5. End.
T: Well this is it folks! This chapter is extra large both as a thank you for all your kind words and as an apology for the shortness both of the last chapter and this sequel. The angst is at an all time high and the slash reappears after a semi absence. I still own only the plot though I suspect you may judge me of a parallel with Clamp's cruelty after this chapter!
Mysty: I'm certain the story could have continued on also, however, this was as far as I was comfortable taking the thing without risking making everyone OOC and without stranding myself, later down the line, with no where left to take the plot! Thus I'm ending it on a high and hopefully you'll be able to forgive me that. I'm glad you understand my thinking in the last chapter and that someone, at least, shares my occasionally odd logic.
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He has only to cross past the campus gateway for two men to take a gentle holed of his arms and escort him into the company of the area's head of security.
It takes him an hour of intensive questioning to convince the Takumura that he is of no direct harm to anyone or anything upon Campus, at which point he is passed into the company of a stranger.
He can not meet the blind eye of this other without a sense of guilt and, after a prolonged and uncomfortable silence, he enquires,
"Was I responsible for the loss of that eye?"
"You wish me to believe that you do not know the answer to that question?"
"Whether you believe it or no is your choice and shall not affect the fact that my ignorance is a true thing…that I recall nothing of my life beyond the moment the Kotori fell into the swimming pool…"
The other has paled considerably while he was speaking those words and, curious, he enquires,
"What is the matter?"
"It is of no consequence…can you truly recall nothing past that day?"
"Occasionally I feel as though I have been in a place before or see something familiar and yet the memories at the heart of those feelings remain always just beyond my grasp."
"Can you see my Wish?"
"No."
"Then he has submitted." This last is uttered as a self musing rather than something that this other wishes openly discussed and yet despite this Fuuma enquires,
"Who has submitted?"
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He is half way through explaining matter to Fuuma when his phone rings.
He recognises his grandmother's voice instantly and, after excusing himself from Fuuma's side, he enquires,
"How can I help you, Obaachan?"
"The power of the Sakurazukamori has changed hands and yet something is not right…"
"You are not making any sense."
"There is unrest in the balance of this country and also in your future…in the future of all men…"
"Is not such a thing natural when we grow ever closer to a conclusion to this war?"
"Subaru, I understand that I am not directly involved in this conflict or in the matters that lie between the Sakurazukamori and yourself, however…
"However, I believe that I could help you, could relieve a little of the burden on your shoulders if only you were to talk to me."
"Truly there is no burden to discuss, for the matter between the Sakurazukamori and I was laid to rest along with the former possessor of that title. As to the matter of the war and my part within it…
"I do not think it a 'burden' or 'trial' to be protecting the city that Neesan loved so." The surface truth serves to comfort the unease that had prompted his grandmother to make this call and, after exchanging a few empty pleasantries, she bids her farewell.
A shiver runs down his spine as he is placing the phone back into his coat pocket.
One he had come to treasure as a brother, whose kindness and patience had been as the greatest of salves, was now as all that he stood against…
…had taken away a life and used its essence for his own gain…
…had become as an enemy to his clan and thus to himself also.
It is a situation he has no real want to dwell upon and he turns his thoughts instead to making things 'right' again.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Keiichi has listened to his explanation without as much as a twitch to show how he is taking the 'revelations'.
Now, in the void of silence that has followed his final words, the other remains impassive still.
"Will you not say anything?" He enquires when his impatience and vulnerability get the better of him.
"What can I say to make this easier for you, Shriou-kun? I can not begin to imagine what life must have been like for you these last few months or the anguish you must feel at the moment."
"Are you not angry with me?"
"Why would I be angry?"
"Your mother and your father would be alive still if not for me."
"You tried to protect the barriers keeping Nago Sun and the Sunshine 60 standing, did you not?"
"Not truly, no, for when Nago Sun fell I was still deciding my course and I was more concerned for Subaru's welfare than that of the Kekkai about the Sunshine 60."
"You were not part of the war when Nago Sun fell, thus you can not be blamed for its collapse and you went to the Sunshine 60 before Sumeragi-san, thus you went, initially, to protect it."
"Why are you defending me with such conviction, Segawa-kun?"
"Because, Kamui, I know that you are an inherently good person, that all you truly wish from this world is a chance to live quietly with your friends at your side.
"I also, finally, understand the more vulnerable edge of your character, understand that life has give you the hardest of burdens to bear.
"In understanding those things, in being allowed to see the whole of you, I understand, at last, what part I wish to play in this matter.
"Understand that I wish, desperately, to help you realise your own desire...wish you to relieve you of your burdens and give you a better life."
"Such a thing is no longer possible or something that I deserve. I am now, after all, a murderer." He feels ill again simply for the casual mention of the act, something Keiichi sees clearly for, smiling, he says,
"That was not your act, Kamui, but rather an act performed through you by the Tree.
"If you could but sever the ties between you, lease the control that thing had upon you, you would be relieved of the guilt of that act."
"Yet if I break free of the Tree's control then the power and the memories will revert back to Seishiro-san."
"There is a chance that, even once they are restored to Seishiro-san, he would not recall them."
"There is no point in holding to that hope, for there is more tied into his memories of his time as Sakurazukamori than simply sadness and bloodshed."
"He is a different man now to the one he had become in the Tree's influence and perhaps, even with the recollection of his past, he could not claim again his old role."
"That also is a vain hope, for in recalling his past actions he shall recall also the hurt he has caused Subaru, shall recall his wish to die at Subaru's hand and, once he has recalled such a thing, he shall claim again his place as Sakurazukamori.
"He has, after all, to attempt to kill Subaru in the manner that he killed Hokuto in order to activate her final spell."
"There has to be some way for you to break free without forcing Seishiro back into the void left by your absence."
"No, there is not."
"I can not believe that." The last is Subaru and, glancing over his shoulder at the other, Kamui replies,
"It is the truth, Subaru."
"You are my closest friend, Kamui, my 'brother' in all ways but one and thus, though you tell me categorically that this is so, though I feel the shadow of the influence of the Sakura upon you, I am unable still to believe that there is no escape from this situation."
"Would you rather that I allow the Tree to threaten your happiness again? Would you rather than I step aside and allow things to play to their conclusion?
"I have seen what would happen if I did such a thing, Subaru, have seen how the bitterness and the anger that existed between Seishiro-san and yourself would destroy you both.
"Have seen how your ignorance of one another's desires would lead to his death at your hands and your instalment into the role of Sakurazukamori."
"You know that I could never kill him, that I loved him despite all that he had done to me and despite all that he had done to others more innocent than I…"
"How could you love me still? How could you look on me and see anything other than he who had taken Hokuto-chan from you? Such was my thought and so I decided to push you hard enough that you'd push back or, failing that, activate the spell that your sister had placed onto me." The words are uttered in the odd dead pan of one recalling some long corroded dream or memory and there is a fear in Seishiro's eyes now that Kamui can see even with such a distance between them.
Pushing his way past Subaru and back out into Keiichi's living room he comes to stand before the elder man.
"What is that that I am seeing, Kamui-kun?" There is a raw ache clear in the other's voice and, very aware of what the consequences of such an act shall be, he takes the other's face into his hands and, a smile on his face, he says,
"You have come to mean the world to me, Seishiro, have become my 'tragic second love'. Thus for the sake of your happiness, for the sake of the happiness of my equally tragic first love, I will take these memories from you. Shall become the Sakurazukamori completely." He is aware of Subaru and Keiichi protesting this decision, of there conviction that there is another way out of this 'difficulty; and, a smile etched still onto his face, he informs them.
"Even if there was another way it is too late now to search for it, for I have already taken the first step down this path.
"Thank you, Keiichi, for believing in me, for wishing only for my happiness…I only wish that I could have repaid your kindness a little, or trusted you before things had gotten as far as they have.
"Subaru, I love you and I want you to be happy, to forget the pain that I have caused you by making this choice and to start again. Wish you to pretend that Fuuma has always been the Kamui of the Dragons of Heaven and that I have always claimed the opposite role."
Once he is assured that the others will not again protest he fixes his attention firmly onto Seishiro and, whispering to him of a life the older man had never lived, he allows the memories to take him.
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T: Excuse me while I go and cower behind something sturdy! I know it's a nasty place to leave it and there is a very tiny possibility that I might do a little one shot of how things are a little down the line…For now though I'm taking a break from this storyline and having a little fun with something new! Keep your eyes open and R+R