To Iambic, from Chichiri's Chica ♥
Title: Haze
Author: chichiris_chica
Recipient: iambickilometer
Series: Tokyo Babylon
Characters/Pairing: Hokuto, Seishiro/Subaru
Rating: I'm guessing PG-13
Author's Notes/Warnings [if any]: Spoilers?
Her world is hazy.
Hokuto enjoys the rain, even if her hair is a mess and her clothes feel cold and heavy and stick slickly to her skin. She drags her feet cheerily over the wet concrete and lifts her face up to the grey, roaring sky, then wipes the raindrops from her eyes with one quick swipe, sees the world clear for a second, then her world distorts again as the water lands on her eyelashes, cheeks, lips pale with the cold.
She takes a step towards Seishiro, and he smiles at her from across the street as he stands under the rain with an umbrella. Her brother is already inside the coffee shop, she figures, and she wonders if Subaru has slithered away so as not to share an umbrella with the man for longer than it's necessary, or if he's retreated into his solitude to ponder over feelings that he does, after all, have. Hokuto grins at the thought rather than at Sei at the gate, and her steps seem to her a kind of dance, of triumph, as she steps into the building with Seishiro right behind.
She sees the way Seishiro looks at her brother, attentive and tender, caring as he serves the two of them tea and asks about their day. The coffee shop is small and cramped, cozy with the red pillows on their chairs and the golden light that bathes them, glowing and warm.
Hokuto thinks of home, and family, and of how she misses it every day - with every passing parent that takes his child by the hand down the street, with every mother she hears sing a lullaby, with every father who is proud of his kid, with every table crowded and filled with people who may not share anything but blood, and love each other no matter how tough things get. She has Subaru, and Subaru has her. But with time their world will become small, and the bubble that as children kept them warm will have to burst, again, and like ships leaving harbor they will take up their separate travels.
Hokuto hates the idea of being separated from her brother. She figures that if she can make the bubble expand while she is there, before it breaks with time and tension and Subaru's shattered soul at his loneliness, if she can make it break and pick up every fragment, then she won't have to let go.
Seishiro is part of it. Seishiro she doesn't mind in her bubble, even if it stretches and may tear. Seishiro loves her brother, loves them. Seishiro is safe. Hokuto looks at his gentle, loving eyes and thinks that no matter how many fragments Subaru's soul can break into, Seishiro will do as much as he can to keep her brother's sanity unmarred.
Their trip back home is long, but to Hokuto it seems barely a minute, and she wishes that Seishiro would stay, just stay forever if Subaru would allow it - allow himself to close the distance he puts between them, between him and the world. But the rain hasn't stopped on the way back, and Hokuto is contented with that, taking cheerful steps as she walks back and forth from Seishiro's arm to Subaru's side, and it looks like the water chilling her to the bone isn't important anymore.
She dreams of the way Seishiro looks at her brother, and even in the dream, she has to look at him twice. She's seeing him and yet she's not, not Seishiro with the cruel smile and hard eyes that look beyond her. She turns to see her brother in a swirl of pink cherry blossom, bound against the tree trunk, struggling against the branches that hold him down. She reaches out to him to see her hand fade into his skin, ghostly, and she takes a step aside as Seishiro touches her brother's face, raises his chin and presses their lips together with the force of a storm. Subaru doesn't struggle, and that's what surprises her the most. The branches seem to slowly enfold the two of them until she can't tell when her brother's skin ends and Seishiro's begins.
The branches twirl around their bodies like poisonous vine, and Seishiro's lips and eyes and hands hold Subaru down, and the kiss her brother returns becomes as forceful as the one he gets. His back arches up against Seishiro's body and Hokuto wants to look away. They melt into one another, and Subaru's face turns into pleasure, then pain, and Hokuto knows it's pain, but can't, anymore, tell them apart.
She knows the way Seishiro looked at her brother back then, knows it now, and blames herself for not having seen it before. Her bubble's broken, but it has let just her out, and has kept her brother folded back into himself, eyes lost and heart broken in his own room.
Hokuto knows what she will do, plans it carefully with her brother's shattered heart in mind, and knows no fear. She dreamt it. She knew it. And yet the rain didn't let her see. She has to make Subaru's bubble burst.
She has to give Subaru his chance.
Her world is clear.
Hokuto hates the cherry blossom flowers scattered over the evening air, flying free in the garden around the two of them, her clothes feeling weightless around her lithe shape. She takes a firm step towards the man, still smiling, ever cheery, bloodstained smile that fooled her long enough, and looks up to the reddened sky, then the broken flowers swirl around her and, as she wipes the pink silk rain out of her face, she can look her enemy in the eye.
She takes a step towards Seishiro, and he smiles at her from across their battle garden as he stands under the tree, uncovered, petals blood pink like his lips. Her brother is already saved, she figures, and she wonders if Subaru will know when the time comes, or if she will, after all, fail, and her brother will be consumed by love, pain and death. Hokuto doesn't grin at the thought, but she looks at the man in front of her, so lethal, and their steps seem to her a kind of dance, of triumph, as she steps into the dark with Seishiro, unknowingly, and yet not so, right behind.
Author: chichiris_chica
Recipient: iambickilometer
Series: Tokyo Babylon
Characters/Pairing: Hokuto, Seishiro/Subaru
Rating: I'm guessing PG-13
Author's Notes/Warnings [if any]: Spoilers?
Her world is hazy.
Hokuto enjoys the rain, even if her hair is a mess and her clothes feel cold and heavy and stick slickly to her skin. She drags her feet cheerily over the wet concrete and lifts her face up to the grey, roaring sky, then wipes the raindrops from her eyes with one quick swipe, sees the world clear for a second, then her world distorts again as the water lands on her eyelashes, cheeks, lips pale with the cold.
She takes a step towards Seishiro, and he smiles at her from across the street as he stands under the rain with an umbrella. Her brother is already inside the coffee shop, she figures, and she wonders if Subaru has slithered away so as not to share an umbrella with the man for longer than it's necessary, or if he's retreated into his solitude to ponder over feelings that he does, after all, have. Hokuto grins at the thought rather than at Sei at the gate, and her steps seem to her a kind of dance, of triumph, as she steps into the building with Seishiro right behind.
She sees the way Seishiro looks at her brother, attentive and tender, caring as he serves the two of them tea and asks about their day. The coffee shop is small and cramped, cozy with the red pillows on their chairs and the golden light that bathes them, glowing and warm.
Hokuto thinks of home, and family, and of how she misses it every day - with every passing parent that takes his child by the hand down the street, with every mother she hears sing a lullaby, with every father who is proud of his kid, with every table crowded and filled with people who may not share anything but blood, and love each other no matter how tough things get. She has Subaru, and Subaru has her. But with time their world will become small, and the bubble that as children kept them warm will have to burst, again, and like ships leaving harbor they will take up their separate travels.
Hokuto hates the idea of being separated from her brother. She figures that if she can make the bubble expand while she is there, before it breaks with time and tension and Subaru's shattered soul at his loneliness, if she can make it break and pick up every fragment, then she won't have to let go.
Seishiro is part of it. Seishiro she doesn't mind in her bubble, even if it stretches and may tear. Seishiro loves her brother, loves them. Seishiro is safe. Hokuto looks at his gentle, loving eyes and thinks that no matter how many fragments Subaru's soul can break into, Seishiro will do as much as he can to keep her brother's sanity unmarred.
Their trip back home is long, but to Hokuto it seems barely a minute, and she wishes that Seishiro would stay, just stay forever if Subaru would allow it - allow himself to close the distance he puts between them, between him and the world. But the rain hasn't stopped on the way back, and Hokuto is contented with that, taking cheerful steps as she walks back and forth from Seishiro's arm to Subaru's side, and it looks like the water chilling her to the bone isn't important anymore.
She dreams of the way Seishiro looks at her brother, and even in the dream, she has to look at him twice. She's seeing him and yet she's not, not Seishiro with the cruel smile and hard eyes that look beyond her. She turns to see her brother in a swirl of pink cherry blossom, bound against the tree trunk, struggling against the branches that hold him down. She reaches out to him to see her hand fade into his skin, ghostly, and she takes a step aside as Seishiro touches her brother's face, raises his chin and presses their lips together with the force of a storm. Subaru doesn't struggle, and that's what surprises her the most. The branches seem to slowly enfold the two of them until she can't tell when her brother's skin ends and Seishiro's begins.
The branches twirl around their bodies like poisonous vine, and Seishiro's lips and eyes and hands hold Subaru down, and the kiss her brother returns becomes as forceful as the one he gets. His back arches up against Seishiro's body and Hokuto wants to look away. They melt into one another, and Subaru's face turns into pleasure, then pain, and Hokuto knows it's pain, but can't, anymore, tell them apart.
She knows the way Seishiro looked at her brother back then, knows it now, and blames herself for not having seen it before. Her bubble's broken, but it has let just her out, and has kept her brother folded back into himself, eyes lost and heart broken in his own room.
Hokuto knows what she will do, plans it carefully with her brother's shattered heart in mind, and knows no fear. She dreamt it. She knew it. And yet the rain didn't let her see. She has to make Subaru's bubble burst.
She has to give Subaru his chance.
Her world is clear.
Hokuto hates the cherry blossom flowers scattered over the evening air, flying free in the garden around the two of them, her clothes feeling weightless around her lithe shape. She takes a firm step towards the man, still smiling, ever cheery, bloodstained smile that fooled her long enough, and looks up to the reddened sky, then the broken flowers swirl around her and, as she wipes the pink silk rain out of her face, she can look her enemy in the eye.
She takes a step towards Seishiro, and he smiles at her from across their battle garden as he stands under the tree, uncovered, petals blood pink like his lips. Her brother is already saved, she figures, and she wonders if Subaru will know when the time comes, or if she will, after all, fail, and her brother will be consumed by love, pain and death. Hokuto doesn't grin at the thought, but she looks at the man in front of her, so lethal, and their steps seem to her a kind of dance, of triumph, as she steps into the dark with Seishiro, unknowingly, and yet not so, right behind.