Linage
Chapter 3
By: White Rain
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Babylon/X.
Genre: Drama would be the closest fit.
Characters/Pairings: in this part, Seishirou/Subaru, Kotori
Word Count: 1026
Rating: R for non graphic sexual implications.
Notes: Get the former parts
here and remind me to make a master list at some point.
Summary: Subaru nodded and wished he could dive under the covers.
-
Two days after he'd returned home from Angel, Kotori drifted into Subaru's room. Seishirou wasn't in the room, so Subaru had no one to hide behind. As she moved closer to him, Subaru clutched the sheets.
He had no idea what he was supposed to say. He'd taken lessons on how to converse with people most of his life, but he'd never been able to pick up on it. Even when it was grandmother teaching him, he was always tongue tied and shy, unable to shake the anxiety grabbing and holding him down while shouting at him he'd do it all wrong. His failures in that regard were ranked among the few times he earned physical punishments from his teachers.
"Hello," Kotori told him. "Do you remember my name?"
Subaru nodded and wished he could dive under the covers.
She leaned over and it took all of Subaru's will not to move away. "I'm not supposed to be in here," she told him quietly, "would you allowed to keep this a secret?"
Subaru shook his head.
"Oh," she said, sounding sad. Then she rested her head on the pillow next to Subaru. Her hair was so long it seemed to touch half the bed and Subaru couldn't avoid touching it, though he tried. "I'll make sure you won't get in trouble."
Images of her being in trouble in his place gnawed in the front of his mind. "Would you?"
"Fuuma might scold me," Kotori admitted. "But don't worry." Then she grinned up at him. "Do you like Seishirou-chan?"
Subaru nodded.
"If you don't want to talk, that's okay," Kotori said and closed her eyes. She yawned. "We can rest."
Before Subaru could even process what she'd said, she was asleep.
-
"I'm sorry!" Subaru said and then flinched when he realized he had spoken out of turn.
Seishirou closed the door behind him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I knew Kotori-chan's intentions and would have done something about it if I disagreed with them."
For the first time since Kotori had walked into the room, Subaru began to relax. He watched Seishirou walk across the room and could tell from his smile what he wanted.
Seishirou pushed Subaru down, rested on top of him. "I'll warn you next time."
He wished he could tell Seishirou he didn't have to.
-
"You'll be keeping my sister amused until further notice," Seishirou gave Subaru a thoughtful look as he walked across the room in order to sit down on the bed next to Subaru, "perhaps I should say she'll be keeping you entertained."
Subaru was comfortable with isolation. He never interacted with anyone but his grandmother and teachers as a child and Seishirou confided him to the room he'd been brought in the first day he'd arrived at Seishirou's castle and he was rarely told to leave it. This sudden change made him nervous about what was going to happen and why it was happening.
He said, "Yes, Seishirou-san."
-
Kotori and Subaru were working on a puzzle together when she said, quite suddenly, "Sometimes you remind me of Kamui-chan."
Kotori had arrived in the room several hours ago, and the two of them had been mostly silent, much to Subaru's relief. He fitted a puzzle piece at the top left hand corner and kept his gaze at the picture that was starting to take shape, "I do?"
Kotori put a piece next to the one Subaru had. "We used to play together until things went bad. He's lonely, like you are." Subaru wondered how she would know. He watched her pick up the last piece and complete it. Subaru studied the finished picture of two small black kittens sleeping next to each other. When he felt Kotori's gaze on him, he flushed and averted his gaze to the top of his hands. "Have you ever seen a live one?"
"No," Subaru said. Kotori moved so that she was arched to the side in order to look at Subaru's face. Something in her eyes made Subaru relax enough to admit, "My grandmother let me read sometimes. I always liked the ones about animals best."
"Have you ever told Seishirou-chan?"
Subaru recolied at the very thought and shook his head as hard as he could manage. "I shouldn't want anything." He thought of the fresh bruises on his hips and felt guilty.
Subaru didn't expect Kotori's response would be to look quite so sad.
-
That night, Seishirou did not come.
Subaru curled under his covers and tried not to crave Seishirou's touch and laughter.
-
"Seishirou-chan said you could have this," Kotori said on her seventh visit as she handed him a stuffed cat.
"Thank you," Subaru managed to say as he clenched the toy and felt a tiny bit better about not seeing Seishirou in a week.
"This is my last day here," Kotori said, dragging him to bed, "and I won't be allowed to write you so we won't be able to talk for awhile so I thought I could show you how to paint since you seemed to like hearing about it..."
-
"Don't," Seishirou said sharply.
Subaru nearly flinched away but through Seishirou's tattered clothing were ugly wounds Subaru couldn't allow himself not to heal even though Seishirou had made it quite clear many times he wasn't to heal without being ordered to. Working as quickly as he could, he poured as much healing magic into Seishirou as he could before his king could speak again.
"Subaru-kun."
Of their own will, Subaru's hands slipped off Seishirou's arm. He bowed his head and expected to hear Seishirou walk over to the closet to fetch the paddle he kept there.
Instead, Seishirou pinned him to the bed and crawled over him. "It's been almost a week since I've been with you," he kissed Subaru's chin and Subaru bared his neck. "I'd rather not waste the little time," Subaru forced himself not to reach up and touch him, "I have with you attempting to teach you a lesson I'm sure you'll never learn."
"I'm sorry," Subaru said, loathing himself more than usual, and then bit back a moan when Seishirou reached under his pants and stroked Subaru once, very firmly with his thumb.
"You're a terrible liar," Seishirou said, fondly, and bit Subaru's neck hard enough to make Subaru buck beneath him.