2. Heart.
T: Hopefully this chapter speaks for itself so I'm going to keep my silence! Warnings remain the same and I still do not own anything other than what's left of the plot!
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He receives a rather odd phone call from Seishiro an hour after Noruko has left and, pulling on his coat, he heads up the street.
He comes, eventually, into the shadow of an imposing traditional style building that he knows, merely for the sakura he can see blossoming in the back garden, to be Seishiro's 'other' house.
The door opens and the Sakurazuka regards him a moment before he enquires,
"Why do you look so glum?"
"I have been informed of something that I had no want to hear."
"Something that has to do with a certain blond haired Imonoyama?"
"Were you eavesdropping?"
"I am insulted that you would even consider me capable of such a thing."
"How did you know it was to do with Noruko then?"
"Yours is not the first upset face that I have seen today." He pauses long enough that Kamui is about to ask for explanation and then, a teasing smile on his lips, he remarks, "Moving on, however, I wondered if you would care to join me for a little breakfast."
"Would it not have been simpler to arrange to meet at the restaurant?"
"You had a wish to see this house, did you not?"
"Still…"
For a brief instant as Seishiro steps from the house he can see the interior and, despite the luxury of the furnishings, his eyes are drawn to one thing alone.
There is a familiar white coat discarded, haphazardly, upon the floor and its presence within the house points to but one conclusion.
Subaru is Seishiro's successor.
………………………………………………………………………….
Seishiro had insisted that they 'take a stroll' after breakfast and he had agreed only because the other had been so very persistent that he do as such.
"I had hoped that breakfast might cheer you up and yet, if anything, you seem to have become even more maudlin."
"Do you consider me a 'game' Seishiro?"
"Why ask such a question now, Kamui-kun, when you have sacrificed so much in defence of me?"
"You called me to the house in order that I see Subaru's coat, did you not?"
"I thought it best you see the reality of what he is to me, for had I simply of spoken to you of that truth you would have convince yourself that I was tricking you."
"Yet if Subaru takes the Sakurazuka mantle…"
"He shall be forced to kill and for one as kind as he such a thing will be intolerable.
"However…"
"However?"
Seishiro shakes his head and, his fingers stretching to ruffle Kamui's hair, he remarks,
"For the moment it is best that you do not know this particular truth, your heart is already heavy with a great burden, after all and the weight of this truth may just be enough to destroy you."
There is an oddly serious note in Seishiro's voice and it is this, rather than anything else, that stops him from pushing the other further in this regard.
"You told me, on the phone, that you wished to 'tell me something', was this it or…?"
"I wished to inform you that I am stepping away from the war."
"Because of Subaru?"
"That is a part of my reasoning, yes."
"And the other part?"
"I have become attached to you, Kamui-kun and thus I have become a target for your other self."
"Why?"
"Because he has no wish for any but himself to influence the course of your life."
"How do you know such a thing?"
"Because it is easy to see your own faults within the eyes of others."
There is silence a moment and then Seishiro says,
"The boy who came to see you yesterday…"
"What of him?"
"How deep does your attachment to him flow?"
He had managed, what with one matter or another, to distract himself from the thought of his care for Keiichi and to be asked so direct a question makes him feel more than a little uncomfortable.
Indeed he can feel his cheeks flushing, this something that Seishiro seems to find infinitely amusing, for he begins to chuckle contently to himself.
The levity lasts but a moment and then his expression fall again to its normal,
"Your shadowed self will not tolerate the presence of another within your heart and he will not hesitate to destroy that boy."
A panic ceases his heart then and informing Seishiro, "I have to go," he leaps in the direction of the Sunshine 60.
The ground is shaking already by the time he reaches the building and, the panic in his heart blooming into a wild thing, he continues into the building.
He asks each survivor he meets of Keiichi and each time he is met with either silence or a string of burbled nonsense.
A hand catches onto his ankle as he passes by the crumbled remains of Keiichi's apartment and, casting his eyes downwards, he is met with the ravaged body of Keiichi's mother.
She has been impaled beneath a large chunk of masonry and, judging by the puddle of blood beneath her, the injury is fatal.
"Forgive me." He remarks as he bends to touch her face.
A weak smile crosses her lips and she informs him,
"You are not responsible for this."
"What happened?"
"A boy came to see us earlier…he was an odd boy with such old eyes and he was so short with Keiichi...despite this my son left with that boy and a little after that the ground began to tremble.
"I thought that I heard my boy crying out and so, thought I knew how dangerous it was, I stepped into the hallway…"
"Where did the cry come from?"
"The roof."
"Thank you, Segawa-san."
"Tell my son that he has made me proud, Shirou-kun."
"You have chance to tell him yourself, Segawa-san, I promise."
Fuuma waits for him on the roof, his foot pressed hard against Keiichi's ribcage.
"It seems I was right to chase this boy."
"Keiichi has done nothing to hurt anyone…is free from this war…"
"It is true that this boy possesses no connection to 'the end of the world', yet that which he does posses is of a greater worth to me."
"I will not let you hurt him." He remarks as he gathers the tendrils of his power to him.
"Yet you can not strike me without striking this boy also."
He knows that this is true, knows that Fuuma has him all but defeated and he is about to admit such a thing when a familiar voice remarks,
"Soon enough such a thing will not be an issue."
The barrier of a Kekkai rises then before him and he watches, entranced, as Keiichi's form fades away and Subaru comes to stand before him.
There is a confidence in the Onmyoji's features that he has never seen before and he comprehends well that this is due to the 'resolution' of the matter between Subaru and Seishiro.
Fuuma regards this confidence with a confident smile upon his lips and, after a moment, he remarks, "It seems that I must rid myself of a small nuisance before I can destroy that boy, "as he throws an attack towards Subaru.
Kamui tenses to aid Subaru in the fight and finds, much to his displeasure, that Fuuma had bound his limbs to his side.
Thus he is forced to watch as the pair fight…
Is forced to watch as the matter reaches its terrible conclusion.
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T: Yep I'm nothing more than a big meeny…actually I'm really sorry about the cliffy, kind of forgot it was there! Eh heh! Next chapter Sunday at the latest until then perhaps you'd like to see what happens when you press that blue button down there…