2.Gap.
T: Nothing to specifically say about this chapter so I'll get down to the nitty gritty! Warnings remain the same and I still own nothing here other than the plot!
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He'd regretted the semi promise almost the moment the words had left his lips.
He knew nothing, after all, of the Sakurazuka outside of the little Subaru had told him and even that information had been vague at best.
The pledge had been shocked from him by the Sakurazuka's unexpected show of emotion and, though the words had been foolish, he'd meant them with his whole heart.
Thus he would not retract the promise.
There was a way to learn more of the Sakurazuka and, his want to see Subaru stirred by this thought, he excuses himself from the other's side and makes his way to the younger Onmyoji's room.
Subaru had propped himself up again the wall behind him, this position one that he preferred simply for the sake of the 'view' it gave him.
"Good afternoon, Kamui."
"Good afternoon." His heart has swollen simply for being in the presence of the other and, for a single moment, he forgets anything other than that he is in the presence of the man he ahs come to treasure above all others.
"Is everything well, Kamui? There is a distance in your eyes today that concerns me." Taking a deep breath he smiles as truly as he is able and replies,
"There is something I had a want to talk to you of, but I am afraid."
"I will not judge you, Kamui."
"It is not fear of your disapproval that stills my tongue, but rather a fear of causing you hurt."
"Do you wish to ask me of Seishiro-san?"
"Feel free to ask me to stop prying, it is just…I care about you, Subaru, and I wish to learn more of your life, of who you were before he tainted you."
"I believe you shall find that that past is less romantic than you believe it, Kamui, however I understand that you wish to help me and thus I shall answer your question."
"You mentioned once that the Sakurazukamori spent a year in your company, would you tell me of that time?"
Subaru's smile waves, momentarily, and then he says,
"I was sixteen when I met him…it was an embarrassing encounter, one Neesan always laughed over and Seishiro constantly teased me about.
"I'd been following my Shikigami through Shinjuku station and, concentrated on the bird, I failed to see the crack in the pavement.
"Inevitably I tumbled and Seishiro-san 'came to my rescue'. After that he became integrated, piece by piece, into my life and each day I learned something of interest about him.
"As a very young child I had found that animals had better understood and better aided me with the hurt my powers caused me.
"Out of that bond grew a want to help the animals in return and so it was of the oddest of thrills to learn that Seishiro-san was a vet.
"I'd spent my every spare moment at his surgery, learning all that I could of the various manners to treat animals and forming a lives goal." His smile tenses then, the thing becoming bitter, before he remarks, "Both my want to help animals and the goal I had set myself have long since faded away, their naivety tainted, as with everything else, by the conclusion of the 'Year'."
"I knew that I should not have asked."
"No, I truly am glad for your curiosity, Kamui…"
"But?"
"This is not a place where memories of the 'Year' sit comfortably with me."
He wishes to ask what Subaru means by those words, means to ask why the other's hand has lifted, fractionally, to brush at the bandage about his eye.
The words are, however, stifled by the arrival of Subaru's doctor and, after listening a while to the woman's gentle assessment, he says,
"I'll let you get some rest, Subaru."
"Try and get some yourself, Kamui."
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He returns to campus in order to assure the other Seals of his vitality and also so that he might apologise again for skipping school.
Soratta is, as expected, the most vocal in his disapproval and it takes a good half hour before Kamui can inform him,
"As it is Sunday tomorrow I am going to go back to the hospital for a little while longer."
"Didn't you day that Sumeragi-san was getting a little rest?"
"I'm just going to go and sit quietly in his room, to think things through a little." He had practiced the lie on the way back to the mansion, perfecting his inflection until it sounded as the complete truth, thus it little surprises him when Soratta replies,
"I suppose that it is useless to argue, isn't it? Will you come and let me know when you're back home this evening?"
"Certainly."
The Sakurazuka is looking a littler paler than when last Kamui had seen him and, concerned despite himself, he enquires,
"Is everything all right?"
"I had a rather vivid nightmare while you were absent, Shirou-kun, but other than that everything is as it was when you left." The other smiles then and, a playfulness coming to his voice, he enquires, "Did you enjoy visiting your friend?"
He can not quite staunch the blush that flames onto his cheeks, the embarrassment little aided by the Sakurazuka's heartfelt laughter,
"It was clear, both by your words and your mannerisms, that you had not come here to see me…"
"So you thought to tease me?"
"I was not aware that the question would insight such a reaction from you, Shirou-kun and thus, though it was amusing to witness your embarrassment, I will apologise for laughing."
"Then I accept your apology." He remarks before informing the other, "I did come here to visit someone else, he has recently lost his eye and his doctor has been rather concerned for his welfare, thus you shall have to forgive me if I seemed a little distracted earlier."
"It is clear to me that you care very much for this other, Shirou-kun and thus your 'lack of focus' is forgivable." He pauses, momentarily, then he enquires, "Would the loss of my own eye be a fresh event also?"
"No."
"I thought that that would prove to be the case, the doctor did not, after all, mention the injury to me specifically and I have found little issue with depth perception."
"Yet you do not recall how you lost it?"
"I have the faintest memory of being in this hospital at the time, though the reason for my presence here, as with what actually caused the injury, are still lost to me."
"I see."
Something about the matter is niggling at him and yet, not matter how hard he concentrates it remains elusive.
It is clear that the link between this hospital and the loss of the Sakurazuka's eye is the explanation for Subaru's enigmatic 'parting' words…
Though the identity of that link, as well as why such a thing would so upset Subaru, escape him.
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T: Logically, as Kamui was stressed about other matters at the time, the Shirou is not going to recall everything Subaru told him about the matter of the eye…The penny will, at some point, drop and then he'll most likely angst! I believe that's the one huge niggle for this chapter, however, if you see something else let me know and I'll do my best to explain it! R+R
