say, the Sakura-…"

.:UKE! I'm uke, okay:.

'Wow. I always picked you for the penetrating type…'

"What about the Tree?"

"Nothing, nothing…"

.:…Yeah, you wish…:.

'What was that?'

.:Nothing, nothing…:.

"Seishirou, what are you talking about?"

"Huh?" The assassin came back to reality to realise the entire room was staring at him. Kamui was perched on Fuuma's lap, looking none-too-happy about it but putting up with it anyway. Keiichi was just peering at him curiously in the apron, and Subaru was giving him an exceeding weird look.

"Oh… nothing, nothing…" Seishirou gave a soft smile and reached into his pocket for his glasses. Maybe if they couldn't see his eyes, he could continue to interrogate the Tree without them thinking he was insane.

"…So… um… anyway… Fuuma..?" Kamui probed, timidly, "…Um, the reason why we're here…?"

"Oh yes, that… well, after we managed to persuade you to both come…"

---FLASHBACK!---

Kamui looked up at the building. He blinked. He almost laughed. "…So, Subaru really is coming… either that, or he declined and they are going to decide for him…" He felt a tinge of disappointment for his fellow abused uke, but brushed it away.

Reaching out, his hand was about to press the button, when he paused. He could feel something… something close… where…? What…?

"KAMUI!"

The uke winced. And turned around. When he saw Keiichi, his smile was more of a grimace.

"…Keiichi… what are you doing here?"

"You never waited for me after school, so I thought I'd find out why. Are you going somewhere?" The blonde peered over Kamui's shoulder at the house curiously.

"Um… yeah, you could say that…" Someone… please… save me…

"Oh? A friend's house?" Keiichi sounded almost… jealous. He had started to look a little more pouty.

"Uhm, something like that. A party, actually…" He gabbed, nervously, looking around for something – anything – to get Keiichi away from him. Thankfully, it found him.

"Ah. Kamui-kun. Good afternoon." Seishirou rested his hand on Keiichi's shoulder, making the boy jump, but making Kamui smirk. See how he likes being groped by that pervert…

Keiichi looked up at Seishirou. His eyes met sunglasses. He flushed, "A-ah… would you be… Seishirou-sama?"

Seishirou blinked, "…Where did you learn that?"

"S-Subaru-sama told me…"

"And how do you know Subaru?" Kamui burst out. Seishirou looked at him. Kamui slunk back, sinking into silence.

"…I noticed… Kamui-chan coming to this house… a lot… and I… well…" The poor prep gave a helpless shrug, "…I wanted to know why."

"I see…" Seishirou's face was deadly calm. Slowly, he raised his hand and removed his sunglasses; the other hand hooked around Keiichi's shoulders and making the boy flush. Kamui flushed too, not surprisingly.

Smiling dangerously at Keiichi, he steered the boy towards the house, "Subaru-kun is holding a party today, Keiichi-kun. We're a little short on guests, so why don't you come along too?"

"S-seishirou?" Kamui blinked, looking at him with a 'Huuuuuuuuuuh!' expression. Seishirou just smiled blandly.

Back at the door, Kamui raised one hand for the doorbell. Pushed it. The bell rang out, but Seishirou tutted softly, "So you'd get Subaru-kun out of the shower? I have a better idea." Reaching into his pocket – releasing Keiichi – Seishirou pulled out a small silver key. Ignoring Kamui's scandalised look, he unlocked the door and politely bowed them in.

A little voice in the back of Kamui's mind murmured .:You don't want to know where he got that key:.

Kamui agreed with it.

--FLASHBACK!—

"Oh, so that's what he's doing here…" Subaru murmured, back in the room, looking at Keiichi in the apron. The blonde smiled at him graciously.

"Yes. That's how I managed to get mixed up in this mess. Although, I'm still not sure what happened, but…"

On the other side of the room, Kamui groaned and slunk into Fuuma's arms. Hiding.

Seishirou snickered, "I don't think Kamui-kun wants to think about it."

Ignoring Subaru's stare – 'Kamui-kun'! – Seishirou just reached into his pocket. Cigarettes were badly overdue. Subaru pouted a little.

"Those things will kill you one day…" He muttered, pettily, looking the other way. The Sakurazukamori just smiled mildly and offered him the packet.

"Subaru-kun, considering the many ways I could die in the next week or so, I don't think lung cancer is a problem."

"…" Staring at the cigarettes blankly, Subaru finally caved in and took one. His seemed to have disappeared at some point in the night. Stealing the lighter – with Sei's fingers still wrapped around it – he lit it and sunk back against the wall sulkily.

On the other side of the room, Kamui was staring at both of them with apparent distaste. "…You know, Seishirou-san… cigarettes cause impotency."

Seishirou smiled blandly and inhaled. Kamui rolled his eyes, silently cursing the failed insult.

Of course, he didn't see Subaru choke and start to stub his out inconspicuously.

"Anyway…" That was Fuuma, who had been watching the entire scene with some interest, "…Do you want to hear the rest of the story?"

Mutely, everyone nodded. Even Seishirou.

"Okay, then. Well, after that…"