4. Break.

T: As promised here is the next chapter…semi cliff hanger for this one, though this is the only change warning wise! Everything within: these : is spoken by the Tree.I still own only the plot, a fact that continues to depress me! Oh and for an edge of black humour hum 'getting to know you' while reading this chapter.

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He quickly falls into the pattern of visiting the Sakurazuka on a Sunday, the excuse of 'helping Imonoyama-san out' enough to sate Soratta's worries.

Usually he'd spend the time helping the other in renovating the surgery and also in understanding some of his more oblique recollections.

The childlike naivety of the other often grated hard against his almost boundless knowledge and sharp perceptive ability, something that Kamui had initially found wearing and that had, over the weeks, become one of the other's most appealing aspects.

He would, occasionally, catch a glimpse of the man he had believed t e other to be, this shadow as a constant reminder of the risk contained in the task he had chosen to undertake.

More often than not, however, he had little reason to regret the promise that had tied him to the Sakurazuka and to the task of restoring his memories.

Today they are hard at the task of decorating the surgery's living quarters and already small traces of paint have found their way into his hair and onto his clothing.

Seishiro had paused to double check his progress but, judging by the distance in his eyes, he has been caught into some recollection or another.

"Seishiro-san, is everything alright?"

"I have just recalled the warmth of my father's touch, the deep rumble of his laughter and the note in his voice that meant that he was truly vexed."

"Why do you look so concerned? I would have thought that that would be a happy thing to remember."

"As it should be and yet..." He falls silent a moment and then enquires, "Did my mother pass away just a little after I was born?"

"I believe so, yes." He is a little surprised by how easily the lie is to tell and, for the briefest of instants; he can not help but wonder why he has bothered with such a fabrication.

The logic of the thing hits him swiftly enough; bereft of his memories Seishiro has become Kamui's one contact to a world beyond the hurt and the pressures of the war…

…has become the one piece of calm in an otherwise chaotic existence.

"While we are discussing such things there is something I've wished to talk to you about for a while."

"Yes?"

"In the last few weeks I have experienced the same nightmare, its vivid nature, as well as the certain things contained within it, leading me to believe that it is actually a memory.

"There is such violence to the images, however, and I can not quite believe that they are a recollection of my own actions…"

"Nor are they." This lies, as with the other, is a simple thing and born of the same desperate desire to keep things as they are now…

…to staunch the progression of the Sakurazuka's more dangerous memories.

"You kept poor company for a little while and you are most likely recalling something that that person did."

"Then I have never hurt anyone…have never actively sought to injure you specifically?"

"No."

"Then your previously cold manner…"

"You had been pushing me away before the accident, using your words as a block between us.

"I knew that that was because I had pried too deeply into things you'd wished to keep private and yet…"

"I should not have been so swift to turn from your aid, Kamui."

"Let us leave the matter in the past where it belongs, shall we?"

"In other words we should treat my amnesia as a 'second chance'?"

"That is it precisely."

………………………………………………………………………

He has just heard the click of the surgery door closing when a warm hand catches onto his wrist and a familiar voice remarks,

"It seems we need to talk."

He is pulled, bodily, into a secluded ally and then pressed hard into the wall behind him.

"I would advise you to let your little project go before you get hurt."

"Why the hell should you care?" He enquires as he breaks free of his captors 'embrace'.

"Have I not said before that I shall be the one to kill you?"

"Seishiro-san would not hurt me."

"Not as he is now, no and yet should he recall his true nature…There is also another 'player' who you have neglected to consider and who would not hesitate to harm you should you continue on your course."

There is a brief moment where he can not quite comprehend who his 'other self' is talking of and then he comes to a terrible realisation,

"You mean the Tree, do you not?"

"You are taking Its 'master' away, 'killing' him in a sense and It will eventually wish for some form of compensation."

"You fear that It shall force me to take his place, that I shall, at last, hold a power that you do not."

"I fear nothing while you see me still as 'Fuuma', for no matter what power you hold you would be unable to harm one you think of as family." He is filled with an irrepressible sense of helplessness at those words and, wishing to distract himself, he enquires,

"Why did you strike the Yanamoto Kekkai while Seishiro-san was still within its confines? What purpose does his amnesia serve?"

"The Sakurazukamori has always held a faint wish to forget his past, to build his life again without the scars that his childhood left him with.

"It was a foolish want and one I have, until late, chosen to ignore."

"What changed your mind?"

"You do not need to know the answer to that question."

"Yet I wish to hear it…wish, desperately, to be of true help to Seishiro-san."

"The strength of Sakurazuka-san's want, the strength also of the dying wish of Sumeragi-san's sister and the spell tied to that wish, far outweigh the strength of your own desire.

"Thus, in this matter at least, you shall have to remain ignorant." The other smiles then, the thing full of a familiar dark amusement, and says, "I have somewhere else I must be, Kamui and so, until next time…" He catches a hold of his shoulder and, that smile still on his face; he throws him against the wall.

…………………………………………………………………………….

This dream is not quite a dream, the sharp clarity of the images about him, as well as the sudden swell of emotions in his heart, as testament to this fact.

He is stood, ankle deep, in a layer of snow.

There is a sickly sweet smell in the air that is as both a source of comfort and a source of fear.

A voice is talking to him of duty, of fate and of power, something that is a little unsettling when he realises that he is alone.

The 'dream' cuts out then and yet the voice continues still, its power and its manner more than they had been previously.

: You will remember me…shall remember who you are…you can not escape destiny, after all. :

He starts into waking, sweat pouring down his skin and his heart sped still into panicked staccato.

He had know, simply for the emotion in the boy's eyes, that Kamui had not been completely truthful about the matter of his past.

It was something that intrigued him and that he had thought to quiz the boy over once he was assured that he would gain a truthful answer.

Now…

Now he wished to remain ignorant of the shadows of his past and of the dark destiny that the voice had talked of.

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T: Tree-san likes to make things complex, this shall become very apparent in the next chapter. There was no real point to Fuuma springing Kamui…I was simply in a uke chucking mood! Also Noruko has most likely told Soratta that he has Kamui working in a poor house, or doing some other worthy cause, thus the lack of nagging! I think that's all the niggles (again tell me if you see one!) next chapter late tomorrow, until then R+R