Digital Revelation
Chapter 18 – Kamui and KAMUI
"I don't feel the same way."
Why did that hurt so much? Kamui's heart and breathing programs seemed to stop working when Fuuma turned him down.
"Fuuma make joke?"
His voice sounded so pitiful; his eyes started to sting, so he closed them.
... come here.
"No, I'm not."
Please.
That familiar voice, the one who had always protected him, murmured in his ear as the world fell away. When he opened his eyes again, his reflection stood before him, the embodiment of fury in shiny black and red clothes. "I told you he was like all the others."
Kamui recoiled from the anger, too hurt to argue, but /Kamui/ grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a hug. His other self held him tightly, smoothing his hair. "I told you everyone left us. Mama Saya and Mama Tooru. Auntie Tokiko didn't want us and neither does he."
He didn't remember those names, but his heart somehow did, the final hurt laid bare in a lifetime of abandonment. Kamui cried, clinging to the other version of himself. /Kamui/ lifted his chin with a gentle touch and kissed him. "I will take care of you," his reflection whispered against his lips. "I'm the only one who loves you."
Exhausted, Kamui nodded, resting his head against /Kamui's/ shoulder and closing his eyes. He fell asleep and surrendered what his reflection had been trying to take from him all along.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A small section of Tokyo exploded.
From their perch no more than a kilometer away, Subaru and Seishirou watched plumes of thick black smoke wind their way into the sky.
The taller persocon turned to his partner. "How close would you say he is now, Subaru-kun?" Perfect teeth showed in his smile as he pressed a gloved hand against the other's pale cheek. "Perhaps you pitied him?"
"I was never certain of his location."
Seishirou stroked his thumb against Subaru's soft skin and chuckled. "You really are kind, Subaru-kun."
Green eyes turned away to watch the smoke. "We can't wait any longer."
The chuckle became a laugh. "Indeed."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Akira placed the tea set on the table and sat on the couch beside Suoh. Nokoru picked up his fine china cup and tried not to make any noise as the cup came away from the saucer. The elegantly dressed woman across from him sipped her tea and replaced the cup with perfect technique.
"The tea is excellent, Akira-kun."
The black-haired persocon sat up even straighter, delighted despite his nervousness. "Thank you, Rijichou!" he exclaimed, bowing. Nokoru hid an affectionate smile behind the rim of his cup.
The Chairwoman turned her attention to her son, changing the angle of her fan just slightly. "How are your studies faring, Nokoru-san?" She asked, her smile mischievous. "I was informed that you missed a day of classes this week."
Suoh shot him a look and the blonde heir to the CLAMP Campus gave his mother a "what can you do" sort of smile. "My studies are progressing well, Rijichou," he replied. "In fact, my most recent course of study ended most satisfactorily."
She nodded, the edges of her smile softening. "I am pleased to hear that."
Despite the outer poise, Nokoru's fingers itched to fidget; a surprise visit from the Chairwoman had left him completely unsure of where the conversation would go. He suspicions as to her motives, but with her, suspicions weren't good enough.
"I trust your friends were equally pleased with the information?"
The memory of Monou-san's distressed expression surfaced. "They were glad for my help."
Akira poured them both second cups, and their impromptu tea party continued in silence.
Midway through, Suoh touched his arm. "Kaichou," he said softly. "Arisugawa-san is calling."
Nokoru raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to speak to him later." His sense of unease doubled as Suoh shook his head warningly.
"He marked the call 'urgent'."
Nokoru glanced at his mother, who was as silent and still as a painting, no doubt watching and passing judgment on everything. Accepting nothing could be done about her presence, he nodded at Suoh to open the line. "Arisugawa-san?"
"Nokoru-san!!" Sorata sounded panicked, raising his voice over heavy background noise. "We've got a problem. I'm here with Monou and somethin's gone weird with Kamui."
"Where are you?"
"Over in Shibuya," Sorata replied. "He's gone all glowy and—"
The connection died as Suoh's eyes glazed over. A heartbeat later, Akira joined him in the frozen state.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Sorata cursed as Arashi fell over in his hands, useless as a doll. A split second later, Fuuma flew backward, knocking into him and they went sprawling to the ground. Wincing, Fuuma picked himself up, his hand pressed to his side.
"I'm never listening to you again," he ground out, hissing as a sharp pain lanced through him. "You said he wasn't going to try and kill me."
"He shouldn't have!" Sorata retorted, tucking Arashi into his pocket. Both boys turned to see Kamui walking slowly toward them, eyes locked on Fuuma. The persocon who'd seemed so harmless, so happy and eager to please, now wore a predator's mask.
Around them, people ran for cover as light posts and electrical boxes burst, sending glass and sparks showering down. Every persocon in the street stood perfectly still, heedless of their owner's attempts to drag them off to safety. One by one, they turned in Kamui's direction.
They weren't frozen, Fuuma realized. They were waiting.
"I told him you wouldn't want him," Kamui said as he stalked forward. "I wish he had listened to me. We've had so many let us down; he may not remember, but I do." The manic grin seemed wholly out of touch with the words. "But I suppose he had to learn for himself." The persocon's expression turned slightly sad. "Poor thing.
"He wanted so much to be special to you."
Fuuma wanted to protest; Kamui was special to him. The little persocon had become an essential part of his life without Fuuma really knowing how. Kamui was valuable, useful... and irreplaceable. His response to Kamui's confession seemed hasty now.
A sharp, high pitched buzzing sound pulled him out of his thoughts. Fuuma looked up to see Kamui almost within arms' reach of him and the small, outstretched hand glowed faintly.
"Kamui-chan stop!"
The persocon froze, jerking his head toward the new voice. Fuuma and Sorata scrambled back, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and Kamui. They ran toward the dark-haired, bespecled woman as she half ran, half limped in Kamui's direction, and Sorata caught her before she collapsed. One wire-framed lens was cracked and her clothes were filthy. "Magami-sensei!"
She gave them both a sad smile. "I'm so sorry, Monou-kun, Arisugawa-kun," she said and pushed herself up into a sitting position. "This is my fault."
Fuuma turned toward Kamui, who stood completely still in the road. His face was twisted into a snarl of fury as he curled both hands into fists. The glow around him strengthened until the glow leeched all the color from his features. One by one, the persocon on the street began to turn in their direction, the command moving from one side to the other, like a wave of empty eyes staring at them.
"Kamui-chan," Tokiko struggled to her knees. "Please, don't do this!" Kamui kept his furious glare on her, but seemed not to hear.
She tried to stand but Sorata kept her down. "Sensei, you're hurt!"
"We must stop him," she replied. "If they come, we'll lose him again."
"What do you mean 'lose him'?" Fuuma asked, watching Kamui out of the corner of his eye. The ground below them started to rumble and the persocon began to gather in a clump. Kamui raised one hand, pointed at them, and they sprang forward. Sorata and Fuuma scrambled to get to their feet, pulling Tokiko with them, despite her struggles. She broke away from them with a cry as a figure in white landed between them and the onslaught.
"Rin. Pyou. Tou. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen!" The chanting came rapid fire as the figure held out its interlocked hands. As the last word rang out, the persocon staggered. Smoke burst from the ears of some of them, and they collapsed. Around half of them remained standing, but did not advance.
Kamui's glow faltered for a moment, then shone brighter than before as he jumped backward, missing a handful of thin, white cards that sunk into the ground where he once stood. Fuuma followed Kamui's angry gaze up to a nearby rooftop, and saw a tall, dark figure readying another handful of the cards. The figure leaped down, coat billowing out behind him, and Kamui leaped backward to avoid him, launching into midair.
"Oh Kamui-chan..." Fuuma looked back down at Tokiko; she watched the pair move from roof to roof, eyes soft with worry. "I'm so sorry."
"What's going on?!" Sorata shouted, looking from Tokiko to the still-inert persocon and back. "Why're you roughed up? Who're these guys?!"
High above their heads, Kamui dodged another scattering of cards and launched himself at his opponent, barely missing him.
"Kamui-chan is my nephew," Tokiko said softly, never taking her eyes off the smaller persocon. "He was created by my sister and Saya-san." She swallowed hard. "Your mother, Monou-kun."
Sorata turned a slightly horrified look at Fuuma. "Your mother?" He asked, and Fuuma nodded a little, the ache in his chest becoming worse. "You knew about all that?"
"I just found out about it."
"Son of a--"
"Kamui!!" Fuuma cried as the persocon lost his balance after another dodge. He tumbled several stories before catching the edge of a building and pulling himself up on the ledge. The taller figure tried to throw true, but the little persocon evaded again. Fuuma barely heard Tokiko over the sound of his heart in his ears when she started to speak again.
"He was perfect. The Imonoyama zaibatsu had spared no expense for our research and we were able to do our best work; and he was the result. We were so proud of him," she said, her voice thick. "The government heard about our research and comissioned us to recreate the AI with a powerful wireless device." Her lip twisted. "They wanted soldiers. Machines that would be able to rationalize and adapt; the persocon they had didn't do that, you see. They had to follow their base programming."
Fuuma thought of Suoh and Akira. "No matter how much a persocon learns, it is still dictated by its base program. It will never grow beyond it," he said, echoing Nokoru's words.
"That's right, Monou-kun," Tokiko replied. "And no matter what we did, it was never right. The model we sent was too smart for what they wanted. They sent it back, but then Saya-san became sick..." a tear rolled down her cheek. "Tooru-neesan couldn't bear it, but they wanted us to continue. She took the program... and put it into Kamui-chan... and then killed herself." Tokiko turned to Fuuma and looked at him for the first time, her brown eyes full of tears. "Tooru-neesan loved Saya-san too much to be without her."
"I knew I wasn't her soul mate even before we got married."
"Mother..."
Tokiko quickly turned her attention back to the battle above them. The cat-and-mouse game continued. "I tried to continue the work, but it was too much for one person. I wouldn't let the government take Kamui from us; they had taken everything else." She wiped her cheeks. "I erased Kamui-chan's memories and threw him away. I thought he'd been destroyed until I saw him with you, Monou-kun."
"Look out." The figure in white backed up quickly as Kamui plummeted, hitting the ground hard enough to leave an imprint. Fuuma shouted the persocon's name and ran to him, kneeling beside the prone form. "Kamui..." One of the cards, a piece of plastic covered in metallic lines, lay on Kamui's chest. The wide purple eyes had glassed over and no amount of calling made Kamui respond. The impact had split the casing on the side of his head, showing the circuits and wires inside. Fuuma touched the split, not quite believing it was real. He had known all along Kamui wasn't human, but the sight drove that home. But Kamui's smile, his adorable curiosity, his devotion... his love for Fuuma... had all been real.
The man who had been fighting with Kamui touched down beside the white-clad persocon. "It's done, Subaru-kun."
Subaru closed his eyes and nodded, a pained expression crossing over his face. Fuuma watched the play of emotion and felt a surge of fury. Those two were like Kamui. They were far too human not to be the same kind of persocon. The taller persocon stepped forward, and Fuuma glared at him.
"You're not taking him."
The persocon raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid we have instructions that say otherwise."
Subaru stepped up beside the persocon. "He is a danger to those around him," he told Fuuma softly. "Seishirou-san and I must take him back with us to prevent him from ever doing harm again." He shook his head. "I'm sorry we have to do this."
"The program has been destroyed," the taller persocon, Seishirou, said and that last crack sent a pain through Fuuma's heart. The feeling was worse than when he had discovered Yuzuriha's secret. It was an awful, lonely pain that felt like...
Like when his mother had died.
A hand on his shoulder pulled him back and up to his feet. "Come on, Monou," Sorata said softly; when Fuuma looked at him, his expression held none of the usual exasperation or recrimination. It seemed he understood, finally, what was going on. Numbly, Fuuma stood and backed away. Seishirou took Kamui's lifeless body in his arms while Subaru apologized again, then both persocon leaped up to the rooftops, and out of sight.
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Next: Epilogue
Look at this, almost at the end. I'll include a more lengthy author's note after the epilogue. Until then, I'll just say that I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you're still reading after all this time, thank you for your patience.