XVII. Closed
As quickly as it started, the memory dissolves into the twilight of the present. Seishiro still stands in front of his former student, Syaoran, a mystical feather in hand, with Syaoran posing for a battle.
Seishiro closed his eyes, the lingering reminiscing still in his mind. "You're still that boy in many ways…trusting…" Slowly, he opened his eyes, and a flash of light appeared on his right eye.
"Naïve."
There is a pause.
"I'm sorry but I can't help you this time."
Three sakura leaves fall onto the ground, and instantly transform into demon-like creatures, sharing the trait of a single eye in the middle of their foreheads.
Seishiro could sense the boy's growing discomfort.
"Demons are created to fight, so they are difficult to control – like these for instance. I can't do much to stop them from attacking."
One demon lunges for Syaoran, but he quickly fights it off with a single kick, until the rest start to gang up on him, mirroring a distant memory.
"Of course…I don't really want to stop them either."
As Syaoran continued to fight the creatures off, Seishiro continued, like it was nothing. "What I really want is to meet the strongest demon, the A-1. I hear that it can bestow eternal life – just like the vampires that I'm searching for."
Syaoran lands on the ground, knees bent, ready to burst with energy at any moment. "All this time and you're still hunting them?" He sprints into the air, doing away with another demon.
The older male can sense the younger one's confusion, amidst everything. "That's right. I have reason to believe that the vampires are A-1 demons. And that, my friend, is why I can't afford to keep you here."
Out of the corner of his eye, Seishiro could see the hidden silhouette of a young girl, the one called Sakura, clad in a bar maid's uniform. It is clear that she was looking for Syaoran, as if their destinies were magnetized, drawn to one another's as if it was their own. He can hear her say under her breath, "Where am I?" She looked dazed, as if awoken from a long sleep – a moment later she would see the predicament her love was in.
Syaoran was continuing to fight off the demons, and didn't look like he was stopping anytime soon. Why should he though? These demons served as a diversion, but also showed Seishiro something else.
"You've gotten better – Syaoran. Your technique's not perfect but at least now you can react to attacks from your right side much quicker." The feather in his hand disappeared from sight, absorbed into Seishiro's body, as it would remain from then on. He drew the energies from the demons into his hand, all of them forming a lance on his right arm, the singular eye protruding from the center, prominent as ever.
Sakura, from behind a tree, was trembling with fear – she had no idea what was going on and was never going to.
Syaoran has stopped fighting, if only to look at the monstrosity that had become Seishiro.
To Seishiro, it did not matter what he had to do in order to achieve his goal, his one saving grace from plummeting into the madness that was his own heart. What he had become, whatever turned him into the person, the shell, the being that he was, did not matter now.
All of this had to end.
"But no matter how good you've become…if I am going to meet the A-1, then I cannot allow you to defeat it first. So instead…you're the one…who dies!"
Seishiro lunges, charging in, his lance throbbing, at the ready to strike.
Syaoran stood still, his form rigid, his body prepared for the finishing blow.
This was it…this was the feeling that Seishiro had been waiting for…the feeling that he had grown accustomed to…but this time…this time it was increased tenfold – his heart was beating like a jackhammer, adrenaline pumping through his body - a high that he never wanted to end…
"Sorry it had to end like this!"
With that, he drew his lance, and ran it into Syaoran's body.
Sakura reaches out, words forming at her lips, but in the end, she can do nothing.
A flurry of sakura blossoms rush into the air, as if counting the number of people that Seishiro has had to kill over the course of his life, and adding one.
In all of this, Seishiro wears the same expression – half-lidded eyes, a self-satisfied smile.
Familiar sounds reach Seishiro's ears. Choked gasps are the only thing that now comes from Syaoran's mouth. His fists clench, his eyes are as wide as saucers, and his torso heaves up and down.
The feeling of his lance in Syaoran's body makes his arm quake, his breathing quickening under the immense pressure, his own body overflow with a multitude of emotions he cannot describe – only with one other person did Seishiro had this feeling…
He draws his sword out, the energies of the demons escaping his arm and surrounding, and eventually absorbing into Syaoran's form.
A scream wretches itself from Syaoran's throat.
Seishiro smiles, almost pitifully at the boy's fate.
"It's over for you…Syaoran…"
Digitalized pieces of his body start breaking off, disappearing – Syaoran's eyes widen with a distraught nature to them, the look of someone who can't believe that they are going to die today.
In a spurt of energy, the princess runs over to the boy, getting closer to him.
"Syaoran, no!"
The boy turns, his eyes growing even wider, this time with concern for the girl. "No princess, please stay back!"
Indignant, the girl replies, "No I won't!"
The boy grows even more concerned, worried about the girl's safety than his own. "Princess – you have to leave."
The girl shakes her head with a mix of fury and heartbreak. "No!"
The boy thins his eyes. "I can't let you get hurt too."
The girl gets even closer to the boy, putting her arms around him protectively. "I'm going to stay…"
The boy thins his eyes, a deeper level of concern reaching them. "Princess…"
With that, the two of them share a look, a conversation with no words.
Bonds…one that has existed for a long time…words that can't be spoken are revealed with one look.
The two souls disappear into the midnight, not a trace of them seen.
Needless to say, Seishiro was not expecting that to happen – he did not predict for the girl to appear by Syaoran's side.
He could only stand, if that for the time being, his right arm pulsating, the thrill of the moment still in his bloodstream.
He came to a realization that night – he had never opened his heart like that…to anyone…nor had anyone opened their heart to him.
His heart had always remained closed…and it would always remain that way.
