Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any of the CLAMP works.

"Let's go," Kamui said. "I don't care what this X means, but I know it will lead me to Subaru; so, bring me to him."

Fuuma clucked his tongue, and smiled. "You changed. You were so selfless before, but now you are so demanding."

"Stop joking and get going!" Kamui growled.

"Right, right. Here we go," Fuuma opened the dimensional portal and stepped through. "Are you coming?" He held out his hand to Kamui. The vampire grasped it, and was pulled into the portal.

The trans-dimensional roads were all around them, flashing brightly and colorfully, but the one they took was dark; so dark, that it surpassed the color of the night. As they were pulled along by mystical forces, which kept them on the right path, the other paths began to disappear from their sight. The blues, the reds, the greens, the yellows; all those colors slowly faded as they journeyed across the road of darkness, until only black surrounded them.

"I've a bad feeling about this," Fuuma commented, and he stopped, resisting the powers that were pulling them towards their destination. He held tightly onto Kamui's hand, almost crushing it in his grasp.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a little dark," Kamui jeered. He tried to pull Fuuma along again, but the hunter was adamant and remained standing.

"This isn't about the dark," said Fuuma, "It's what I'm sensing. It's too dark to make out the direction we're going to, and yet I sense that I've known that world before."

Suddenly, there were footsteps behind them. Swiftly, hunter and vampire turned around as one to face their opponent. The footsteps came closer, but it was still too dark to make out the figure.

"Who are you!" Kamui demanded. "Show yourself!"

The footsteps continued, becoming louder as they neared. When the figure finally stepped from the shadows and revealed its form, Kamui could not contain the gasp that escaped him. "S-subaru?"

A blink. "Oh? You know my brother?"

That voice, light like a bell, could not belong to a man. This was not Subaru. This person, who looked like Subaru, was a woman. Kamui had not forgotten Subaru's parting words before Seishiro had cruelly taken his dear twin from him.

That girl is waiting for me, Kamui... and your true twin is also waiting for you.

Kamui understood now, why Subaru could not be his true twin. Subaru could never be Kamui's twin, because this girl, who looked like Subaru and called him her brother, was already his twin. She was the girl who Subaru said was waiting for him.

"Are you waiting for Subaru?" Kamui said.

"Hmm...?" It was still Subaru's face that was smiling softly in that gentle carefree manner, but the voice which then spoke to Kamui was not his. "Yes," she said, "you could say that I am waiting for him. But I wish to wait a long, long time. I don't want Subaru to die, I want him to grow old."

"Y-you're dead?" Fuuma stuttered.

"Yes," she confirmed, giving a small nod. "I was killed." Her gaze turned inward, almost as if she were recollecting her memories of that moment. "Ah..." she said softly, "I will protect my sweet Subaru with all that I have, but if the man who killed me learns to love, then that spell I cast need not be activated... and the chain of tragedy that haunts my brother's fate will stop."

Kamui frowned. The chain of tragedy...? Why did he feel so much affinity towards these words? There was a relationship between himself and these words, but for the life of him, he could not remember why; it was as if a veil had been placed over his mind, blocking him from thinking clearly.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Kamui took a step forward and held out his free hand in offering. "I don't know about any chain of tragedy," he said, as he gently took hold of the girl's hand, "but I can promise you; I will keep Subaru safe, and when you are finally reunited with him, you can rest assured that he will be old and have lived a long, long time."

"Hey, hey," Fuuma gave Kamui's other hand, which he still hadn't let go of, a small squeeze, "I know you have a brother-complex, and she's a pretty girl who looks like him; but are you sure it's wise to make such promises? What if you can't keep it?"

Kamui ignored the hunter. "My name is Kamui," he told the girl. "Remember it; it's my debt to you, until I fulfill my promise."

The girl smiled. "Thank you so much, Kamui. Then, to show you my gratitude, I will give you my own name: I am Hokuto Sumeragi."

TBC...