3. Submission.
T: This chapter is a doozy…consider this as much of a warning/commentary as you're going to get. As to the disclaimer...nope its not mine…am in a difficult mood today, as you can tell!
Mysty: Glad you're still with me and that it's still got you on the edge of your seat! Keep on reading and reviewing, am in desperate need of inspiration at the moment!
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He had woken once or twice during the night to the sound of Kamui muttering in his sleep, or to the other thrashing about in the bed.
Thus it is not a surprise when the other, after a semi coherent refusal of Keiichi's offer for breakfast, falls back to sleep.
It feels nice to have another again living with him and, though he has want for Kamui to resolve his 'complicated' situation, he is hopeful that the boy shall be with him for a little while to come.
He has just finished breakfast when the phone rings,
"Moshi, moshi."
"Am I speaking to Segawa Keiichi?"
"Yes, how can I help?"
"My name is Sakurazuka Seishiro…"
"Ah yes, your name came up once or twice last night. Are you recovering from your injuries?"
"My stitches will be coming out tomorrow."
"That is good news."
"Subaru told me that Kamui-kun stayed with you last night."
"That is correct."
"How does he seem?"
"Stressed, though a little less now than he was when I first found him."
"I see."
"I'm letting Shirou-kun sleep a little longer, Sakurazuka-san and so, as I'm at a loose end for the moment, perhaps you would care to meet up for coffee."
"Is Maple still in once place?"
"The little bistro a little from the Shinjuku apartments?"
"Yes. I'll meet you there in a half hour."
He leaves an explanatory note for Kamui and then makes his way to Maple.
There is a well dressed gentleman waiting outside the bistro, the manner in which he was carrying himself, as well as the missing right eye, as quick tells that this is the man he had come to meet.
"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Sakurazuka-san."
"It was my pleasure, Segawa-kun and you are free to call me Seishiro."
"Then I extended you the same courtesy."
They chat amiably while waiting for their drinks to arrive, the others warm and sharp witted manner one that Keiichi finds interesting and that makes Kamui's swift intoxication with the other easier to comprehend.
"You will have to excuse the potential repetition, Keiichi-kun, but I am curious as to how long you have known Kamui-kun?"
"To 'ease your mind', Seishiro-san, this is the first that we have met. To the question, however, I've known him since he transferred into Clamp academy, which was three, maybe four, months ago."
"Do you know where he was before that?"
"I believe he lived, with his mother, somewhere outside of Tokyo but I am not completely certain."
"Is that because you have not asked or because he has not told you?"
"He is a little…fragile…about certain matters and I've not wished to push him for making it worse."
"I see."
The silence that follows is an easy one and he takes the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the place and the full flavours embedded in his coffee.
Eventually he says,
"I have decided to simply to be there for him, to give him support and faith. I am hopeful that he shall eventually trust me enough to let me in on the matter…to expose things of his own volition….and yet even should that not prove the case I shall not remove my support."
"I am certain he shall tell you eventually, Keiichi-kun."
"Thank you for the support, Seishiro-san, yet I believe we have discussed myself quite enough for a moment."
"I can not tell you much of my time with Kamui, Keiichi-kun, for I still recall only the barest of details of my past."
"Of course. It must be very difficult to be so restricted."
"It is more 'confusing' than 'difficult' at the moment, for my mind is full of partial recollections that I can make no sense of." The other pauses to take a sip of his coffee and then he enquires, "Do you know Sumeragi Subaru?"
"I have met him once or twice, but they were only brief interactions and so I would not say that I 'know' him."
"Can you tell me what he is to Kamui, or is that asking too much?" There is clear envy in the other's voice and he hesitates a moment before replying,
"Shirou-kun thinks a great deal of him, values his opinion above all others…they are close, almost as brothers and I know that Shirou-kun is happy with this…"
"But?"
"I believe he desired to be more, though why he never pushed for such a thing I could not tell you."
"I see."
"Might you also wish for more from Sumeragi-san?"
"Yes, though I do not understand why, I do not, after all, recall him but for the faintest sense of familiarity and yet I love him none the less.
"Am filled with a want to makes things 'right' between us whenever I see his face."
"For such a strength of feeling to exist then you must have loved him very much before you lost your memories.
"It is most likely for the sake of the strength of that care that you wish to make him happy always…wish to make his life 'right'."
"It is a possibility and certainly more favourable than the others I had been considering." The other's smile returns then and they fall again into more comfortable conversation.
………………………………………………………………………………….
He wakes to the feeling that he has somewhere to be, a compulsion that he knows has the Tree at its heart.
He is hopeful that he, with Keiichi's aid, he might distract himself from this compulsion, a hope that is swiftly dashed when he discovers the note waiting for him in the other's living room,
'Shirou-kun,
I have gone to meet Sakurazuka-san for coffee and a short chat.
I should only be an hour and, until I return, make yourself at home.
Keiichi.'
For a few moments after reading the note he is filled with a feeling of happiness and with apprehension also.
He was assured that Keiichi would get on well with Seishiro, that the two would find much to talk of, indeed it was this 'chemistry' that he feared, for, feeling at ease, Keiichi might well talk to the Sakurazuka of things Kamui had deliberately kept from him…
Might talk of the tragedy of Kotori's death, of the effect that event had had upon Kamui and, in doing as such, he might stir, at last, Seishiro's memories of the war.
He puts on his coat with the intent of finding the pair and of assuring that the conversation remain upon safer topics.
The moment that he steps out into the air, however, he is filled again with the need to be elsewhere.
This time he finds himself unable to fight the compulsion and, before he is aware, he is stood outside a high class men's club.
The bouncer regards him with a distrustful eye and, his face set into a hard line, he enquires,
"Might I see some identification, sir?"
: He is with me. : The Tree's voice sounds still in his head and, after a quick glance over each shoulder, he knows that he is still very much alone.
The bouncer reacts, however, as if there is another with him, the older man's stocky form folding, awkwardly, into a bow.
"Of course, you shall forgive my manner."
: You were not to know. :
The men inside the club glance at him once then return to their previous activated, their lack of interest something that surprises him until the Tree's voice remarks,
: You are of no immediate threat or enticement to them thus, though you are underage, they have disregarded you as a thing of unimportance. :
"How did you do that to the bouncer and why have you brought me here?" He enquires, his voice dipped low despite the supposed 'disinterest' of his 'audience'.
: Illusions are what I do best, Kamui and it is but the work of moments for me to weave a spell that causes people to see what is not truly there.
: As to why you are here…you have to learn the 'tricks of the trade' at some point or another. :
"I do not see how I can learn such things in a place like this."
: That is because you are allowing yourself to be pulled in by how things appear on the surface. If you look again you shall see that all these men are well dressed and that they hold themselves in the forced manner that suggests long lessons learning 'correct posture'.
: Both things suggest a controlled lifestyle, driven by the need to present oneself in as attractive light as possible and, when one considers the expensive fabric of the outfits they are wearing; it becomes clear that these are men of power. :
"I take it that they are more than simple politicians?"
"That is correct, these men are as the very heart of this city, a power that has proved as too great an allure to a few of those that you see before you… :
"Then I am here to 'pick a victim', am I?"
: I am glad to see that you have, at last, caught up with the situation and yet I fear I must take a little of the wind from your sails.
: You have no say in who or who is not to be taken as 'victim', rather it is those of the uncorrupted individuals, both in this place and elsewhere, who make that choice. : The explanation is cool and detached, something that infuriates Kamui greatly and that prompts him to respond,
"If that is the case then I have no more reason to be here, do I?"
: Wait. : His body responds to the command against his volition and it is then that he knows that, for the moment at least, the Tree has control of the situation. : I have brought you here, as I have said previously, to learn and also in order to begin the hunt. : A chill falls over his body at those words and, quite against his will, he finds himself rising from his seat.
His feet take him firstly to a large wooden table which is sat to one corner of the room and that is laden with a variety of alcoholic beverages.
Once his hands have poured a small shot of sake and his throat has swallowed back the liquid, his feet then take him towards a vacant chair.
The gentleman sat in the chair opposite that which he now occupies, regards him a long moment before enquiring,
"Who are you then?"
"Sakurazuka Kamui." The reply rolls off of his tongue before he is aware of it, before he has even had time to truly process the other's enquiry and, as the gentleman opposite smiles, he can feel his lips twisting upwards in reply.
He little likes this sensation of being a prisoner within his own body and yet, no matter how much he tries, he can not see, to break free this 'nightmare'.
The man is talking to him of idle things, his body language and the heat in his eyes as clear sign he has want for more from this encounter; that, somehow, he has been snared by Kamui and has no want to let go.
His body responds in kind to this advance and, but a half hour after he had crossed over its threshold he is exiting the club again, the 'stranger' pressed close to his side.
His body presses the other into an ally and, after taking a moment to break the grip the other had had about his waist, his body smiles a cold smile and then plunges his hand through the other's heart.
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T: This should, hopefully, be the last cliff hanger. Also, depending on where the story takes me, the next chapter might be the last! As you may have guessed by the vague nature of that last statement I've not yet finished writing the next chapter (indeed I've only just started on it!) thus I'm setting the next update for Sunday. I'm hoping I'll have it done earlier but I make no promises! R+R