X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ Yuuzai ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

Yuuzai

Chapter Four

It was the third Sunday of the month. As an unspoken agreement between them, Subaru returned to Kyoto every third Sunday of every month to speak to his grandmother. All other days of the month their words were exchanged through either the phone or faxes, occasionally pages informing him of an address where he had a job, and every so often, an e-mail or two. Though the last was quite rare. His grandmother had never seen the necessity nor the purpose of a computer and tried to keep their contact primarily to the phone. But as Subaru was not often at home to answer the phone, or he rarely even did if he was home, she had taken to relaying her messages to him on the answering machine, whether she knew he was there or not. She had stopped trying to interfere with his life years ago, accepting that he was a grown man that could and would make his own decisions. But she did worry.

Subaru had never felt close to his grandmother. He loved her dearly, as she was the last trace of his family that he had, as his father had been murdered by the Sakurazukamori before Seishirou, his mother had died giving birth to he and his sister, and Hokuto's life had been stolen by Seishirou, who had inherited his position from none other than the woman who killed his father. Yet still, though they both realized that they had no other family than one another, they had never developed a close relationship. Growing up Subaru had never known his grandmother to openly show her affection. Her compliments were rare but her criticisms constant. She had treated him as a student rather than a grandson. And in the long run, it made him the Head of the Sumeragi and onmyouji he was today, but it did nothing as far as emotional growing was concerned. But he did care for her and he knew she cared for him.

It was for that reason he respected his grandmother's wishes to see him each third Sunday of the month, no matter how it might inconvenience him while he was living in Tokyo. He made the trip by train in the morning and returned by the same means that evening. It was often suggested to him that he spend more time in Kyoto, as there was always a home for them there, but Subaru had not been able to consider it his home since Hokuto had passed away. It made him uncomfortable to be in Kyoto for more than a day. He preferred Tokyo. He preferred his empty apartment to the crowded Kyoto. And to be alone.

His grandmother was waiting for him when he arrived in Kyoto, seated in the main house idly sipping her afternoon tea. Subaru was lead in silently, as there was no need for an introduction to his presence. The servant who had lead him to his grandmother bowed respectfully to him before shuffling out of the room quickly, an act which Subaru found odd. It was not often that his grandmother turned away the younger female servants. She happened to enjoy their company and allowed them to remain with them while she exchanged words with Subaru and shared tea with him. He concealed the faint frown that wanted to surface and stepped forward to greet his grandmother with a traditional, respectful bow. She merely nodded to him and gestured for him to sit.

"Are you well in Tokyo?"

Dull green eyes lifted from the rim of his cup to regard his grandmother evenly for a moment. Swallowing the warm liquid, he nodded briefly in response. He knew he should have expected this. Their conversations did not typically start with her asking if he was well living in Tokyo. She had stopped bothering to ask months ago, knowing that Subaru would never give her an honest answer. Though he did not want to lie to his grandmother, he did not want to concern her with his personal affairs. Yet she always knew somehow. He supposed that was the intuition of a grandmother. And the reason why she had asked at all. Perhaps she had heard rumors.

"I was informed you had met the Dragons of Heaven," his grandmother continued, her tone attempting to pass her words off as a simple offhand comment. She failed in this, but Subaru would not lie to her.

"They asked me to help their 'kamui'," he replied.

His grandmother gently set her cup down on a small circular plate and folded her hands in her lap. "But you are reticent to join them."

"The end of the world has nothing to do with me."

Her lips pursed but she did not reply immediately. Subaru felt something as close to a scolding as she would give him at twenty-five coming on and absorbed himself in his tea. Least of all the people in the world did he want his grandmother to begin interfering with his life when she had only just recently stopped in attempting to control his wishes. He had no place amongst the Dragons of Heaven. Each of them had their own agenda that they would follow, and fortunately for them, all of theirs seemed to tie in with each one wanting to protect this earth. But Subaru's agenda was no more than to kill the Sakurazukamori. Joining them would interfere with his wish.

"I think they can help you," his grandmother said at last. "It would be in your best interests to join them. I understand the 'kamui' of the Dragons of Heaven is much like you . . . you could help him. And yourself."

Silence descended between them, broken only by the occasional song of a bird outside or a branch sweeping along the roof in the wind.

"You met the Sakurazukamori."

Unable to lie to his grandmother, as he knew very well that she had already learned the facts of his meeting with Seishirou and was merely keeping her knowledge of them from him, Subaru nodded. It also meant that she knew he had failed in keeping his promise. But he had failed before, four years prior, and she had not looked down upon him for it. She had almost seemed grateful or perhaps even relieved, two emotions Subaru could not understand her associating with Seishirou. She wanted Hokuto's death to be avenged as much as he did. But she did not want that to come at the expense of Subaru's own life.

"Subaru-san . . ."

"Obaasama, please. You said you would not interfere with my life."

"I am worried about you!"

For the briefest of seconds, something close to sadness flickered in Subaru's blank eyes. It was quickly replaced by the usual vacant expression as he shook his head. He knew that she was concerned for him, but there was no reason. He had made his decision about his life long ago. No one could deter him from that. And though he knew it would upset the people that cared for him, it was the only thing he knew to do. But it would take time for him to fulfill his wish -- time that he realized should be spent pleasing the people that cared about him and he cared for in return.

"Please -- you will be safe with the other Seals," his grandmother pleaded. "Please consider staying with them."

He was startled. He had never heard his grandmother use such a tone of voice. Nor had she ever showed this much concern for him openly. He wondered if she had a small idea of what he intended to do.

"All right," he said quietly, "I will consider it."

Keiichi Segawa had always been a lively, exuberant teenager of sixteen. His friendly nature attracted people to him without his ever intending to and as the Class Chairperson of the Clamp Campus he happened to be quite popular with all of the students. But it was never a popularity that went to his head. He treated everyone equally and never failed to welcome new additions to the academy as though he had known them for years. It was this attitude that startled Kamui Shirou upon his first day of attendance to the academy and an attitude he found himself being greeted by every morning.

"Good morning!"

The cheerful voice nearly threw Kamui off his feet before he realized that Keiichi had approached him from behind. Having been absorbed in his thoughts, as he had visited Kotori's grave only this morning, it took him a moment to turn around and greet Keiichi. The blonde did not seem to notice how he had surprised Kamui, but the latter did not give him longer than a moment to realize. Kamui did not like to be caught off guard and quickly hid any traces that he had been before anyone could notice. He did not know why, honestly, but it stemmed from a paranoia that had developed since Kotori's death.

"G-good morning."

"Here!" Keiichi fumbled with his back-pack for a moment before coming up with a binder. Balancing both his back-pack and the binder, he began shuffling through until he found several sheets of paper, which he held out to Kamui. "There's an English test next week. Since you just transferred, you can use my notes."

Kamui accepted the notes with a nod to show his thanks and slipped them into his own binder. As Keiichi began walking away, still talking about as many random things that happened to come in mind, Kamui had no choice but to follow. He did not want to seem rude and he did enjoy Keiichi's company time from time. The Class Chairperson was the only other person he knew in the sophomore class at the campus, while Sorata was a senior, Arashi a junior, and Yuzuriha of course was a freshmen. The entire campus was divided into sections, keeping him secluded from the few people he did know. Though he had not expressed it, he was thankful that Keiichi had gone out of his way to befriend him. He did not feel quite as out of place as he had when he had first come.

"Oh, there's a gym class today!" Keiichi announced. "Did you bring your gym clothes? Looks like it's going to be a short-distance run. Shirou-kun, are you any good at running? I'd rather do a long-distance run . . ."

He trailed off as he noticed that Kamui had stopped in his steps. His smile did not fade, but he turned slightly in the direction Kamui was gazing in, to find whatever had caught his interest and caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He lifted a hand to his forehead to block his eyes from the early morning sun as he scanned the area. Brown eyes fell to settle upon a young man who approached them at a leisurely pace, one hand tucked into the pocket of his jeans, the other swinging aimlessly at his side and holding a smoking cigarette between his index and middle finger. Keiichi's gaze fell to Kamui again, noting the surprise in his liquid indigo eyes and the way his mouth hung slightly open, a gape that soon became a smile as he rushed forward to greet the man approaching them.

"Subaru!"

Subaru's expression softened into a smile as Kamui approached him. Though he had only been acquainted with the other Dragons of Heaven for three weeks now and had barely made contact with them, he had been most interested in how Kamui was doing. In the brief period of time he had remained with them following the death of the girl and his diving into Kamui's subconscious, the boy seemed to have found a kindred spirit in him. He had been upset to see Subaru would not be staying with them, but accepted Subaru's wishes and did not question him. But as Subaru had shown concern for him when he was gone, as did Kamui for Subaru, always wanting to know where he was and how he was faring when Subaru did contact one of the other Seals. He was glad to see the Sumeragi.

"Hello, Kamui."

"What are you doing here? Are you . . . ?"

Subaru spared Kamui his dignity, understanding what he meant as his question trailed off into faint embarrassment, and nodded. "For the time being I will remain with you and the others."

He supposed this would mean that he would be moving into the home the Dragons of Heaven lived together in, not far from the Clamp Campus. His apartment was across the city and the commute did not exactly appeal to him. And he supposed it wouldn't hurt to have another adult living there, being that Seiichirou was the only one and Karen only visited constantly. So long as he was given his space, he doubted it would be as bad as he had thought.

"Shirou-kun!" a voice called. "If you don't hurry we'll be late for class!"

Subaru glanced over Kamui's shoulder to the young blonde that was waiting for him anxiously near the entrance. Kamui sighed faintly and looked up at Subaru.

"I want to talk to you."

The Sumeragi smiled vaguely and pointed toward a grove of trees on the grounds, an area that the students tended to use as an area to study, as there was plenty of room and benches and such, as well as a calm feel of tranquility over the area.

"When you have a free period, you can meet me here," he suggested.

"Okay," Kamui agreed, beginning to move back toward his friend who was waiting impatiently for him. He smiled and waved good-bye. "See you later then, Subaru."

Subaru smiled and nodded.

He watched until Kamui and his friend were safely inside of the school before he turned to leave. He could not help but frown at himself. For some reason, he chose to act much more differently than he did to the rest of the world where Kamui was concerned. He smiled when he was with Kamui, spoke more openly than he had in years, and though he had only been acquainted with the boy for a few weeks now, showed a great deal of concern for him. His behavior could have easily been blamed on the fact he saw much of himself inside of Kamui and did not want for him to suffer the same fate he had. Perhaps he felt that he could protect Kamui from such misery, but he did not know if that could very well be the reason. He was not sure what it was. He felt a strange bond with the boy, most likely due to their similar circumstances, perhaps more than that. But as it was, Subaru intended to protect Kamui with his life, as did the other Seals. He was too young to die in this battle for the earth's sake -- Subaru had lived his own life to the extent he could take it. He was willing to die, but Kamui was not. Subaru would not let him.

Subaru dropped the cigarette he had been holding while speaking to Kamui and smothered it with the toe of his boot. Immediately, he reached into the back left pocket of his jeans and drew out the pack of cigarettes he had put there this morning, tapped out another cigarette, and lit up. He had begun smoking more often recently for reasons he did not quite understand. He was under no amount of stress, had no pressing matters that were causing him to seek a reliever in a cigarette, nor had any thoughts that he could distract himself from by smoking. He just did. Perhaps it was simply a way to keep part of him occupied with something. He did not feel like finding the deeper, psychological reasoning behind increasing his intake of cigarettes in a day, and disregarded those thoughts in favor of another.

Seishirou had remained oddly silent in these past few weeks. Subaru did not know whether or not he should be comforted by that, as the Sakurazukamori could be up to a number of things in that time. He knew of two attacks in particular that Seishirou had made upon the Dragons of Heaven and Kamui both, in which he had drawn them within his own mariboshi. To create an entirely different world within an illusion was a difficult task, even for an onmyouji with the amount of power Seishirou had. If he were constructing the necessary illusions while he remained silent in this time, Subaru wondered if the Dragons of Heaven would be prepared for any sudden attack he might make. Seishirou tended to choose the most impromptu of moments to draw his victims within his mariboshi. If it did happened, Subaru did not think any of them would be prepared for it.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Startled from his thoughts, Subaru glanced over his shoulder to the source of a voice. A young woman stood behind him, one hand against her hip that seemed to naturally jut out, while the other hung uselessly at her side. Or at least for the moment Subaru's eyes caught and held hers. The next she was lifting that pale hand to flip light, strawberry colored locks of hair over her shoulder. Crimson lips quirked upward in a friendly, yet still almost suggestive smile, another action which also seemed to be perfectly natural and unnoticed to the woman. She was hardly modest, that much obvious by the revealing attire she wore, though still enough to cover up the things that would make any man blush in public.

"Karen-san," Subaru greeted.

Her smile grew slightly, and taking his greeting as an invitation to draw nearer, she closed the space between them until she was standing a comfortable distance from the Sumeragi, respecting his privacy. He and Aoki were the sort of men she tended to embarrass with her flamboyant outfits and open nature. She naturally tended to stand closer to men, enough that it could easily be misconstrue as attraction to them. It was a habit she had only recently become aware of and had taken care to make it less obvious. She supposed that was what one had to become accustomed to when said person happened to work in a Soapland. There were certain mannerisms and habits she had picked up that were difficult to drop even when she was outside of work. For the sake of her modest companions, she was taking into consideration to stop them.

"Hello, Sumeragi-san," she said politely. "Did you come to visit Kamui-chan?"

"Something like that," he replied. He was surprised to see Karen. From what he understood, she was the only Seal that did not live with them in the mansion that had been provided not far from the campus, though she did visit frequently. Her job had to be pressing for her time, making it difficult to be able to be with the other Dragons of Heaven as often as she perhaps would have liked.

Karen smiled slightly. "I come here sometimes just to see what they're up to. It must be nice to have the kind of freedom they have, no?" She laughed softly. "Sora suggested that I enroll here as a college student so I could spend more time with them and be closer if anything happened to come up concerning our little fight." She paused a moment. "But work demands," she concluded with a sigh.

"I know what you mean," Subaru agreed.

But his tone gave away that he was not interested in casual conversation. Rather, he was thinking of how she had mentioned Sorata's suggestion that she enroll as a student at the campus. It was possible that he do the same. Though he was twenty-five, no one would question him were he to enroll as a student here at the Clamp Academy, as he could easily pass for twenty or perhaps even nineteen. It would be an easy way to keeping an eye on Kamui and the other Seals, as well.

"Well, I'm afraid I must get back to work, Sumeragi-san."

Subaru shook his head slightly and turned to regard Karen. She smiled as she took his hand in hers and placed what felt like a piece of paper. Certain to wink playfully before she dared to leave, she spun on her heel and continued down the path she must have come from. Subaru frowned slightly and looked at the object she had placed in his hand.

Soapland

FLOWER

Hostess

Karen Kasumi

For the first time in a long time, Subaru blushed furiously.

"Sorry! I'm late!"

Subaru glanced up from the open book before him to greet the intensely emotional indigo eyes of Kamui. The boy dropped down onto the bench opposite of the one Subaru sat on, a stone table the only barrier between them. Subaru wondered absently why Kamui had such an apologetic gleam in his eyes. He had not been waiting long for the Dragon of Heaven at all.

"That's alright," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "So, fourth period is self-study?"

Kamui nodded. "Yeah." He frowned slightly, glancing down to the book that was open before Subaru. "Subaru, that's one of the school's texts, isn't it?"

"Aa." Subaru smiled momentarily. "I enrolled here at the college division."

Kamui was glad. He did not know why he felt close to Subaru, considering they had only known one another for barely a month now, yet there was something of a kindred spirit he found in the Sumeragi. It was a connection he could not make with any of the other Seals, though all of them were very kind to him and protective. He supposed it was due to Subaru having seen him in a way the others had not been able to. Subaru was the only one that understood what exactly was happening in his heart, having been there himself -- perhaps in more ways than one. Their lives were similar, after all. Both had lost someone dear to them due to another person dear to them . . . but it seemed that was where the similarities stopped. Subaru had been able to move on eventually, or at least he seemed to, while Kamui still suffered nightmares and anguish due to his friend's death by Fuuma's hands.

"Shouldn't you be in class, then?" he asked. He frowned faintly. "Maybe because of me . . ."

"I don't plan on learning anything here," Subaru interrupted. "It's just more convenient this way."

Kamui glanced down at his books, finding something of great interest in them rather than Subaru's dull green eyes. "To find the Sakurazukamori?" he asked softly.

//Seishirou . . . //

Perhaps. By remaining with the other Seals, the chances of meeting Seishirou again were much higher than they might have been if he had remained on his own and completely away from this battle. He had not exactly thought of Seishirou in his coming to remain with the other Seals -- anything more than subconsciously, that was. His grandmother had been the one that requested him to come. He viewed it merely as a way to keep an eye on Kamui and fulfill one of the few wishes his grandmother asked of him. But he supposed there was that lingering thought of the Sakurazukamori . . .

//Dragon of Heaven and Dragon of Earth . . . it seems the bond between us hasn't been broken.//

"You have tests next week, right?" Subaru asked in an attempt to change the subject. It did not make him uncomfortable, but judging by Kamui's downcast eyes and the softness of his words, it was awkward for him.

Kamui blinked, surprised by the change of Subaru's tones, then nodded. "A math and English test," he replied while opening his books to where he had last left off with his notes, which were nestled neatly between those Keiichi had graciously loaned to him.

"I dropped out of high school when I was sixteen, so I'm shaky on these."

The boy across from him smiled slightly. "Better than Sora. He's quick to teach me junk."

"I'll help the best I can," Subaru said helpfully.

Though he had dropped out of school when he was a sophomore, Subaru was not unfamiliar with what Kamui was being taught. He had dropped out in the fourth quarter, only a month away from summer, and Kamui was just now in the first quarter of the second semester. The lessons had not changed drastically from when Subaru was younger, enabling him to help Kamui to the best of his ability.

Eventually, Kamui glanced up from what Subaru was explaining to him to regard the cigarette in his hand thoughtfully.

"Subaru . . . the cigarette."

"Oh." Subaru straightened slightly and lifted the hand that held the cigarette from where it was resting on the tabletop. "Is it smoking too much?"

Kamui shook his head. "No, but if you smoke too much . . ."

Subaru smiled and laughed softly. "Is that all? It's okay." He shrugged. "There are some people whose health will be affected if they smoke too much, but I'm the opposite."

This was the truth. Ever since had had begun smoking months after Hokuto's death, his health had never been affected by the habit. Aside from the first week or so when he growing accustomed to the taste of nicotine, he could not honestly say he had ever fallen victim to a coughing fit due to excessive smoking or had any other health issues. The habit had always benefited him more than it had hurt him, for reasons Subaru was not exactly certain of.

"Is that why you always smoke different kinds of cigarettes?" Kamui asked.

"I don't care what brand they are."

The boy frowned. "So that also goes for the Sakurazukamori. Because if you don't do that . . . you can't win over that person." Kamui shook his head. "It's not any of my business, but still, it is bad for your body."

Concern. It had not been directed toward him by anyone but his grandmother for years now. It was oddly comforting to hear that Kamui was concerned for his health.

Subaru shook his head.

". . . let's continue, shall we?"

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