A/N: Once again, thanks for everyone who has thus far supported, and I look forward to your continued feedback as our story progresses. Looks like it's Kamui and Fuuma time! As a side note, we all know that poor Fuuma has some... personality issues. In X he starts off as the nice boy next door, but morphs into his twin star persona, and his Tsubasa counterpart seems to be a mix of the original good guy and the one who has a few darker pleasures. As 'twin star' Fuuma represents many of secret desires already existing within him, I decided to make my Fuuma the blended version: nice with fair helpings of naughty. As for Kamui, well, let's just say Subaru has him down in this chapter when he mentions how Kamui's personality, um, shifts just a little when Fuuma gets his hands (or tongue) on him. Enjoy!

Spoilers/Timeline: Spoilers for Tokyo at the end. The first sections happen before Tokyo, the final part happens a bit before our SyaoSakuFaiKuroMoko group reaches Tokyo, around the time when Kamui and Fuuma would have met as rival leaders of government building group vs tower group.

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Kamui

Kamui had always shared a special bond with his twin, but the moment Subaru became entwined with that perverted hunter Seishirou, Kamui felt himself understanding his brother less and less. It was hard enough to comprehend how someone so good and pure-hearted as Subaru could feel fondness for a man who was quite possibly devoid of a soul, but Kamui couldn't even grasp the basic foundational emotion of love, having never felt it at all himself in that sense. There had been a girl in his home village named Kotori who he'd had a crush on when he was younger, but she had been born with an incurable illness, and had died before he'd ever had the chance to express an interest. And even then, he had been too young to feel anything more than childlike affection for her, along with an overwhelming need to protect her fragile and unsteady body from harm.

"Unconditionally gentle people like her don't last long in a world like this," his mother had said after the funeral, wiping away the tears Kamui shed. "It would have been hard on a strong boy like you to look after her and protect her from the shadows of the world for all your life. You already exhaust enough energy on Subaru as it is."

"I don't really need anyone to look after me," Subaru protested, though everyone had ignored his comment. Even as a child, he had a penchant for unknowingly walking into danger and managing just barely to get out again. He did it so often that Kamui should have seen the Seishirou incident coming from a mile away, but he had foolishly turned his back on his brother for a few precious hours, and suddenly everything had changed without a single way to go back.

In the worlds they traveled, Kamui sometimes saw copies of his brother, and there always seemed to be another version of the hunter not far off, bullying him or unabashedly toying with his innocent mind. He saw himself, too, from time to time, but he never seemed to be with anyone in particular. Once he and Subaru had landed in the middle of a park where two children, a dark haired and tall boy and a slender girl who had resembled Kotori, fought over what appeared to be a six year-old version of him, but the girl had fainted part way through the fight, and Kamui had quickly had them move on to another world so he wouldn't have to witness the girl who had been too gentle to live be taken away again. He almost started to wonder if he only heightened the bad luck around her with his presence.

For the most part, he didn't necessarily want to fall in love. Seeing what it had done to Subaru troubled him, and he knew that the moment his attention diverted from his brother, Seishirou would have the opening he needed to close in on his prey. But all the same, there was something about the thought of it that struck him as beautiful. There were so many people in the universe, but in every world they managed to find the exact person they were destined to be with in order to give their shared soul the chance to experience happiness time and time again. Time and space could not bring them apart, and what was meant to be was forever set and could not be torn asunder.

But in the end, it didn't matter. He'd already found his purpose, and there was no reason to turn to love to find another. He was going to save Subaru from himself and his ill-fated love for the hunter no matter what it took, and even if it meant that he cut off his chance for a transcendent, dimension-spanning love, that was a price he was more than willing to pay.

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They landed in an urban area when they next traveled, a dirty sort of place with high rise buildings and smelly back alleys filled with rats and people dressed in rags holding out tin cups. Kamui covered his nose. It was going to be a challenge making his elegant and refined brother inconspicuous in a place like this, but he would do as he had to. The first order of business was to find some money to afford a place to stay, which was always a difficult task. He glanced inside the ragged man's tin and spotted a few coppery coins, but the man only asked him to donate more and didn't seem inclined to share. Perhaps people in this world had to beg for their money.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Kamui said, dragging Subaru out of the alley. "We can find somewhere cleaner to catch our breath."

They wandered out into the central street, carefully keeping a low profile as they examined the natives of this place. Even though the city itself seemed dirty, the adults dressed neatly and wore pressed dress pants and blouses, while the young people either wore uniform sets or more casual looking clothes with shoes that squeaked when they walked.

"If we remove some of the layers, our clothes can probably pass here," Subaru noted. The last world they had visited had been in a desert where they had been expected to wear towel-like skirts and no shirts, so this news came as a relief to Kamui. If they had stayed there for much longer, Seishirou surely would have been drawn to them by the sheer power of his perversion alone.

The twins walked up and down the lanes, making note of the places that looked like the hotels or inns they stayed in before. Kamui kept a careful ear on the street vendors they passed, and learned that this world dealt in bills called 'dollars' and coins whose name changed depending on their size and color. The coins were easy to find lying around the street, but to get his hands on the bills, he'd had to use his extending nails to relieve a few women of their purses when Subaru was looking the other way.

After he'd compiled a sizable stack and lied to Subaru about finding it lying on the ground, Kamui had been ready to find a temporary home to set up in, but Subaru demanded, as he always did, that they take at least a few minutes to explore further. There were bells chiming down the street that reminded him of the chapel in their home world, and he wanted to get closer to listen before Kamui shut him away to protect him from Seishirou, whether it be his copies or the hunter himself.

The bells ended up belonging to a gated school building, which was signaling the end of the day. Teenaged kids were streaming from the school, talking and laughing and waving around their pieces of technology, living without a care in the world. Kamui snorted in disdain.

"Let's get away from here, Subaru," he insisted, tugging on his brother's sleeve. "It isn't good for us to be seen by so many people."

"But they're so interesting! Look at all the different hair colors, and the way skin is colored from person to person." Subaru gazed at them excitedly. "What kind of country do you think this is? Maybe it's a place where people from many different worlds have joined together!"

Kamui sighed. "Can we talk about that later? We really need to go—"

But before he could finish, he was cut off by the squealing of several girls standing beside them. "Look, look!" one hissed, pointing towards the school entrance. "It's Kamui, the new foreign exchange student! He's so beautiful, isn't he? Yooho! Kamui! Look over here!"

Kamui paled, standing on his toes to see who the girls were pointing to even though he was pretty sure he already knew. Sure enough, sauntering through the crowds of students was a younger teen boy wearing his face and using his mouth to grant his legions of fans an apathetic frown.

"Wow, Kamui," Subaru gasped. "It wasn't so long ago that you looked his age. You look very nice in this world. And a little bit scary."

"Who said I wanted all of this attention?" Kamui grumbled, ducking behind the gate in case his other body actually did decide to look at the girls calling out to him. "By the way, don't get any ideas about letting him see us."

"The me I met in another world didn't seem too frightened by me, remember?"

"That boy was an onmyoji, and is probably used to things like this. Besides, there are too many witnesses here. And you'd get dragged into it, too."

"But it looks like you could get a few girlfriends out of it," Subaru said solemnly. "Maybe your soulmate is here."

"I wouldn't count on it," Kamui snorted. "I don't think I even have a soulmate."

"Oi, Kamui!"

Kamui and Subaru looked up to see a taller, dark haired boy leave the school and jog to catch up with Kamui. He was good looking— muscular and well groomed with striking golden eyes— but perhaps not so beautiful as Kamui, though his presence elicited a few more squeals from the nearby girls. "It's Fuuma," the one who had called out to Kamui sighed, sounding a little disappointed.

"Don't you think he's handsome, too?" one of her friends asked.

"Oh, he's all right. But he doesn't let anyone get close to Kamui, and he's always dragging him off to his basketball games to show off to him. If he'd just back off, maybe I could get Kamui to go out on a date with me."

"He's the school prince. It would take the fun out of it if he actually started dating someone."

At this point, the boy named Fuuma accosted Kamui and had a pretty tight grip on his upper arm. "Where are you going?" he asked, his voice quiet in volume but strangely commanding. "Didn't we have plans?"

"N-no, and I'm going home right now," Kamui said, looking a bit flustered. " Let go." His eyes were narrowing into the look the original Kamui used as a warning whenever he was on the verge of losing his temper.

"Oh no," Subaru fretted, biting his nails. "He was just asking a question. You shouldn't get mad at him."

"You're acting like I have any control over what's going on over there," he hissed. "And don't do that, you might hurt yourself."

Fuuma continued to gaze down at Kamui, smiling with palpable warmth as he tugged the boy closer by the arm. "You said we'd go out to play later after school. Remember? I got you to promise me." His mouth edged near Kamui's neck. "Are you going back on your word?"

"No. Just let go of me."

"Don't be mean. Aren't we friends?"

On the other side of the gate, Subaru tilted his head. "Are you? Have we met him before?"

"No, I'd remember someone like that," Kamui said, shaking his head. "Someone like him who can't keep his hands to himself."

"But you're blushing, so maybe you like it?"

"I AM NOT!"

"I meant the other you," Subaru said, pointing at the younger Kamui who was looking particularly flushed as Fuuma took his hands and pulled him out of the school courtyard, ignoring all the students watching them with their mouths agape. "But now you are, too."

Without noticing Subaru and Kamui peeking through the gate, Fuuma led his Kamui down the street, back towards the business quarter where the twins had first landed. The young Kamui was actively trying to loose himself from Fuuma's grip, but the taller boy seemed a good deal stronger, and much more determined to hang on to his companion than his companion was to get away.

"We should follow," Kamui decided, rising to his feet. "I don't trust this guy. What if he tries to do something to me?"

"Tries something?" Subaru smiled slyly. "Would you stop him?"

"Of course I would! He looks almost as perverted as that hunter, and that me definitely isn't interested in him. Don't you see me trying to shake him off?"

"You aren't trying all that hard. Besides, when he holds you, you look rather..."

"Rather...?"

"Rather maidenly," Subaru admitted. "But maybe that's because he's so much bigger than you."

"We're not talking about this anymore," Kamui snapped. And just because you've fallen in love with a pervert, doesn't mean I have to, too, he thought to himself, keeping it inside so he wouldn't hurt Subaru's feelings. There's no way that guy is my type. I like delicate people, people I have to protect. Like Kotori. Although since that wasn't fated to end well, maybe...

"There's absolutely no way," he said firmly, quickening his pace. If this Fuuma tried to prove him wrong, he'd give him a chance to be touched by a hand with nails fully extended and see how he liked it.

Fuuma eventually pulled the other Kamui down one of the back allies, and ducked behind a big green dumpster used by one of the nearby restaurants. He looked in both directions before pinning Kamui to the restaurants' brick wall and staring down at him with golden eyes that had suddenly turned from warm to possessive. Subaru and Kamui knelt down behind a tin trash can and watched the two of them without saying a word.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone," Kamui said, avoiding Fuuma's gaze. "I-I never said I wanted to do these kinds of things with you."

"You didn't?" Fuuma leaned in closer, so his breath was brushing against Kamui's neck. "That's not what I remember you saying at all. All I can recall is you asking— no, begging— for more." A pointed tongue snaked out and gave Kamui a slow lick against the neck. "Is saying no what you really want?"

Behind the trash can, Kamui extended his nails and attempted to ignore his own embarrassment. Just say no, he begged himself, shivering as Fuuma's lick on his counterpart turned into a kiss and then a gentle bite. That guy is just toying with you for one thing, and it means nothing other than that. But at the same time, he observed the way Fuuma's arms cradled his copy's body, the way his golden eyes skimmed over him as if in worship, treasuring every inch of the neck he was administering to. The heat in Kamui kept increasing, and though he tried to fight it back because he knew Subaru was watching, a part of him almost wondered what it would feel like to be inside his other body, feeling the wet surface of the tongue stroking him, the hot caress of eyes that watched him and saw everything. Would it be nice to be the one who was protected, even if he was more used to doing the protecting?

Instead of refuting Fuuma any more than he already had, the other Kamui seemed to melt into the other man's kisses, his eyes closing and his breathing increasing. "Fuuma," he whispered, his body beginning to tremor slightly as hands fumbled for his blazer and lifted it higher. "Fuuma."

He is making me maidenly, Kamui realized with growing horror. It's as if I become lost from the moment he gets close to me like this. Who is this man that he makes me forget myself so easily?

"Um," Suburu whispered into his twin's ear. "I get the feeling that I'm watching something I really shouldn't."

"Then don't." Kamui covered Subaru's eyes with his hand. "And... try not to listen either."

With Subaru safely protected from the proceedings, Kamui turned his attention back to the other two. "All those girls," Fuuma was murmuring in between kissing the other Kamui's collarbone. "You shouldn't be so calm about letting them fawn over you like that. They don't know a thing about you, do they? I was the one who grew up with you, and I was the one who was always there to take care of you when you needed me. I'm the one who will protect you and give you what you want, and you shouldn't let them even pretend that they could be what I am to you."

"I don't need... someone... to..."

Kamui's words were cut off by a sudden gasp. Fuuma's hands had dropped from his stomach to the waistband of his pants, and were beginning to slide beneath. From behind the trash can, Kamui felt his own body beginning to respond, though a slight sigh from Subaru calmed him down. He couldn't let his brother see this side of him, not after all he had done to protect Subaru from experiencing the same thing.

"You look after everyone you think needs you, but who is it that looks after you?" Fuuma continued, and when his hand started to move, Kamui collapsed against his chest, his eyes wide and his mouth moving wordlessly. "It would make me happy if you chose me to be that person. I want to be the one Kamui thinks of when he thinks of his most precious thing."

"Fuuma... you already... you already are the most important person. The one person I have left. You don't have to do anything else."

"Don't I?" Fuuma stopped his hand, and Kamui let out a short whimper of surprise. "Weren't you the one who went running off to a different country without telling me? Would you do that to someone you cared about?"

"B-but... Kotori had died while she was together with me, and I thought..."

"You thought...?"

"I thought your family... I thought you would hold me responsible. She was always getting hurt because of me, and I didn't want that to happen to you, too."

"Silly Kamui," Fuuma sighed, stroking the boy's hair. "It isn't your job to worry about me. I'm the one who is going to keep you safe, not the other way around, okay? You're a strong guy, but I'm even stronger, so it'll all be fine, all right? Kotori wouldn't want you to have any guilt over what happened." He planted a small kiss on Kamui's forehead and began moving his hand again, holding onto his companion carefully so he was enveloped on either side, held steady and kept safe.

Kamui tore his eyes away, his heart feeling heavy in his chest. Is that really what I want? To be protected in the same way I protect others? He'd never thought of wishing for something as simple as that before. He'd always been the strongest wherever he went, his firmness of will and training as a vampire surpassing even those who towered over him in size. He'd never stopped to wonder what it felt like to be at the center of someone's world rather than holding someone else as his center, and the thought of it made him somewhat nervous. The Kamui he knew was tough and stubborn, resistant to letting anyone other than his family get too close, but now he was aware of another man inside of him, one whose defenses were able to be lowered and one who wanted greedy eyes upon him, taking in him and only him and holding him most sacred.

But no, he thought, feeling Subaru shift against him, I've already chosen the life I'm going to live. Fighting for him, fighting for his survival. He is more vulnerable, more innocent than me. He's the one who needs protecting, and I don't have the time to let someone else in who will burden us by following after me. Besides... that guy is most definitely a pervert. I have proof of that now.

He sat there in the dirty alley covering Subaru's eyes and brooding to himself until the other two left, Fuuma cooing about Kamui's supposed cuteness and Kamui snapping back at him, returned to his more rigid self. When he released his brother, Subaru looked up at him in concern, his big green eyes dear and trusting.

"Kamui, do you want to—"

"I want to go. We've seen enough here."

Subaru looked sad at this answer, but sighed and rose to his feet. "At least leave the money for someone else to pick up, all right?"

"Fine. Let's go."

All I need is to keep moving, he reminded himself firmly, taking his twin's hand. I don't need anything else other than this.

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A few months later found Kamui in the middle of a battle with a monster in the land called Tokyo, where he had managed to mess things up and get his brother in trouble, as well as somehow ending up as the leader of a group of gloomy survivors who'd holed up in their country's government building. He'd been in a surly mood ever since. Yet again, he'd served as a poor protector on his brother's behalf, and the more time they were stuck in this half-dead world, the more likely it became that Seishirou would show up and get his hands on Subaru before Kamui could figure out a way to rescue him.

From behind him, he heard the rumble of a motorbike. "Oi," a voice called out to him. Kamui turned around. A man in a long green coat and sunglasses was watching him. "I heard the Government Building Group got their hands on a strong new leader. Is that you, Kamui?"

Kamui stared at him for a long moment before recognizing him. "YOU!" He lifted his crossbow, aiming it at the man's shoulder. "Stay back!"

"What's this?" Fuuma lifted his hands in surrender, smiling jovially. "You're trying to kill me already, even though you don't know me? I've heard about you before, but I'm sure we haven't met. I would remember someone cute and strong like you, right?"

"D-don't get any ideas," Kamui yelled. "I'm not going to do those kinds of weird things like that with you! No matter what! So go back to wherever you came from, or I'll shoot!"

"Whoa," Fuuma said, looking impressed. "Did you just read my mind, or something? In that case, forgive me my impure thoughts. But you're kind of my type, you know? Even tough people like you need someone watching their backs. And you've got a rather nice back to watch, too!"

Kamui fired off a warning shot, which Fuuma easily dodged. He grit his teeth. If this world wasn't bad enough, now this?

Fuuma jumped back on his bike with a wink. "Let's continue to get along, Kamui! I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon!"

When Kamui returned to the government building, he stopped by the reservoir and offered up a prayer that his brother would find a way outside of his dream so they could leave before what very well might be his destiny came true and once again reset the troubled course of their lives.

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Next Up: Fai