A/N: With Fuuma, Kamui, Subaru, and Seishirou as several of my main characters, of course one of them would have to travel to the universe of X! I'm working on the assumption that Tokyo was saved from the end of the world by some means or another (as in the X anime series, since we don't know the ending to the manga) and that Subaru also survived its conclusion. Since Yuuko references Subaru Sumeragi in xxxHolic, I'm also assuming that she lives in the same world as he does, although it is possible that she was talking about an alternate dimension version of him (one with the same supernatural powers?). It would have fun to do Tokyo Babylon Subaru since he's such a cutie, but meeting with post-X Subaru carries a little more weight, I think. Hope you enjoy!
Spoilers/Timeline: Spoilers for Tokyo, naturally, and slight for Nihon. Most of the spoilers are for X in regards to what happens to Seishirou and Subaru in the story. Timeline is directly after Nihon.
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Seishirou
Seishirou was more than a little bit annoyed by time he was finally able to leave Nihon. The incident had marked the second occasion he had encountered Syaoran's group of dimension travelers, and around the sixth time he'd managed to run into his brother, and though both Fuuma and Fai had admitted to running into the vampire twins in Tokyo, he himself had not yet had even a slightly good lead since he had suspected Subaru of being an oni in Outo. Time was beginning to run out. His eye had enough magic to last him perhaps a few more transitions, but if he misjudged Subaru's path just a few more times, it would soon become useless. And already his prey was at risk for giving himself away to someone else in the way he had done to Seishirou. He'd almost shed his precious blood for Fai, and even with Kurogane's blood mixed in to mark him as Fai's true game, Seishirou would have never allowed the mage to live with even a drop of his Subaru inside of him. What was his could not be permitted to stray into the possession of someone else. Fai was lucky that Fuuma took a gentler view to these things, because Seishirou most certainly didn't.
At least he now had Fuuma joining in on the chase to get his hands on Kamui, even though there was only so much a laid back guy like him could do. His brother had at first been wary of getting himself involved in issues that had nothing to do with him, but now that he did have a reason to invest himself, it would be beneficial to Seishirou to use Fuuma to get Kamui and all of his damned interfering away from Subaru. He'd even consider letting the other vampire live if his brother did a fair enough job of ensnaring his mind to the point where he wouldn't even be able to think of 'saving' Subaru from Seishirou's clutches.
How ridiculous, Seishirou thought with a smirk. Nothing can save him from me. I'll dismantle the world itself to find him if I have to.
When he called upon the magic in his eye after saying his farewells to his brother, he listened, as he always did, to the whispers of each world. There were so many voices that one could not be distinguished from another, but he knew which tone he was looking for, each delicate note that trembled and whispered and begged to be found. He heard it everywhere, and it filled inside him. It was difficult to follow the exact point where it originated as it seemed to shift from world to world and sometimes came from two different places simultaneously, though some of the voices were not quite the one he remembered. But it was there, and if it existed, it could be hunted by him. As long as Subaru lived, there would be a way to follow the thread that connected them and at last claim his prize.
Seishirou allowed himself to be pulled by the most familiar of the voices, but just as he was about to be consumed by his magic, he heard a louder voice call out to him, "Please, find your way through me!" It was not the voice of his Subaru, but he turned towards it, changing the focus of the power in his eye. There was something unrelenting in the voice speaking those words, whoever it belonged to. Seishirou didn't generally trust in anyone other than himself and his own desires, but the one who had addressed him spoke so desperately and with such sureness that he believed without a second thought that the person calling to him could help him along the way he needed to go.
He traveled through the blur of voices whispering their wants to him, and when the colors and worlds stabilized around him, he found himself standing in the midst of a long stretch of sakura trees. The pink petals were in full bloom, although it felt too humid and damp for anyone to be out viewing them. He took a step forward, running his fingers along the bark of trees and watching as some of the flowers dropped from the branches and landed on his shoulders. Something about this place felt familiar, as if he had been here before. He had been so many places in his travels that it was a likely possibility, but this place seemed nostalgic, as if something important had once happened to him here. He wondered if this was perhaps the place where the Dimension Witch lived.
Seishirou wandered to the biggest tree in the park and pressed both of his hands against it. There must be someone buried underneath it for the petals to be that exact shade, he noted. Blood has a way of making everything beautiful. And there is nothing more beautiful in the world than tasting his blood. So let's figure out the reason you brought me here, yes, Subaru-kun?
Seishirou heard something suddenly clatter to the ground behind him. He turned his head, catching a glimpse of a beautiful man with short hair and multi-colored eyes, one green and one golden brown, staring at him with a disbelieving expression, his mouth hanging open in shock. Every fiber of him seemed to be shaken, and both his arms and legs were trembling, a bento box resting on the wet grass beneath his slack fingers. He looked for a moment as if he was trying to speak, but no sound came out other than short little gasps for air.
Seishirou smiled. Now here was a step closer. This man was too old and exhausted in appearance to be the one he was looking for, but it was him, in a way. The soul in front of him knew his soul, and was moved to silence at the sight of the familiar body possessing it. The two of them had never met, but they knew each other, perhaps even better than they realized.
"Good morning," Seishirou said, his smile widening, "Subaru-kun."
"Seishirou-san," Subaru whispered, and his legs gave out slowly beneath him, sending him on his knees to the ground as his shoulders shook and silent tears streamed beautifully down his pale face.
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When he'd composed himself, Subaru took Seishirou back to his apartment in the city. He wasn't capable of saying much, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Seishirou's face, in particular the one eye that was blank due to his contract with Yuuko. His hand kept on straying back to his own golden eye, treating the skin tenderly, like his own personal treasure.
"Is that mine, Subaru-kun?" Seishirou asked as Subaru pulled up a chair for him and began preparing tea.
"Yes. It was the second eye you sacrificed for me. My final gift from you." His hands were shaking again, so he set the tea pot down and clenched a fist over his heart. "I've known Yuuko-san for a long time. We both share a strong magic, so it was inevitable that I would meet her. I knew she occasionally helped people cross the dimensions, and that it was possible for them to encounter familiar souls in different places, but she never told me... she never told me that she had helped you."
"Does it bother you?"
Subaru shook his head. "I wanted to see you again. More than anything. I held onto everything you ever touched, I accepted your eye and former life, I did everything possible to be worthy of the time you had given to me, but I couldn't be strong. I could think only of you. And even though I can't bring the one I loved back, just the sight of your face makes me feel so happy. Your eye is not the only thing that survived. Your soul, the most important thing, is still here."
"You don't have to be sorry you lived that way, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, grabbing the pack of cigarettes on the table. "If I sacrificed myself for you, I wouldn't do it to set you free. The only thing you should do is think of me, for the rest of your life. Whether it be in life or death, you belong only to me."
"It's all right, then?" Subaru abandoned his tea and joined Seishirou at the table. "But sometimes... I can't help myself. I feel angry with you. You denied me the wish most dear to me, and took away the person who was also most dear. This is the only thing I have left." He placed his hand over his golden eye, bowing his head. "I should hate you for everything you took away. But I can't. I can't even complete a single bad thought about you. I fear dying and losing the last part of you still with me, but I fear living and never being able to rejoin you. And I wish more than anything now that we had taken the way where we could be together so I did not have to go through every day just thinking of you without ever seeing your face or hearing your voice in the way I last heard it."
"But this is good, Subaru-kun. A life where you are perfectly trapped by me is exactly what I want. The more you struggle and can't find a way out, the better it is." Seishirou pulled out a cigarette and waited for Subaru to light it for him. "Tell me, would it make you much happier for me to be here with you? I wouldn't go easy on you, even as cute as you are. Your every thought and action would be mine to control, and that lovely body of yours would dangle off the edge of what it could stand. And those tears you shed, every drop that comes from your body, will be because of me, for only me to see. I would trap you to an even greater extent than how you are trapped now."
"I think it's kinder," Subaru said, gazing into Seishirou's face. "Kinder then being trapped and left alone. Kinder then becoming only yours, but never being able to be held by you."
"I see." Seishirou blew a puff of smoke into the air in front of Subaru. "Well, that's how it is. I'm not very kind, am I?"
"You are more so than you think. It was your wish that returned this eye to me, not mine. But then again, the last words you left to me... I wonder if you knew how hard it would be for me to receive the love I always wanted at the cost of your life."
"Subaru-kun, if I understood your every secret, there would be no interest in it for me. A soul like mine hungers for the intermingled innocence and lust in yours, but I wasn't meant to understand. Only to taste."
He set the cigarette in the ash tray and let it burn. The self that had lived in this world had really done a number on Subaru, but he wasn't sure how he felt about the result. Subaru was undeniably living only with Seishirou in mind and seemed incapable of hating him even after all the trauma he'd undergone, but Seishirou didn't enjoy the thought of his treasure being abandoned, left untouched and burdened on his own without Seishirou's soul there to torture him with pleasure, to deny and push him past his restraints until the glory of his crying, desperate face was exposed, his mouth moving only to form Seishirou's name and cry for more of what had been given.
"Why are you traveling?" Subaru asked, picking up Seishirou's cigarette and settling it between his lips. "Passing through the dimensions is something that carries a heavy price. Your reason for sacrificing your eye must have been very important."
"You are," Seishirou agreed, watching for Subaru's reaction. "If I can get my hands on the you who was born for me, it will be well worth any eye, any price. Don't you agree, Subaru-kun?"
Subaru looked surprised, but nodded once he realized Seishirou was being serious. "But that you would have to pay a price at all seems odd. If you give me enough time to get used to the idea, it must be my fate to fall in love with you over and over again in every place our souls exist."
"You have a bothersome creature at your side who has no intention of letting you give in to me. Your twin."
Subaru dropped his cigarette, looking suddenly terrified. "H-Hokuto?"
"Kamui."
"Kamui? In your world, I am his brother?"
"Do you know him?"
"I knew him, yes. We fought together once, some time ago. But our families were not in any way connected. His parents and aunt had died, and I only had my grandmother left. My twin was a sister, and she... allowed herself to be killed as your prey in my stead."
"Kamui might have met the same fate, but I'm sure my brother will intervene."
"You have a brother?" Subaru rubbed his forehead. "I see the rules of these dimensions are more complex than I thought. Families can be fluid, but the chosen of the soul cannot. Is your brother perhaps Fuuma-kun?"
"Yes."
"Then he still cares for Kamui, but Kamui is occupied in keeping you away from me. I see where the dilemma comes from. But it will lead to unhappiness for both Kamui and I if we cannot be together with the people most important to us. And after losing you in this world, it was always my wish that Kamui would not have to forsake his chance of being with Fuuma as I had mine with you."
"So you would place his happiness ahead of your own?"
"I wish I could say yes, but more than anything it would give me joy for the me that is dear to you to find you again. I have lost you here, but I wish happiness upon my soul wherever it exists, and I can only be truly happy when you are at my side. The soul that has chosen you must be crying out for you even now."
"And how sweetly it cries," Seishirou agreed. "But yours did as well. It was what brought me here."
"Even though I know better, there has never been a day when I haven't prayed to somehow be with you again, Seishirou-san."
"I don't question that, but what you asked was not to see me again. What you said was please, find your way through me. I assume you have an idea of what that means, Subaru-kun."
Subaru stared down into the ash tray, lost in his thoughts. "There is most likely a way," he said slowly. "Yuuko-san has an awareness of the dimensions, and if someone has a wish to find a person exactly where they are in them, she can grant it at the proper price. But it would be a heavy price for you. You would have to pay with your memories or your time, and I will not allow you to give up either for the sake of my other body. But it is also my wish to see you and the other me happy. I will pay the price for you."
"Would it be vain of me to assume that your most precious things are that eye and your memories?"
"Of course. They are the only things I have left of you."
"Then you can't expect me to let you have them taken away, Subaru-kun. For as long as you are alive, you are meant to never forget about me. Do not erase my sacrifice here for the sake of someone you are, but have never met. I won't hate you for being selfish."
"But I—"
Subaru's phone suddenly buzzed, and after hesitating for the first two vibrations, he at last picked it up. "Yes?"
"Ah, Subaru, it's been some time since we've been able to speak," Seishirou could hear the female voice crackling from the phone saying. "But it is your guest I have business with."
"Yuuko-san, how did you... wait, I have no reason to be surprised. You probably knew from the moment he landed here." Subaru passed the phone to Seishirou. "Yuuko-san wants a word."
Seishirou cradled the phone to his ear. "How nice to talk to you again, Yuuko-san," he said kindly, deciding it would be best to tread lightly around the person who could potentially grant him his wish. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"Your brother has just left my shop, and his next task will bring him to the place where the children you have been searching for are. The time has come for the wish the child paid for to be put into place. If you do not leave to reach them soon, the chance will have passed and will not come again."
"Cryptic as always, Yuuko-san. Can you perhaps tell me what you're trying to say?"
She sighed a long suffering sigh, and launched into one of her only slightly less cryptic speeches. "It is no simple thing to make a wish on someone else's behalf. The other person may have a wish buried in their heart that conflicts with the one made for them, and intentions can be easily misunderstood between two people. Kamui knew of these things when he made it so Subaru would travel at his side on their journey, but chose to wish for it to keep his brother safe. But Subaru had his own wish from the very start of the journeys, and he shared it with me when the distance between the two of you grew too much for him to bear, using his powers to speak to me in a dream. He sacrificed something very dear to him to make it so that you would be able to find the world where he is."
"Not something too serious, I hope."
"It is something of great seriousness to Subaru. Didn't you ever wonder why it was so easy for Fuuma to find Kamui when you were never able to find Subaru? It was fate for those two to meet, but it would not have happened at that exact moment and place if Subaru had not paid the price for it to happen. The thing he sacrificed so you would be able to know his location was his brother."
Seishirou paused, trying to process this. "So... you're going to kill Kamui?"
Yuuko sighed again in annoyance. "There is more than one way to lose something. There was never going to be an easy way for him to have you without Kamui killing you, or keep Kamui without you killing him. He knew this was the inevitable resolution, so he had to decide which one of you he needed most to remain at his side. By choosing you, he paid to make it impossible for himself to remain with Kamui after you found him. And the manifestation of that price is Fuuma."
"And that's why Fuuma landed in Tokyo?"
"Yes. He was destined to find his way there because of Subaru's wish, so that he would change the course of Kamui's life. Fuuma is the only person capable of keeping Kamui from killing you, but he will not be able to do so forever. He will have to take Kamui away with him, and you who are losing your powers to travel will stay with Subaru. That is, of course, if you children follow the dream your hearts yearn for. Fuuma will be encountering Kamui soon, and that child fears the direction of his future so much that he will flee before much can be done. You must reach that place before he can take Subaru with him and make the wish one that was made in vain."
"I see." Seishirou glanced over at Subaru, who smiled slightly in response. "Then tell me where he is."
"Remember the name well, for if you choose wrongly, you will have no other chances. This will be the last use of the powers in the eye I gave you. Subaru and Kamui are in the country of Jade. Be certain that this place is where you wish to go, for when you arrive there, you will not be able to leave until I receive further payment. I can tell you of it, if you wish. Your student has been there once before."
"No need. If I can have what I wish, the land and world mean nothing to me. Farewell, Yuuko-san. I do not think I will need to speak with you again."
"As you say."
Seishirou shut the phone and passed it back to Subaru. "Well, Subaru-kun, it seems I have somewhere to be. You will forgive me for leaving, I hope."
"If you manage to make this soul happy, I will forgive you anything. I always have." He rose from his seat. "It is also my wish for you to reach that place. So allow me to assist you. With the magic of both the Sumeragi and the Sakurazuka clans with you, you will not be able to go astray."
"Sakurazuka?" Seishirou murmured. "Was that my name?"
"Yes. Seishirou Sakurazuka."
"And now it belongs to you. How cute. Subaru-kun and I were one." With a smile, he extended his hand, calling upon the last of his magic. "I will accept what you offer."
As the symbol appeared around his feet, Subaru began chanting with great concentration, repeating the same phrase over and over until a ring of pentacles enveloped Seishirou's magic. When the circle was completed, he dropped his hands and at last granted Seishirou with a full and true smile.
"Please," he said, gazing into Seishirou's eyes until they could no longer be seen. "Please, find your way through me. Again, please give me happiness."
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Next Up: Subaru and Seishirou