Those Forsaken Ch. 13
Title: Those Forsaken
Rating: M
Genre: Angst/Horror
Characters: Subaru, Seishirou, Kamui, Fuuma
Summary: It all started when Subaru accidentally brought one home. Now Kamui and Subaru find themselves running for their lives, wrapped up in a fight neither could have foreseen.
Warnings: Vampirism, blood, physical abuse, nondescript nudity, etc.
Word Count: 7,951
Chapter 13
End Game
Seishirou was moving even before the dust settled, dodging the bits of debris. He could feel the spell that held him dissolving, freeing him from its grasp. The keen force of his focus was brought to bear before him, sending the door swinging open even before he burst through it. Then he was free of oppressing walls and invisible locks. The explosion had briefly wiped out his field of vision, blocking the rest of the room from view, and now that he could more or less see again, it was only to find the room empty, Setsuka and Subaru both missing.
It brought him up short, staring at the table where just a few seconds prior Setsuka had had the boy bent double backwards. The thoughts pounding through his head were cold, clinical things, each as empty as the next. She'll kill him. She'll want to take his blood if she has a chance, but he's a threat to her now. She'll kill him.
Seishirou had almost lost the boy once-he had not forgotten the biting cold that accompanied the thought of the loss. Already, the horrible emptiness was creeping in-emptiness where the boy had been. A gaping hole. And it was… awful. The realization was startling, strange.
He didn't want Subaru to die.
Of course, there was still the possibility that, even if he managed to get Subaru back, the boy would still be damaged irreparably. He didn't know how long Setsuka's fingers had been buried in the boy's skull, preventing the damage from healing properly. It wasn't just the lost eye, the physical scarring. That would have been bad enough. If she had stabbed deep enough, long enough, Subaru might have been mentally damaged as well…
Either way, he had to find them.
It only took a second to make the decision and then, ignoring the scene going on behind him-the chunks of stone fragments still swirling in the air, buoyed by impossible forces-he hurried toward the door.
Betrayal was a sharp ache twisting inside, suffocatingly tight, constricting his throat, breaking bitterly over his tongue. Kamui squeezed his eyes shut and forcefully swallowed the pain back down, locking it inside, locking out the overpowering mass of brilliant sensations beating at him. In the darkness behind his eyelids there was no blinding brightness, no stabbing clarity. Except for the shriek of mutilated metal and grate of grinding stone-sounds he could not quite block out, even with his hands pressed crushingly tight over his ears. Confusing sensations, like the buzzing of bees he couldn't swat away. He didn't know where the others were, didn't know if they were okay, didn't know why he hadn't yet been crushed by crumbling walls or even if his feet were on the ground. He felt detached, separate, apart from things like time and gravity, as if floating in a void, an empty space in the center of a storm.
The memory of that night he'd thought he'd lost Subaru-lost the only family he had left-was a raw wound, the fear still fresh and pelting along the edges of the void around him like acid rain, corroding it away. A rumble of red lightning flickered far off in the distance. It hurt (a terrible pain that swallowed self and sanity) to know the truth. Though he couldn't explain why knowing Fuuma had done it should make such a difference-should make the pain redouble.
Had he cared about the man so much?
The thought was strangely illuminating. And bitter. Had the man's constant presence been so reassuring?
He was such a fool.
The lightning hit closer, licked the edges of his thoughts now, brilliant flashes of molten fury, and the storm spiraled sinisterly.
"Kamui?" The voice was external, from the world on the other side of his eyelids. Fuuma. Startled. Uncertain.
And suddenly, in that place void of up or down or distance, there was direction. Kamui jerked toward the sound of that voice, amethyst eyes snapping wide, and the void cracked open before the force of his focus. The debris still circling in the air stilled in warning. Then it was too late. The storm pent up inside him lashed out, renting the very air as it sliced forward, the ground beneath popping and cracking with a sickening shriek.
Fuuma, still half dealing with his own internal conflict, didn't dodge in time. It hit him-ripped through him, slamming him backward bonelessly into the far wall, which cracked dangerously under the impact. He dropped to his knees, hissing at the stab of pain. Kamui was a sight-the focal point of the chaos that swept the room. The air vibrated, seething in a semi-solid circle of stone fragments and twisted metal-a shell of debris with a living, amethyst-eyed core.
Not his blood that had burst aflame, he decided, but Kamui's blood inside him, running through his veins. Liquid fire. Kamui's Power. Inside him.
It was wrong. All wrong. Since when had changing a person had that kind of effect? Sure, he'd altered the boy's blood, but that shouldn't have… The thought ground to a halt. Blood. Like that golden fire inside him, burning even now. Something about the boy's blood… Fuuma frowned. He had a bad feeling someone had neglected to tell him vital, need-to-know information.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the explosion had at least had one positive effect. Yuzuriha had managed to get out and was scrambling out of the way, having enough sense to not get involved. But his attention was quickly brought back to the problem at hand.
The eyes Kamui turned on him were empty, dead things. The air pressure doubled and doubled again. Fuuma knew he couldn't take another hit like the first. Desperately, he sought some means of defense. The boy's Power was inside him, coursing through him. He lifted his arm, testing. It flickered along his fingertips, gathered, faltered as he lost focus. Too late. The impact hit him hard. He hadn't managed to nullify the oncoming force, but some of it deflected, only shoving him back into the crumbling remains of the wall again rather than tearing him apart. The gashes sliced into him by flying stone shards healed almost instantly. Against his back, the building shuddered.
Fuuma wondered if Kamui even knew what he was doing, if he was aware of the rings of debris he stood wrapped in, curled weightlessly in the air-if he knew what an incredibly intimidating image he made. By the suffocatingly thick fury that still saturated the place, reflected in those amethyst eyes, he thought not.
Staring into that blind wrath, Fuuma had to admit that things were more complicated than he'd initially figured. Definitely more complicated…
Subaru's feet stumbled, missed a step, before he was jerked roughly forward again. The world spun dizzily, the blood running down his cheek slick and wet, splattering on the floor. He tried numbly to keep up, but it wasn't any use. He couldn't keep his feet under him. He stumbled again, struggling to discern height and distance in a world that had gone planar and flat. For a few steps he was dragged, feet sliding on the floor.
There was a calm, detached voice somewhere taking stock of the situation, noting with clinical indifference that the numbness was probably shock, telling him that this woman wanted to kill him. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why that should matter…
Seishirou… Seishirou had been trapped in that cell when everything exploded. Not to mention Kamui… All that rubble… All that falling debris… Burying them. They were probably squished.
The thought made him cry out, a sort of muffled wail.
And that same calm voice noted distantly that maybe the numbness wasn't completely shock…
He tripped again… and was dragged back upright. He didn't like this woman who was taking him away from Seishirou. He wanted to be with Seishirou. It was almost a whine. He wanted to be with Seishirou!
Then, suddenly, maybe having gotten tired of hauling him, Seishirou's mother slammed him unceremoniously into a wall. The impact ached along the set of his shoulders, reverberated along the line of his spine, the back of his head.
"Why you?" she demanded, slamming him backward again for emphasis. "Why does he love you?" Subaru didn't know the answer to that. The question didn't make any sense. Or, at least, Subaru had never thought about it much before. Seishirou had been around for so long, had become such a certainty in his life, Subaru had started to take that constant presence for granted. It had never occurred to him to wonder why Seishirou was always around… And now this woman, Seishirou's mother, seemed to think the man… cared about him. The idea was startling. He wasn't sure he believed it, but he didn't bother to point out that Seishirou had never actually said as much.
Funnier still, why was there a small part of him that hoped she was right? And since when had what Seishirou thought of him started mattering?
He didn't want Seishirou to be dead. He really didn't want Seishirou to be dead.
With the woman (Setsuka, Seishirou had called her) still grasping him brutally by the throat, Subaru knew he couldn't let her kill him. Not now. He had to protect Seishirou…
It was inside him, the answer. The thing he needed. It was a memory his nerve-endings knew, a memory he could feel in the spreading of his fingers and the curling of his toes. It poured out of him, unfurling further and further on all sides, until it stood, vast and immovable, encompassing not only the building but the entire city block. Safety. That's what it was. Protection. That was its name.
Kekkai.
Seishirou paused as it swallowed him, enveloping the world. With a sharp jerk of his head, he stared upward, astonished, as if he could see the end of the kekkai miles above even through the stone ceiling. It was a work of art, really. Beautifully constructed. He could tell by the way the peculiar calm cluttered up in the corners, cutting out the clamor that was his customary companion. Even in usual silence, there was noise-that background static of hearts beating and soft breathing and things settling, sighing, crying… Living sounds. Sounds that said he wasn't alone. But in a kekkai all those unnecessary breathing things were cut out.
The sound of nothing… like the sound of death... That was the sound of a perfect kekkai.
And Subaru's was perfect.
Seishirou rather liked it.
The floor shook suddenly, causing bits of dust and stone to rain down on him, and as he fought to keep his footing he came to the rather unpleasant conclusion that Subaru had decided Kamui and Fuuma were important enough to be dragged into it too. Hopefully the boy had thought to pull in the rest of the hunters as well. Trapping them all inside a kekkai would be a great way to eradicate all those pesky loose ends.
But more importantly, Seishirou thought as he followed the scent of Subaru's blood down the hallway, as long as the kekkai stood he was assured the boy was still alive. Not to mention, it would prevent Setsuka from getting away. She'd have to fight him now.
Good boy, Subaru-kun… But now you've put yourself between her and the exit.
Urgency hastened his steps. He rounded a corner, staggering again briefly as the floor practically buckled under him. Honestly, what were those two doing? He was moving again even before the shaking had stopped, traversing the length of the short hallway in seconds, rounding another corner… and finally, finally there they were, Setsuka's ebony hair coiling dangerously at her feet as she held Subaru pinned before her. She jerked toward him sharply as she caught sight of him, turning to face the new threat, keeping one hand on Subaru, attention torn between them. Swift darkness swept her up as she watched him approach, darkness to swallow the hallway and the world.
Seishirou met it head on, rushing to greet it even as it swept away the stone under his soles and the world remade itself around him, twisting into a thin beam, dropping away to either side. Bits of the beam crumbled beneath his feet, falling to the blue glow of water below with a sharp hiss. He glanced down at that, taking in the labyrinthine network of struts and supports and hissing liquid that made up the room all in one sweeping stride. A dangerous battleground. Setsuka stood with Subaru on a ledge along the far side. There wasn't a way to reach her. None of the beams connected close enough.
So he made one.
The maboroshi formed, a flow and flux of Power, sweeping out to tangle with hers, extending into the empty spaces, filling in the gaps like sand pouring between pebbles. He stepped out into the air between them, purposefully… and touched down onto a beam that rippled into existence under his feet a split second before he could fall through. A single step. A new step in an old game his body still remembered how to play. He smiled pleasantly up at Setsuka.
"I have to ask you to return the boy." She couldn't hope to fight while holding onto him after all. But then, it would be difficult to attack…
"To the victor…" she smiled dangerously, "go the spoils!" She flung Subaru away from her, out over the edge and the empty air, with nothing but the boiling blue water below. The flash of a single, startled emerald eye, then he plummeted downward-a falling star that would wink out far below. Seishirou registered Setsuka's hands coming together in the same instant as he registered the boy, and making his choice, he jumped, throwing himself down after that fading form far below. The spell hissed over him as he did, the crackle of displaced air, razor-blade sharp, slicing through struts and beams above him. Falling down after them.
Seishirou concentrated on the water first, pulling the illusion up into safe purchase through the hissing blue below. But before he could do anything about the impact, a soft string of syllables suddenly surrounded him-Subaru, singing the spell-and the air swirled wildly, softening the fall. Seishirou spared only a second to be surprised by the boy's quick thinking (despite what was surely oncoming shock and visual disorientation), already working to shield them, swallow them up into the very air, hiding Subaru from prying, wanton eyes. But even then, even then there was no time to stop, no time to check on the boy.
One of the broken struts crashed into the water. Then it was raining-raining bits and pieces of sharp, strong steel, raining acid. Seishirou jumped, hopping from beam to beam to avoid the falling debris, trusting that Subaru would be safe where he'd left him, well hidden and out of the way. In a world of shifting support and crumbling footfalls, he couldn't afford to hold still. But he wasn't expecting the boy to follow him…
Subaru hopped to one of the higher beams, away from that sickly blue glow and turned to watch Seishirou above him as best he could. It was difficult with his field of vision impaired and the right side of his head throbbing red and black, but now that he wasn't being dragged around, it was easier to compensate for the loss. Easier to find the point past the pain. It even seemed to be getting minutely better. Closing the other eye briefly, he listened to the little sounds of crumbling stone and creaking metal, a world etched in material resonance-felt the grip of the beam beneath his feet. Surety filled him, strangely buoyant. He could do this. He had been trained to do this.
Above him, where Seishirou was, now clearly visible, the water in the air condensed, solidified, refracting rainbows briefly through shimmering shards-a thousand glittering glass fragments sending slivers of light skittering to the far corners of the room as they sliced downward on the woman standing along the far wall. It took all of a second. Setsuka raised an eyebrow and the ice shattered in the air-exploded the same distance in every direction as though the space surrounding her was a solid, tangible thing. It was only as so much crushed crystal tinkled down that the sparkling dust briefly outlined a spherical barrier. The rainbows winked out of existence. Before the shards could settle, Setsuka brought her hands together and thin streams shot out of the ice melt in a rain of silver needles. Seishirou shielded, holding his ground on the beam, but there was nothing he could do about the ones that pelted into the supports on either side. The metal broke with a protesting shriek and the beam started to fall away, forcing Seishirou to leap backward, twisting the world into footholds beneath him like stepping stones thrown across a river. He swept his hand out in a swift horizontal strike as he leapt, and amplified across the distance, the force of it slammed into the solid stone supporting the shelf Setsuka stood on. It crumbled.
Down below, Subaru watched the fight, a keen and painful sort of panic pinching tight in his chest. The thought of losing Seishirou was a void yawning before him-a nothingness that threatened to swallow all sense of self and sanity. There was no hope in the thought. Without Seishirou, everything would be darkness. Endlessly. Feeling himself standing on the brink of that chasm, the smallest step able to send him to safety or swift annihilation, he reached out to the nearest strut for support, clinging with trembling hands to anything that could ground him.
It didn't make any sense. The two of them. Fighting. Hadn't Seishirou called her mother? And yet, there was no love in the lethal spells launched like lightning between the pair. It was a death game, fueled by pain and possession. What sort of mother tried to kill her own son? The thought brought a strange, sickly sort of heat washing over him. Fury, he realized, startled. If only she had been happy hurting him. He would have taken the punishment. But he wouldn't let her hurt Seishirou. He couldn't let her hurt Seishirou. No matter the cost.
The thought was oddly freeing.
But he was jerked out of his thoughts as Setsuka was forced to abandon the crumbling ledge, jumping to the precarious balance of the beams instead. Her feet caught and held the tricky footing easily, landing with perfect poise. She spun as Seishirou leaped down to meet her on a parallel perch, the space between them narrowing to nothing. Crossed arms blocked the brunt of the kick that came down with him. And for a second the fight was physical.
"That boy!" Setsuka ducked under the next blow, using her slighter frame to come up inside his guard. But her reach was shorter. Fingertips scored skin diagonally across his chest before he could block her. "You changed him. You gave him our blood! Is he so precious to you that you'd turn your back on your own family?"
"Blood has nothing to do with this." Seishirou faced her squarely, careful to keep to the parts of the illusion he controlled. "Give up, Okaa-san. Our game ended long ago."
"This is his doing. I won't lose to a child!" Her gaze flickered down straight to the place where Subaru was standing, and with a lurch, Seishirou realized the flaw. The only unpredictable factor. Of course, he knew which beams to stick to-could feel the myriad pieces of his maboroshi spun out around him.
But Subaru couldn't.
He could wrap the boy in invisibility all he wanted, but he couldn't tell him what not to touch. Subaru had gripped one of the struts with the fingers of a single hand-a strut that was part of Setsuka's original illusion.
Even as this realization was dawning, Setsuka pushed away from him, flipping elegantly hand over heels before throwing herself into the air, plummeting in a cascade of black, silk hair. A second behind, Seishirou threw himself after her, already knowing he wouldn't make it before her. Not before it was too late. Subaru had been injured. He couldn't defend himself. Not from Setsuka. He would be defenseless…
And the thought cut off with a snap as Subaru spun to meet her in the air, foot connecting solidly with her side.
From the second's look of pure shock across her face, Setsuka hadn't expected it either.
The force slammed her backward into the strut behind with a horrible crack. Then Seishirou was there, landing neatly alongside the boy, blocking the vicious strike that was aimed for his heart. Restricted in that small space, Setsuka leaped to a parallel beam, hands weaving intricate patterns before her. When Seishirou tried to go after her, he ran straight into the hard shimmer of a barrier. Cut off. Setsuka turned again on Subaru, the threat.
"You're the one who took Seishirou from me!" Her words were punctuated with magic.
"Do you love him?" Subaru asked her, reflecting the spell she shot at him and forcing her to jump back further. He followed, leap lithe and graceful, landing perfectly.
"He's my son!"
Seishirou pulled his arm back, threads of sorcery flickering along the length of his fingertips, before slamming it through the barrier. More spells flashed between Setsuka and Subaru, bright and brilliant and executed with breathless grace. Setsuka swept a swift kick at the boy, who spun around the strut behind him so that her leg connected with it instead. There was something wrong with the way Subaru was fighting, an elusive something that Seishirou couldn't quite grasp, sliding away in silvery streams through the fingers of his mind. It was too… reckless. And the thought finally caught and held: Subaru would never hurt anyone, but there was no restraint in his spells, no forgiveness.
But there was no time for further thought on the matter. While Setsuka was distracted with Subaru, Seishirou swept easily into another spell, the syllables solid and steady. A sheen of sorcery gathered itself around the words, licking along his skin, lying thick and heavy on his tongue. The weaving was intricate and tricky-a thousand different threads to keep track of in his head. Even with the speed of proficiency…
Setsuka stilled with startled recognition, turned toward the threat…
Not enough time. Seishirou held it till the last second, but he felt the threads dropping from his hold as he was forced to defend against her attack.
Neither of them expected Subaru to pick those threads up.
Subaru didn't expect it either. It was just… that moment when Setsuka turned and went after Seishirou, the world went worrisomely blank, then he was gathering in the fluttering strands of magic, keeping them from fading. Perfectly maintaining Seishirou's speed and power, as though they'd been working in tandem all along, Subaru flung the syllables into the air. There was a crackle as the remaining threads were spun with diametrically opposing power. A cloud of gathering static electricity. The promise of lightning.
Seishirou had about a second to see it coming and think it was not going to be good-and from the look on Setsuka's face, she did too. Then they were both scrambling out of the way.
The air around Subaru vibrated and thrummed, like wire in a windstorm. There was no time to stop it. Seishirou had just long enough to drop down to a lower level as Subaru's stark voice called out the last syllable of the spell, unleashing all that built up energy on the world.
If it was lightning, it was sheet lightning, black as night striking the sky. It whipped out with a snap like thunder, shattering every support on that level and punching through Setsuka's quickly erected kekkai. For the second following there was a disorienting silence, a void of sound. Seishirou stood staring upward, watching the upper beams come crashing down in perfect silence as though it were a dream. It wasn't until the first one crashed into the blue pool beside him, splattering him with burning water droplets, that he shook off the shock. And suddenly all the sound that had been sucked out came rushing back in deafening clangs and clatters as metal struck metal and toppled downward. Seishirou lunged out of the way just in time, leaping through the falling debris, concentrating completely just to keep from getting clobbered. The world narrowed to a deadly game of evasion, leaving no time to look for the others. It wasn't until the last of the heavy, metal rain clanged to a spectacular splash below that he was free to take in his surroundings. Subaru was the one he noticed first, a spot of white above him where the beams abruptly ended. He was clinging to the stub of one of the shattered supports, left arm dripping tiny drops of blood. Had he been hit by falling debris? Seishirou started up to him, reaching out to twist his maboroshi one last time as he realized who was missing in all the aftermath.
Coiled in invisibility, Setsuka pushed aside the rubble pinning her down. When she lifted her hand to her mouth, she tasted blood. Injured. But it had only been a spell. It was already healing. Still, that stupid little brat had injured her! It was infuriating. If she could just get the boy… If she could get the boy, it'd all be over. Seishirou would get over it. He'd come back to her. It was the boy she had to get rid of.
Slowly, she took stock of her surroundings: Seishirou, above her. But where was the… The boy, there, springing lightly from beam to beam up toward her. Perfect.
She caught him mid-leap. It was easy, wrapped in invisibility as she was, only releasing it once he was in her grip. There was no way he'd seen her coming. A little hiss of surprise escaped him as she brought him down. Very pleasing. And oh those pretty green eyes… she was the last thing they were going to see.
Kamui stretched one hand out in Fuuma's direction-the hand that had been broken, Fuuma noted-looking for all the world like a little god made mortal. A god of destruction, he mused, as the world between them quaked and crumbled under the pressure and he was forced to get out of the way. A little sluggishly. Turning the boy had taken its toll, and it would take awhile to compensate for the blood loss.
If he was feeling tired though, Kamui should have been exhausted. Draining the boy's body of so much blood alone should have wiped him out. Not to mention the physical toll of enduring the brunt of the change. There was no way he should have been standing.
Stubborn boy. Your body will break under the strain long before your mind does.
On the other hand, Fuuma considered, he just might be able to use that to his advantage. If he could tire the boy further…
Of course, that meant not exhausting himself in the process.
The ground trembled. Kamui, lashing out at him with that almighty Power again. The wind whipped viciously around the boy, gathering and churning in his hands, exploding into violent light. Fissures ripped open in the stone beneath him.
Fuuma could feel it, the same force gathering near Kamui-could feel it along his arms, licking at his skin… in the friction at his fingertips. He held his ground.
Kamui raised his arms over his head, all deadly grace, as though to call down lightning from the sky, and the dangerous distortion forming between his palms expanded. Fuuma saw it coming-raised his own arms, out wide, as if to block the blow. As if he could block that blow. There was an echo of it inside him again-the boy's blood reacting to the threat. Then all that fire he could feel burning through him focused down to his fingers, in the palms of his hands. The forces collided, the resulting explosion taking out most of one wall and collapsing chunks of the ceiling. Fuuma stood unmoved, ignoring the rock raining down all around him, attention held solely by the boy he could just see through the clouds of dust and debris.
"Kamui!" Fuuma called, trying to break through more than just the cracking of rock and distance between them. "If you keep this up, you'll bury your brother under all the rubble. You care about him, don't you?" The words cracked the blank amethyst of those eyes, and a wordless snarl briefly distorted that pretty face.
"Don't you dare talk to me about protecting Subaru!"
Fuuma blocked the blow that followed. He'd expected it, but even forewarned, the savage fury of it still managed to shove him backward several feet before he could stop it. Good, he thought, now they were getting somewhere. A smug smile caught the corners of his mouth.
He straightened, standing unyielding, facing down the boy across from him and armed now with the knowledge of what had to be done and how to drive through that mask. After all, he had already made up his mind.
I'm not letting you go, Kamui. Even if I have to break you until you come to your senses.
"Subaru-kun, hm?" he chuckled. "I wondered what his name was… when I tore him open." Another flash from amethyst eyes.
"Shut up."
"He was very polite, you know," Fuuma went on, ignoring him. "He didn't fight back at all." The calm, clear center of the storm that surrounded the boy rippled. Turbulent air slapped strands of black hair across his face and plastered his shirt to his shoulders. He was losing that unruffled, detached control.
"Stop it! Shut up!"
Fuuma countered that attack too, though even prepared the force rocked him backward again. But even the wind was breaking up now, the debris in the air all plummeting downward. And finally, Kamui's feet scraped the ground as he staggered, catching himself on a larger chunk of stone. Fuuma could see it now, the fine trembling that shook the boy's limbs, how he fought to stay on his feet. Ebony hair obscured his face.
"Kamui…" Fuuma started toward that pitiful figure.
"Don't." The voice was a growl, crystal scraped along stone, and Fuuma stopped, pinned in place by vibrant amethyst eyes suddenly lifted to meet his, by the determination in those eyes. Staring down that terrible resolve, he had a second to realize how badly he'd miscalculated. Only a second. Then trembling hands steadied all at once, Kamui slashing at him with that blinding Power, and Fuuma felt it slice into him. There was no time to avoid it, he was too close. It ripped horizontally across his abdomen and both arms, carrying him crashing back into what remained of the far wall again, the impact sending a scalding wave of pain shooting through him, the feel of bones breaking. Then the wall crumbled, unable to take the stress, and the whole thing crashed down on him.
He had miscalculated. When his head cleared enough to take stock of his surroundings, the realization was annoying. He had assumed the boy would have to recognize the limits of his body. He had been wrong.
But first things first. Choking on dust, he shifted against the confinement of rock, hissing when something in his shoulder burned as if branded. It really was broken then. But that at least would heal. It was the deep gash across his abdomen that was draining him of strength. Kamui wasn't the only one whose body could only be pushed so far. Frowning, he closed his eyes, focusing, and the rocks rattled as the fire singing in his blood gathered, finally exploding outward, freeing him from his stone prison. Clean air rushed into his lungs.
Exhaustion dragged at him as he pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dust off. Movement caught his eye, and he looked up, meeting Kamui's eyes. For a second, they stared at each other. Then Kamui started toward him, and Fuuma braced himself. Watching the boy traipse toward him in those few seconds, wondering where he found the will to continue with his body so thoroughly used up-it would have been mesmerizing if there weren't a good possibility it was going to kill him.
For a second Fuuma saw it coming and could only wait.
Then an unexpected streak of white flashed out, startling him. Of course, there was no way they could have gone undetected. Not with all the noise they were making and certainly not with all the destruction, half the walls collapsed. There was no way anyone could not have noticed them. But somehow it was still surprising when the pale-haired hunter, the one with the three-diamond mark on his forehead, appeared from behind the rubble by the door-what was left of the door-white cloth whipping out to wrap around Kamui's arm, pulling tight. Maybe he just hadn't expected anyone to be stupid enough to get involved.
Kamui fought the restraint at first, twisting his arm awkwardly behind him and trying to shake it off. Focused on Fuuma. But the cloth didn't break, only stretched taut. It had to be painful, the angle his arm was twisted at, bent back as it was. Finally Kamui seemed to notice too, furious amethyst eyes snapping back to see what had him caught. The next second the boy had turned on the hunter.
Fuuma took a moment to think maybe the distraction had been fortuitous after all.
That lightning-kiss crackled through the air again, and the hunter jumped back to the top of a pile of rubble just in time for it to crumble beneath him, wiped out with a dizzying flash of Power. Kamui didn't wait for the other boy to regain his footing, attacking again with a merciless fury. And again. He lashed out, all blind wrath. There was no time between the blows. But no aim either. He wiped out anything and everything in his path, whiting out the world. It forced the hunter back further and further, Kamui driving him until there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
Hell was cold and unforgiving and a little over five feet tall.
There was something wrong with his arms though. They were shaking, burning. Even the fury that had turned his blood to molten fire could only push the limits of his body so far. Kamui could feel it, that fine tremor of fatigue licking at his limbs. He wanted to collapse-fought it fiercely instead. The pain helped keep him on his feet.
That white cloth snapped out again, threading around him, binding him. Kamui snarled at the unexpected attack, struggling against the quickly tightening fabric until, forcing muscles to move past their breaking point, he tore his arm free. The hunter's eyes widened. Close. They were so close now.
"What are you?"
Then something changed, something broke. They were too close. The hand Kamui had half raised snatched outward to grasp at the hunter's shirt, and whatever he'd been intending to do, suddenly his teeth snapped closed around the other boy's throat. The blood that welled up into his mouth was startling, but he was swallowing even before he realized what it was, swallowing with instinctual desperation. That seemed to make things better somehow. The hunter struggled, trying to tear free, but Kamui's grip on the column of his neck was unbreakable. Crushing. For a moment everything else melted away. Background noise: the hunter's pointless and weakening struggles, the knowledge of Fuuma somewhere behind him, the revelation over his brother's near demise. The pain faded too, and Kamui wondered at it, surprised. Was that what had been causing it?
He clung to the hunter, clung to that dizzying relief, even after the body had long since ceased moving, stilled by death.
Then someone was pulling him away, hands wrapping around his wrists and tugging at his waist, jerking him out of that pleasant daze. Kamui fought them, refusing to let go, struggling to get free, especially when he realized who it was.
"Let go of me!" he shrieked, thrashing in the man's grip, shoving at that broad chest with shaking arms. "Don't touch me!" But the fury had melted away, leaving only a faint pain and the irrationality of exhaustion, everything coming crashing down at once. Fuuma ignored him.
"You need to sleep, Kamui. Your body's still adjusting to the changes."
Kamui's hands curled into claws. "I hate you!" he cried, choked. Because even if it didn't matter anymore, it still hurt to know he'd been betrayed-hurt worse than it should have. "I hate you!" Because he knew better than to trust the man in the first place.
Because unlike Subaru, he could lie.
He wanted to push Fuuma away-was too upset to stand to be touched by him-but he didn't even have the ability to do that. There wasn't enough strength left in shaking arms to be effective. And anyway, the man was pulling him further into his embrace, wrapping warm arms around his shivering body, all with a surprising gentleness.
"I know," Fuuma replied, running his fingers through damp strands of dark hair soothingly. "I know." Kamui struggled to stay awake, clinging to consciousness with everything he had, but the man was drawing him down, one hand curled supportively behind his head, exerting the lightest pressure to rest him against a firm shoulder, and there really was no resistance left in him. Just a vast emptiness. "It's alright now. Rest. You don't have to stay awake any longer." Kamui wanted to tell him that wasn't true, it wasn't alright. He didn't want to sleep. But everything felt numb, inside and out, and his body was a traitor, curling into the man's warmth, away from the stone-cold air. Then his eyelids were falling shut, and he couldn't find the strength to move anymore. And the darkness felt good.
Pulling her arm back in what would be one last, brutal strike, Setsuka snarled triumphantly up at Seishirou. She had won. Once the boy was dead, there'd be no more reason to fight. There'd be nothing between them anymore. But Seishirou was staring at her as though startled. There was blood dripping down his arm. Something about that stopped her briefly. That look. It was the look of the world being wrong. But no, no. She wouldn't be thwarted. She had won. She wouldn't be thwarted now.
"You can't have him!" But even the chiming of her voice held a note of desperation. She felt cornered somehow, something about the accusation in the amber eyes above. A low chuckle startled her.
"You should be more careful…" The boy, in her arms, emerald eyes flat over that familiar smile. "Okaa-san." The hand that slammed through her chest was unexpected. She gasped, choked, stared at him in shock.
"When?" she whispered, blood painting her lips. Subaru just stared at her, waiting for her grip to loosen-a Subaru whose eyes were amber. Seishirou. It was Seishirou with her now, Seishirou's hand inside her. That was alright, wasn't it? If Seishirou was with her…
She smiled-the most beautiful smile… "You've grown up."
And died.
Her body crumpled to the floor at his feet and slowly dissolved into petals, leaving Seishirou unsure whether he'd hit her… or just another one of her bloody illusions.
There was a small displaced air sound as Subaru landed beside him, putting those necessary few feet of polite distance between them.
That was the thing about Setsuka, Seishirou mused as he pulled a startled Subaru into his arms, still staring warily at the floor where the body had been. One could chase after the illusion of her forever and be just as unsure about the reality, whether it be after ten years or a thousand. Not Subaru. Subaru was exactly what he appeared to be. The fine black hair between his fingers was genuine, the thin body pressed to his was real. He could hold that body in his arms, assured it wouldn't suddenly fall into petals or dissolve into drab daylight when morning came. Reality, he thought, brushing the fine hair at the nape of the boy's neck.
Reality was a thing to be treasured.
Subaru curled into his arms, a gratifying warmth in the illusion's chill, and more… more forward than he expected of the boy. A tiny thread of worry niggled at him, a distant, discordant note in the boy's behavior. Damaged, the idea flitted unpleasantly through his thoughts. Twisting fingers around a sharp chin, he jerked that pale, blood-coated face up to meet his. The boy was covered in it now that he had a good chance to look at him, flecks of dried blood sticking strands of his hair together and thin shirt stuck to his shoulder where he'd been cut by debris and his face… There was blood dried in his eyebrows and splashed across his nose, but the worst was the vicious red smear streaking the right cheek under the crushed emerald eye. And yet… somehow it didn't look as bad as he'd initially thought. Was it healing? If it was, it was too slow…
Annoyed suddenly by the blood crusting that eye eternally shut, he scraped the nail of one thumb along the underside of the eyebrow, flicking away little bits of it.
Subaru flinched away at first before turning into that touch, pushing his face up into the man's palm. It didn't bother him, the warm hand there where he couldn't see. But he could feel… The scrape of a nail again, this time prying a bit of blood from the curve of one ear. A pleasant shudder shook him at the touch.
It was nice… not just that attention.
He had come. Seishirou had come for him. The thought was startling, thrilling. Setsuka's words echoed in his head, nagging at him. Why does he love you?
It didn't make any sense. Surely Seishirou didn't… After all, Subaru thought, he was clumsy, and a bother, and certainly not worth anyone's trouble. And if Seishirou had come after him, well that just proved it, didn't it? The man had had to pull him out of trouble… again. But the thought nagged at him: it had been Seishirou's mother who had said it. Surely she'd know him better than anyone. So maybe, just maybe she had been right… It certainly made sense of why the man would come after him. Subaru stared at Seishirou, blinking in startled wonder at the idea.
"What?" Seishirou asked, disconcerted by that unwavering emerald eye staring up at him. Subaru smiled in response-a beautiful smile that lit up his whole face.
"I love you too," Subaru replied, throwing arms around the man's middle and hugging him affectionately. Seishirou froze, surprised and suddenly… worried. More than before.
"Subaru-kun… are you feeling alright?" Seishirou stared down at him, trying to penetrate that blithe smile, but there was no falter there, and before he could inquire further about such strange behavior there was sudden movement behind them. The rest of the illusion had dissolved while he'd been focused on the boy. He whirled, only to find Fuuma carrying Kamui, the younger one unconsciously slumped in the other's arms. For a second they watched each other warily. Then thrusting Subaru behind him, Seishirou started across the distance between them, clipped steps threatening.
Fuuma's hold tightened on Kamui protectively, and despite the terrible weight of exhaustion, he pulled at the dredges of the energy he'd unwittingly stolen. The air crackled between them warningly. Seishirou halted, stopping on the brink of that terrible force, feeling it press against his skin. Dragging in a breath, it burned through his lungs. Dangerous.
"So that's the boy's Power." Eyes met cold, uncompromising eyes. For a few minutes neither moved.
Then Subaru ducked under Seishirou's protective arm and swept across the distance before anyone could stop him. Fuuma let the boy approach, letting that fizzle of Power fade away before the apparition of a blood-streaked face. Something about that soft smile crinkling that ruined façade just drained the tension out of him. He could feel the strain in his shoulders release as the boy drew closer. Subaru just had that effect. And then he was there, pausing to examine his brother with one wide, emerald eye. Fuuma carefully tilted the body in his arms when Subaru's fingers curled in Kamui's sleeve, silently asking to see him. After all, it wasn't Subaru he was worried about… Fuuma was distinctly aware of the amber eyes watching with unwavering intensity, following his every move.
When Subaru nodded in satisfaction, he relaxed further, feeling as though he'd passed some sort of test.
"Thank you for keeping him safe." Subaru smiled, and before anyone could react, he reached up and kissed him soundly on the cheek, while Fuuma tried not to drop Kamui in shock. The next second, Seishirou had dragged Subaru away, snagging an arm around his waist protectively.
"No, Subaru-kun! We don't kiss people in public!" Those amber eyes were back to boring holes in him, and Fuuma had the feeling that if the man wasn't going to kill him before, he certainly was now. But luckily Seishirou had to keep his arm around the boy to restrain him, and that was definitely inhibiting any threat he presented.
Subaru blinked quizzically at the reprimand, as though seeing nothing wrong with this. The man's grip tightened when he tried to shift a bit so he could see. Tightened painfully, bar-like arms keeping him firmly imprisoned. Clearly there would be no escape a second time. But escape wasn't what he wanted. He squirmed as much as he could trapped as he was, twisting to look up, to catch that amber-eyed warning directed over his head. An hour ago he wouldn't have understood it. Maybe he still didn't. Seishirou's motives had never made the best sense where he was concerned, but suddenly it wasn't so confusing as it was reassuring. More than any ill-conceived kindness had ever been. He smiled at the man and stretched up on his toes to kiss along the line of the jaw above him. "Thank you too."
"Subaru-kun!" Startled, Seishirou turned to look down at him, piercing amber eyes staring into him now. Quizzical. Curious.
There was no denying it. There was definitely something wrong with Subaru… But, Seishirou decided as the boy's fingers traced his mouth far from as tentatively as they should have, he fully intended to enjoy it for as long as it lasted…
Fuuma took advantage of the man's distraction to get around them. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen the last of Seishirou-the man had far from let them go-but at the moment there was an exhausted air about all of them, an ache he could feel all the way to his bones, that seemed to call for a truce. At least for the night. He smirked ruefully as he carried Kamui home, taken suddenly by the irony of the scene behind them.
"Kamui, I think your brother's going to be just fine…"
Author Note: I know this is a month late, and I'm sorry. But there's no way I could have foreseen this thing getting 8 THOUSAND words long! It was like it never ended! And I feel sort of justified, seeing as how this is two to three times longer than usual and I got two other stories up in the mean time. Also, does anyone know what form of martial arts Sei and Su practice? I only know Tai Chi, and I started laughing every time I thought of one of them calling out Seven Stars! White Crane! Embrace the Tiger! It just wasn't working for me. XD Anyway, I have no idea what would happen if two maboroshi were created over top of each other, nor if spells 'can' be started by one person and finished by another. I had to guess on so much of this chapter it isn't funny. Gah, I hate writing fights! Am I getting better at them or worse?
Note, damage to the right frontal lobe part of the brain can result in so many different functional problems, it isn't funny, so I narrowed it down to one that sounded fun: lack of restraint.
Also, I missed someone last chapter. Luna Moonserf also guessed that Setsuka was responsible several chapters ago. Sorry about that.
Finally, I apologize. One of my Japanese Major friends finally clued me in that children NEVER call their parents by first name. It is just not done. I thought family members would be close enough to use first names, but no. So I apologize if I offended anyone, but I hate to go back and change that last chapter now, because it sounds strange being formal in such a situation. Like when someone is about to be run over, you don't shout "Excuse me ma'am, I hate to bother you, but you're about to die!" So does anyone know if it works the other way? Like would Setsuka never call him outright Seishirou? Gah, I should never have gotten myself into this Japanese name thing… I should have kept it strictly English…
Just one chapter left. I want this thing done. There are too many incomplete fics in the world as it is. I haven't forgotten about the seal, I promise, there just wasn't room to get it into this chapter. Not to mention I need Kamui awake.
Chapter: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen
Rating: M
Genre: Angst/Horror
Characters: Subaru, Seishirou, Kamui, Fuuma
Summary: It all started when Subaru accidentally brought one home. Now Kamui and Subaru find themselves running for their lives, wrapped up in a fight neither could have foreseen.
Warnings: Vampirism, blood, physical abuse, nondescript nudity, etc.
Word Count: 7,951
Chapter 13
End Game
Seishirou was moving even before the dust settled, dodging the bits of debris. He could feel the spell that held him dissolving, freeing him from its grasp. The keen force of his focus was brought to bear before him, sending the door swinging open even before he burst through it. Then he was free of oppressing walls and invisible locks. The explosion had briefly wiped out his field of vision, blocking the rest of the room from view, and now that he could more or less see again, it was only to find the room empty, Setsuka and Subaru both missing.
It brought him up short, staring at the table where just a few seconds prior Setsuka had had the boy bent double backwards. The thoughts pounding through his head were cold, clinical things, each as empty as the next. She'll kill him. She'll want to take his blood if she has a chance, but he's a threat to her now. She'll kill him.
Seishirou had almost lost the boy once-he had not forgotten the biting cold that accompanied the thought of the loss. Already, the horrible emptiness was creeping in-emptiness where the boy had been. A gaping hole. And it was… awful. The realization was startling, strange.
He didn't want Subaru to die.
Of course, there was still the possibility that, even if he managed to get Subaru back, the boy would still be damaged irreparably. He didn't know how long Setsuka's fingers had been buried in the boy's skull, preventing the damage from healing properly. It wasn't just the lost eye, the physical scarring. That would have been bad enough. If she had stabbed deep enough, long enough, Subaru might have been mentally damaged as well…
Either way, he had to find them.
It only took a second to make the decision and then, ignoring the scene going on behind him-the chunks of stone fragments still swirling in the air, buoyed by impossible forces-he hurried toward the door.
Betrayal was a sharp ache twisting inside, suffocatingly tight, constricting his throat, breaking bitterly over his tongue. Kamui squeezed his eyes shut and forcefully swallowed the pain back down, locking it inside, locking out the overpowering mass of brilliant sensations beating at him. In the darkness behind his eyelids there was no blinding brightness, no stabbing clarity. Except for the shriek of mutilated metal and grate of grinding stone-sounds he could not quite block out, even with his hands pressed crushingly tight over his ears. Confusing sensations, like the buzzing of bees he couldn't swat away. He didn't know where the others were, didn't know if they were okay, didn't know why he hadn't yet been crushed by crumbling walls or even if his feet were on the ground. He felt detached, separate, apart from things like time and gravity, as if floating in a void, an empty space in the center of a storm.
The memory of that night he'd thought he'd lost Subaru-lost the only family he had left-was a raw wound, the fear still fresh and pelting along the edges of the void around him like acid rain, corroding it away. A rumble of red lightning flickered far off in the distance. It hurt (a terrible pain that swallowed self and sanity) to know the truth. Though he couldn't explain why knowing Fuuma had done it should make such a difference-should make the pain redouble.
Had he cared about the man so much?
The thought was strangely illuminating. And bitter. Had the man's constant presence been so reassuring?
He was such a fool.
The lightning hit closer, licked the edges of his thoughts now, brilliant flashes of molten fury, and the storm spiraled sinisterly.
"Kamui?" The voice was external, from the world on the other side of his eyelids. Fuuma. Startled. Uncertain.
And suddenly, in that place void of up or down or distance, there was direction. Kamui jerked toward the sound of that voice, amethyst eyes snapping wide, and the void cracked open before the force of his focus. The debris still circling in the air stilled in warning. Then it was too late. The storm pent up inside him lashed out, renting the very air as it sliced forward, the ground beneath popping and cracking with a sickening shriek.
Fuuma, still half dealing with his own internal conflict, didn't dodge in time. It hit him-ripped through him, slamming him backward bonelessly into the far wall, which cracked dangerously under the impact. He dropped to his knees, hissing at the stab of pain. Kamui was a sight-the focal point of the chaos that swept the room. The air vibrated, seething in a semi-solid circle of stone fragments and twisted metal-a shell of debris with a living, amethyst-eyed core.
Not his blood that had burst aflame, he decided, but Kamui's blood inside him, running through his veins. Liquid fire. Kamui's Power. Inside him.
It was wrong. All wrong. Since when had changing a person had that kind of effect? Sure, he'd altered the boy's blood, but that shouldn't have… The thought ground to a halt. Blood. Like that golden fire inside him, burning even now. Something about the boy's blood… Fuuma frowned. He had a bad feeling someone had neglected to tell him vital, need-to-know information.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the explosion had at least had one positive effect. Yuzuriha had managed to get out and was scrambling out of the way, having enough sense to not get involved. But his attention was quickly brought back to the problem at hand.
The eyes Kamui turned on him were empty, dead things. The air pressure doubled and doubled again. Fuuma knew he couldn't take another hit like the first. Desperately, he sought some means of defense. The boy's Power was inside him, coursing through him. He lifted his arm, testing. It flickered along his fingertips, gathered, faltered as he lost focus. Too late. The impact hit him hard. He hadn't managed to nullify the oncoming force, but some of it deflected, only shoving him back into the crumbling remains of the wall again rather than tearing him apart. The gashes sliced into him by flying stone shards healed almost instantly. Against his back, the building shuddered.
Fuuma wondered if Kamui even knew what he was doing, if he was aware of the rings of debris he stood wrapped in, curled weightlessly in the air-if he knew what an incredibly intimidating image he made. By the suffocatingly thick fury that still saturated the place, reflected in those amethyst eyes, he thought not.
Staring into that blind wrath, Fuuma had to admit that things were more complicated than he'd initially figured. Definitely more complicated…
Subaru's feet stumbled, missed a step, before he was jerked roughly forward again. The world spun dizzily, the blood running down his cheek slick and wet, splattering on the floor. He tried numbly to keep up, but it wasn't any use. He couldn't keep his feet under him. He stumbled again, struggling to discern height and distance in a world that had gone planar and flat. For a few steps he was dragged, feet sliding on the floor.
There was a calm, detached voice somewhere taking stock of the situation, noting with clinical indifference that the numbness was probably shock, telling him that this woman wanted to kill him. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why that should matter…
Seishirou… Seishirou had been trapped in that cell when everything exploded. Not to mention Kamui… All that rubble… All that falling debris… Burying them. They were probably squished.
The thought made him cry out, a sort of muffled wail.
And that same calm voice noted distantly that maybe the numbness wasn't completely shock…
He tripped again… and was dragged back upright. He didn't like this woman who was taking him away from Seishirou. He wanted to be with Seishirou. It was almost a whine. He wanted to be with Seishirou!
Then, suddenly, maybe having gotten tired of hauling him, Seishirou's mother slammed him unceremoniously into a wall. The impact ached along the set of his shoulders, reverberated along the line of his spine, the back of his head.
"Why you?" she demanded, slamming him backward again for emphasis. "Why does he love you?" Subaru didn't know the answer to that. The question didn't make any sense. Or, at least, Subaru had never thought about it much before. Seishirou had been around for so long, had become such a certainty in his life, Subaru had started to take that constant presence for granted. It had never occurred to him to wonder why Seishirou was always around… And now this woman, Seishirou's mother, seemed to think the man… cared about him. The idea was startling. He wasn't sure he believed it, but he didn't bother to point out that Seishirou had never actually said as much.
Funnier still, why was there a small part of him that hoped she was right? And since when had what Seishirou thought of him started mattering?
He didn't want Seishirou to be dead. He really didn't want Seishirou to be dead.
With the woman (Setsuka, Seishirou had called her) still grasping him brutally by the throat, Subaru knew he couldn't let her kill him. Not now. He had to protect Seishirou…
It was inside him, the answer. The thing he needed. It was a memory his nerve-endings knew, a memory he could feel in the spreading of his fingers and the curling of his toes. It poured out of him, unfurling further and further on all sides, until it stood, vast and immovable, encompassing not only the building but the entire city block. Safety. That's what it was. Protection. That was its name.
Kekkai.
Seishirou paused as it swallowed him, enveloping the world. With a sharp jerk of his head, he stared upward, astonished, as if he could see the end of the kekkai miles above even through the stone ceiling. It was a work of art, really. Beautifully constructed. He could tell by the way the peculiar calm cluttered up in the corners, cutting out the clamor that was his customary companion. Even in usual silence, there was noise-that background static of hearts beating and soft breathing and things settling, sighing, crying… Living sounds. Sounds that said he wasn't alone. But in a kekkai all those unnecessary breathing things were cut out.
The sound of nothing… like the sound of death... That was the sound of a perfect kekkai.
And Subaru's was perfect.
Seishirou rather liked it.
The floor shook suddenly, causing bits of dust and stone to rain down on him, and as he fought to keep his footing he came to the rather unpleasant conclusion that Subaru had decided Kamui and Fuuma were important enough to be dragged into it too. Hopefully the boy had thought to pull in the rest of the hunters as well. Trapping them all inside a kekkai would be a great way to eradicate all those pesky loose ends.
But more importantly, Seishirou thought as he followed the scent of Subaru's blood down the hallway, as long as the kekkai stood he was assured the boy was still alive. Not to mention, it would prevent Setsuka from getting away. She'd have to fight him now.
Good boy, Subaru-kun… But now you've put yourself between her and the exit.
Urgency hastened his steps. He rounded a corner, staggering again briefly as the floor practically buckled under him. Honestly, what were those two doing? He was moving again even before the shaking had stopped, traversing the length of the short hallway in seconds, rounding another corner… and finally, finally there they were, Setsuka's ebony hair coiling dangerously at her feet as she held Subaru pinned before her. She jerked toward him sharply as she caught sight of him, turning to face the new threat, keeping one hand on Subaru, attention torn between them. Swift darkness swept her up as she watched him approach, darkness to swallow the hallway and the world.
Seishirou met it head on, rushing to greet it even as it swept away the stone under his soles and the world remade itself around him, twisting into a thin beam, dropping away to either side. Bits of the beam crumbled beneath his feet, falling to the blue glow of water below with a sharp hiss. He glanced down at that, taking in the labyrinthine network of struts and supports and hissing liquid that made up the room all in one sweeping stride. A dangerous battleground. Setsuka stood with Subaru on a ledge along the far side. There wasn't a way to reach her. None of the beams connected close enough.
So he made one.
The maboroshi formed, a flow and flux of Power, sweeping out to tangle with hers, extending into the empty spaces, filling in the gaps like sand pouring between pebbles. He stepped out into the air between them, purposefully… and touched down onto a beam that rippled into existence under his feet a split second before he could fall through. A single step. A new step in an old game his body still remembered how to play. He smiled pleasantly up at Setsuka.
"I have to ask you to return the boy." She couldn't hope to fight while holding onto him after all. But then, it would be difficult to attack…
"To the victor…" she smiled dangerously, "go the spoils!" She flung Subaru away from her, out over the edge and the empty air, with nothing but the boiling blue water below. The flash of a single, startled emerald eye, then he plummeted downward-a falling star that would wink out far below. Seishirou registered Setsuka's hands coming together in the same instant as he registered the boy, and making his choice, he jumped, throwing himself down after that fading form far below. The spell hissed over him as he did, the crackle of displaced air, razor-blade sharp, slicing through struts and beams above him. Falling down after them.
Seishirou concentrated on the water first, pulling the illusion up into safe purchase through the hissing blue below. But before he could do anything about the impact, a soft string of syllables suddenly surrounded him-Subaru, singing the spell-and the air swirled wildly, softening the fall. Seishirou spared only a second to be surprised by the boy's quick thinking (despite what was surely oncoming shock and visual disorientation), already working to shield them, swallow them up into the very air, hiding Subaru from prying, wanton eyes. But even then, even then there was no time to stop, no time to check on the boy.
One of the broken struts crashed into the water. Then it was raining-raining bits and pieces of sharp, strong steel, raining acid. Seishirou jumped, hopping from beam to beam to avoid the falling debris, trusting that Subaru would be safe where he'd left him, well hidden and out of the way. In a world of shifting support and crumbling footfalls, he couldn't afford to hold still. But he wasn't expecting the boy to follow him…
Subaru hopped to one of the higher beams, away from that sickly blue glow and turned to watch Seishirou above him as best he could. It was difficult with his field of vision impaired and the right side of his head throbbing red and black, but now that he wasn't being dragged around, it was easier to compensate for the loss. Easier to find the point past the pain. It even seemed to be getting minutely better. Closing the other eye briefly, he listened to the little sounds of crumbling stone and creaking metal, a world etched in material resonance-felt the grip of the beam beneath his feet. Surety filled him, strangely buoyant. He could do this. He had been trained to do this.
Above him, where Seishirou was, now clearly visible, the water in the air condensed, solidified, refracting rainbows briefly through shimmering shards-a thousand glittering glass fragments sending slivers of light skittering to the far corners of the room as they sliced downward on the woman standing along the far wall. It took all of a second. Setsuka raised an eyebrow and the ice shattered in the air-exploded the same distance in every direction as though the space surrounding her was a solid, tangible thing. It was only as so much crushed crystal tinkled down that the sparkling dust briefly outlined a spherical barrier. The rainbows winked out of existence. Before the shards could settle, Setsuka brought her hands together and thin streams shot out of the ice melt in a rain of silver needles. Seishirou shielded, holding his ground on the beam, but there was nothing he could do about the ones that pelted into the supports on either side. The metal broke with a protesting shriek and the beam started to fall away, forcing Seishirou to leap backward, twisting the world into footholds beneath him like stepping stones thrown across a river. He swept his hand out in a swift horizontal strike as he leapt, and amplified across the distance, the force of it slammed into the solid stone supporting the shelf Setsuka stood on. It crumbled.
Down below, Subaru watched the fight, a keen and painful sort of panic pinching tight in his chest. The thought of losing Seishirou was a void yawning before him-a nothingness that threatened to swallow all sense of self and sanity. There was no hope in the thought. Without Seishirou, everything would be darkness. Endlessly. Feeling himself standing on the brink of that chasm, the smallest step able to send him to safety or swift annihilation, he reached out to the nearest strut for support, clinging with trembling hands to anything that could ground him.
It didn't make any sense. The two of them. Fighting. Hadn't Seishirou called her mother? And yet, there was no love in the lethal spells launched like lightning between the pair. It was a death game, fueled by pain and possession. What sort of mother tried to kill her own son? The thought brought a strange, sickly sort of heat washing over him. Fury, he realized, startled. If only she had been happy hurting him. He would have taken the punishment. But he wouldn't let her hurt Seishirou. He couldn't let her hurt Seishirou. No matter the cost.
The thought was oddly freeing.
But he was jerked out of his thoughts as Setsuka was forced to abandon the crumbling ledge, jumping to the precarious balance of the beams instead. Her feet caught and held the tricky footing easily, landing with perfect poise. She spun as Seishirou leaped down to meet her on a parallel perch, the space between them narrowing to nothing. Crossed arms blocked the brunt of the kick that came down with him. And for a second the fight was physical.
"That boy!" Setsuka ducked under the next blow, using her slighter frame to come up inside his guard. But her reach was shorter. Fingertips scored skin diagonally across his chest before he could block her. "You changed him. You gave him our blood! Is he so precious to you that you'd turn your back on your own family?"
"Blood has nothing to do with this." Seishirou faced her squarely, careful to keep to the parts of the illusion he controlled. "Give up, Okaa-san. Our game ended long ago."
"This is his doing. I won't lose to a child!" Her gaze flickered down straight to the place where Subaru was standing, and with a lurch, Seishirou realized the flaw. The only unpredictable factor. Of course, he knew which beams to stick to-could feel the myriad pieces of his maboroshi spun out around him.
But Subaru couldn't.
He could wrap the boy in invisibility all he wanted, but he couldn't tell him what not to touch. Subaru had gripped one of the struts with the fingers of a single hand-a strut that was part of Setsuka's original illusion.
Even as this realization was dawning, Setsuka pushed away from him, flipping elegantly hand over heels before throwing herself into the air, plummeting in a cascade of black, silk hair. A second behind, Seishirou threw himself after her, already knowing he wouldn't make it before her. Not before it was too late. Subaru had been injured. He couldn't defend himself. Not from Setsuka. He would be defenseless…
And the thought cut off with a snap as Subaru spun to meet her in the air, foot connecting solidly with her side.
From the second's look of pure shock across her face, Setsuka hadn't expected it either.
The force slammed her backward into the strut behind with a horrible crack. Then Seishirou was there, landing neatly alongside the boy, blocking the vicious strike that was aimed for his heart. Restricted in that small space, Setsuka leaped to a parallel beam, hands weaving intricate patterns before her. When Seishirou tried to go after her, he ran straight into the hard shimmer of a barrier. Cut off. Setsuka turned again on Subaru, the threat.
"You're the one who took Seishirou from me!" Her words were punctuated with magic.
"Do you love him?" Subaru asked her, reflecting the spell she shot at him and forcing her to jump back further. He followed, leap lithe and graceful, landing perfectly.
"He's my son!"
Seishirou pulled his arm back, threads of sorcery flickering along the length of his fingertips, before slamming it through the barrier. More spells flashed between Setsuka and Subaru, bright and brilliant and executed with breathless grace. Setsuka swept a swift kick at the boy, who spun around the strut behind him so that her leg connected with it instead. There was something wrong with the way Subaru was fighting, an elusive something that Seishirou couldn't quite grasp, sliding away in silvery streams through the fingers of his mind. It was too… reckless. And the thought finally caught and held: Subaru would never hurt anyone, but there was no restraint in his spells, no forgiveness.
But there was no time for further thought on the matter. While Setsuka was distracted with Subaru, Seishirou swept easily into another spell, the syllables solid and steady. A sheen of sorcery gathered itself around the words, licking along his skin, lying thick and heavy on his tongue. The weaving was intricate and tricky-a thousand different threads to keep track of in his head. Even with the speed of proficiency…
Setsuka stilled with startled recognition, turned toward the threat…
Not enough time. Seishirou held it till the last second, but he felt the threads dropping from his hold as he was forced to defend against her attack.
Neither of them expected Subaru to pick those threads up.
Subaru didn't expect it either. It was just… that moment when Setsuka turned and went after Seishirou, the world went worrisomely blank, then he was gathering in the fluttering strands of magic, keeping them from fading. Perfectly maintaining Seishirou's speed and power, as though they'd been working in tandem all along, Subaru flung the syllables into the air. There was a crackle as the remaining threads were spun with diametrically opposing power. A cloud of gathering static electricity. The promise of lightning.
Seishirou had about a second to see it coming and think it was not going to be good-and from the look on Setsuka's face, she did too. Then they were both scrambling out of the way.
The air around Subaru vibrated and thrummed, like wire in a windstorm. There was no time to stop it. Seishirou had just long enough to drop down to a lower level as Subaru's stark voice called out the last syllable of the spell, unleashing all that built up energy on the world.
If it was lightning, it was sheet lightning, black as night striking the sky. It whipped out with a snap like thunder, shattering every support on that level and punching through Setsuka's quickly erected kekkai. For the second following there was a disorienting silence, a void of sound. Seishirou stood staring upward, watching the upper beams come crashing down in perfect silence as though it were a dream. It wasn't until the first one crashed into the blue pool beside him, splattering him with burning water droplets, that he shook off the shock. And suddenly all the sound that had been sucked out came rushing back in deafening clangs and clatters as metal struck metal and toppled downward. Seishirou lunged out of the way just in time, leaping through the falling debris, concentrating completely just to keep from getting clobbered. The world narrowed to a deadly game of evasion, leaving no time to look for the others. It wasn't until the last of the heavy, metal rain clanged to a spectacular splash below that he was free to take in his surroundings. Subaru was the one he noticed first, a spot of white above him where the beams abruptly ended. He was clinging to the stub of one of the shattered supports, left arm dripping tiny drops of blood. Had he been hit by falling debris? Seishirou started up to him, reaching out to twist his maboroshi one last time as he realized who was missing in all the aftermath.
Coiled in invisibility, Setsuka pushed aside the rubble pinning her down. When she lifted her hand to her mouth, she tasted blood. Injured. But it had only been a spell. It was already healing. Still, that stupid little brat had injured her! It was infuriating. If she could just get the boy… If she could get the boy, it'd all be over. Seishirou would get over it. He'd come back to her. It was the boy she had to get rid of.
Slowly, she took stock of her surroundings: Seishirou, above her. But where was the… The boy, there, springing lightly from beam to beam up toward her. Perfect.
She caught him mid-leap. It was easy, wrapped in invisibility as she was, only releasing it once he was in her grip. There was no way he'd seen her coming. A little hiss of surprise escaped him as she brought him down. Very pleasing. And oh those pretty green eyes… she was the last thing they were going to see.
Kamui stretched one hand out in Fuuma's direction-the hand that had been broken, Fuuma noted-looking for all the world like a little god made mortal. A god of destruction, he mused, as the world between them quaked and crumbled under the pressure and he was forced to get out of the way. A little sluggishly. Turning the boy had taken its toll, and it would take awhile to compensate for the blood loss.
If he was feeling tired though, Kamui should have been exhausted. Draining the boy's body of so much blood alone should have wiped him out. Not to mention the physical toll of enduring the brunt of the change. There was no way he should have been standing.
Stubborn boy. Your body will break under the strain long before your mind does.
On the other hand, Fuuma considered, he just might be able to use that to his advantage. If he could tire the boy further…
Of course, that meant not exhausting himself in the process.
The ground trembled. Kamui, lashing out at him with that almighty Power again. The wind whipped viciously around the boy, gathering and churning in his hands, exploding into violent light. Fissures ripped open in the stone beneath him.
Fuuma could feel it, the same force gathering near Kamui-could feel it along his arms, licking at his skin… in the friction at his fingertips. He held his ground.
Kamui raised his arms over his head, all deadly grace, as though to call down lightning from the sky, and the dangerous distortion forming between his palms expanded. Fuuma saw it coming-raised his own arms, out wide, as if to block the blow. As if he could block that blow. There was an echo of it inside him again-the boy's blood reacting to the threat. Then all that fire he could feel burning through him focused down to his fingers, in the palms of his hands. The forces collided, the resulting explosion taking out most of one wall and collapsing chunks of the ceiling. Fuuma stood unmoved, ignoring the rock raining down all around him, attention held solely by the boy he could just see through the clouds of dust and debris.
"Kamui!" Fuuma called, trying to break through more than just the cracking of rock and distance between them. "If you keep this up, you'll bury your brother under all the rubble. You care about him, don't you?" The words cracked the blank amethyst of those eyes, and a wordless snarl briefly distorted that pretty face.
"Don't you dare talk to me about protecting Subaru!"
Fuuma blocked the blow that followed. He'd expected it, but even forewarned, the savage fury of it still managed to shove him backward several feet before he could stop it. Good, he thought, now they were getting somewhere. A smug smile caught the corners of his mouth.
He straightened, standing unyielding, facing down the boy across from him and armed now with the knowledge of what had to be done and how to drive through that mask. After all, he had already made up his mind.
I'm not letting you go, Kamui. Even if I have to break you until you come to your senses.
"Subaru-kun, hm?" he chuckled. "I wondered what his name was… when I tore him open." Another flash from amethyst eyes.
"Shut up."
"He was very polite, you know," Fuuma went on, ignoring him. "He didn't fight back at all." The calm, clear center of the storm that surrounded the boy rippled. Turbulent air slapped strands of black hair across his face and plastered his shirt to his shoulders. He was losing that unruffled, detached control.
"Stop it! Shut up!"
Fuuma countered that attack too, though even prepared the force rocked him backward again. But even the wind was breaking up now, the debris in the air all plummeting downward. And finally, Kamui's feet scraped the ground as he staggered, catching himself on a larger chunk of stone. Fuuma could see it now, the fine trembling that shook the boy's limbs, how he fought to stay on his feet. Ebony hair obscured his face.
"Kamui…" Fuuma started toward that pitiful figure.
"Don't." The voice was a growl, crystal scraped along stone, and Fuuma stopped, pinned in place by vibrant amethyst eyes suddenly lifted to meet his, by the determination in those eyes. Staring down that terrible resolve, he had a second to realize how badly he'd miscalculated. Only a second. Then trembling hands steadied all at once, Kamui slashing at him with that blinding Power, and Fuuma felt it slice into him. There was no time to avoid it, he was too close. It ripped horizontally across his abdomen and both arms, carrying him crashing back into what remained of the far wall again, the impact sending a scalding wave of pain shooting through him, the feel of bones breaking. Then the wall crumbled, unable to take the stress, and the whole thing crashed down on him.
He had miscalculated. When his head cleared enough to take stock of his surroundings, the realization was annoying. He had assumed the boy would have to recognize the limits of his body. He had been wrong.
But first things first. Choking on dust, he shifted against the confinement of rock, hissing when something in his shoulder burned as if branded. It really was broken then. But that at least would heal. It was the deep gash across his abdomen that was draining him of strength. Kamui wasn't the only one whose body could only be pushed so far. Frowning, he closed his eyes, focusing, and the rocks rattled as the fire singing in his blood gathered, finally exploding outward, freeing him from his stone prison. Clean air rushed into his lungs.
Exhaustion dragged at him as he pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dust off. Movement caught his eye, and he looked up, meeting Kamui's eyes. For a second, they stared at each other. Then Kamui started toward him, and Fuuma braced himself. Watching the boy traipse toward him in those few seconds, wondering where he found the will to continue with his body so thoroughly used up-it would have been mesmerizing if there weren't a good possibility it was going to kill him.
For a second Fuuma saw it coming and could only wait.
Then an unexpected streak of white flashed out, startling him. Of course, there was no way they could have gone undetected. Not with all the noise they were making and certainly not with all the destruction, half the walls collapsed. There was no way anyone could not have noticed them. But somehow it was still surprising when the pale-haired hunter, the one with the three-diamond mark on his forehead, appeared from behind the rubble by the door-what was left of the door-white cloth whipping out to wrap around Kamui's arm, pulling tight. Maybe he just hadn't expected anyone to be stupid enough to get involved.
Kamui fought the restraint at first, twisting his arm awkwardly behind him and trying to shake it off. Focused on Fuuma. But the cloth didn't break, only stretched taut. It had to be painful, the angle his arm was twisted at, bent back as it was. Finally Kamui seemed to notice too, furious amethyst eyes snapping back to see what had him caught. The next second the boy had turned on the hunter.
Fuuma took a moment to think maybe the distraction had been fortuitous after all.
That lightning-kiss crackled through the air again, and the hunter jumped back to the top of a pile of rubble just in time for it to crumble beneath him, wiped out with a dizzying flash of Power. Kamui didn't wait for the other boy to regain his footing, attacking again with a merciless fury. And again. He lashed out, all blind wrath. There was no time between the blows. But no aim either. He wiped out anything and everything in his path, whiting out the world. It forced the hunter back further and further, Kamui driving him until there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
Hell was cold and unforgiving and a little over five feet tall.
There was something wrong with his arms though. They were shaking, burning. Even the fury that had turned his blood to molten fire could only push the limits of his body so far. Kamui could feel it, that fine tremor of fatigue licking at his limbs. He wanted to collapse-fought it fiercely instead. The pain helped keep him on his feet.
That white cloth snapped out again, threading around him, binding him. Kamui snarled at the unexpected attack, struggling against the quickly tightening fabric until, forcing muscles to move past their breaking point, he tore his arm free. The hunter's eyes widened. Close. They were so close now.
"What are you?"
Then something changed, something broke. They were too close. The hand Kamui had half raised snatched outward to grasp at the hunter's shirt, and whatever he'd been intending to do, suddenly his teeth snapped closed around the other boy's throat. The blood that welled up into his mouth was startling, but he was swallowing even before he realized what it was, swallowing with instinctual desperation. That seemed to make things better somehow. The hunter struggled, trying to tear free, but Kamui's grip on the column of his neck was unbreakable. Crushing. For a moment everything else melted away. Background noise: the hunter's pointless and weakening struggles, the knowledge of Fuuma somewhere behind him, the revelation over his brother's near demise. The pain faded too, and Kamui wondered at it, surprised. Was that what had been causing it?
He clung to the hunter, clung to that dizzying relief, even after the body had long since ceased moving, stilled by death.
Then someone was pulling him away, hands wrapping around his wrists and tugging at his waist, jerking him out of that pleasant daze. Kamui fought them, refusing to let go, struggling to get free, especially when he realized who it was.
"Let go of me!" he shrieked, thrashing in the man's grip, shoving at that broad chest with shaking arms. "Don't touch me!" But the fury had melted away, leaving only a faint pain and the irrationality of exhaustion, everything coming crashing down at once. Fuuma ignored him.
"You need to sleep, Kamui. Your body's still adjusting to the changes."
Kamui's hands curled into claws. "I hate you!" he cried, choked. Because even if it didn't matter anymore, it still hurt to know he'd been betrayed-hurt worse than it should have. "I hate you!" Because he knew better than to trust the man in the first place.
Because unlike Subaru, he could lie.
He wanted to push Fuuma away-was too upset to stand to be touched by him-but he didn't even have the ability to do that. There wasn't enough strength left in shaking arms to be effective. And anyway, the man was pulling him further into his embrace, wrapping warm arms around his shivering body, all with a surprising gentleness.
"I know," Fuuma replied, running his fingers through damp strands of dark hair soothingly. "I know." Kamui struggled to stay awake, clinging to consciousness with everything he had, but the man was drawing him down, one hand curled supportively behind his head, exerting the lightest pressure to rest him against a firm shoulder, and there really was no resistance left in him. Just a vast emptiness. "It's alright now. Rest. You don't have to stay awake any longer." Kamui wanted to tell him that wasn't true, it wasn't alright. He didn't want to sleep. But everything felt numb, inside and out, and his body was a traitor, curling into the man's warmth, away from the stone-cold air. Then his eyelids were falling shut, and he couldn't find the strength to move anymore. And the darkness felt good.
Pulling her arm back in what would be one last, brutal strike, Setsuka snarled triumphantly up at Seishirou. She had won. Once the boy was dead, there'd be no more reason to fight. There'd be nothing between them anymore. But Seishirou was staring at her as though startled. There was blood dripping down his arm. Something about that stopped her briefly. That look. It was the look of the world being wrong. But no, no. She wouldn't be thwarted. She had won. She wouldn't be thwarted now.
"You can't have him!" But even the chiming of her voice held a note of desperation. She felt cornered somehow, something about the accusation in the amber eyes above. A low chuckle startled her.
"You should be more careful…" The boy, in her arms, emerald eyes flat over that familiar smile. "Okaa-san." The hand that slammed through her chest was unexpected. She gasped, choked, stared at him in shock.
"When?" she whispered, blood painting her lips. Subaru just stared at her, waiting for her grip to loosen-a Subaru whose eyes were amber. Seishirou. It was Seishirou with her now, Seishirou's hand inside her. That was alright, wasn't it? If Seishirou was with her…
She smiled-the most beautiful smile… "You've grown up."
And died.
Her body crumpled to the floor at his feet and slowly dissolved into petals, leaving Seishirou unsure whether he'd hit her… or just another one of her bloody illusions.
There was a small displaced air sound as Subaru landed beside him, putting those necessary few feet of polite distance between them.
That was the thing about Setsuka, Seishirou mused as he pulled a startled Subaru into his arms, still staring warily at the floor where the body had been. One could chase after the illusion of her forever and be just as unsure about the reality, whether it be after ten years or a thousand. Not Subaru. Subaru was exactly what he appeared to be. The fine black hair between his fingers was genuine, the thin body pressed to his was real. He could hold that body in his arms, assured it wouldn't suddenly fall into petals or dissolve into drab daylight when morning came. Reality, he thought, brushing the fine hair at the nape of the boy's neck.
Reality was a thing to be treasured.
Subaru curled into his arms, a gratifying warmth in the illusion's chill, and more… more forward than he expected of the boy. A tiny thread of worry niggled at him, a distant, discordant note in the boy's behavior. Damaged, the idea flitted unpleasantly through his thoughts. Twisting fingers around a sharp chin, he jerked that pale, blood-coated face up to meet his. The boy was covered in it now that he had a good chance to look at him, flecks of dried blood sticking strands of his hair together and thin shirt stuck to his shoulder where he'd been cut by debris and his face… There was blood dried in his eyebrows and splashed across his nose, but the worst was the vicious red smear streaking the right cheek under the crushed emerald eye. And yet… somehow it didn't look as bad as he'd initially thought. Was it healing? If it was, it was too slow…
Annoyed suddenly by the blood crusting that eye eternally shut, he scraped the nail of one thumb along the underside of the eyebrow, flicking away little bits of it.
Subaru flinched away at first before turning into that touch, pushing his face up into the man's palm. It didn't bother him, the warm hand there where he couldn't see. But he could feel… The scrape of a nail again, this time prying a bit of blood from the curve of one ear. A pleasant shudder shook him at the touch.
It was nice… not just that attention.
He had come. Seishirou had come for him. The thought was startling, thrilling. Setsuka's words echoed in his head, nagging at him. Why does he love you?
It didn't make any sense. Surely Seishirou didn't… After all, Subaru thought, he was clumsy, and a bother, and certainly not worth anyone's trouble. And if Seishirou had come after him, well that just proved it, didn't it? The man had had to pull him out of trouble… again. But the thought nagged at him: it had been Seishirou's mother who had said it. Surely she'd know him better than anyone. So maybe, just maybe she had been right… It certainly made sense of why the man would come after him. Subaru stared at Seishirou, blinking in startled wonder at the idea.
"What?" Seishirou asked, disconcerted by that unwavering emerald eye staring up at him. Subaru smiled in response-a beautiful smile that lit up his whole face.
"I love you too," Subaru replied, throwing arms around the man's middle and hugging him affectionately. Seishirou froze, surprised and suddenly… worried. More than before.
"Subaru-kun… are you feeling alright?" Seishirou stared down at him, trying to penetrate that blithe smile, but there was no falter there, and before he could inquire further about such strange behavior there was sudden movement behind them. The rest of the illusion had dissolved while he'd been focused on the boy. He whirled, only to find Fuuma carrying Kamui, the younger one unconsciously slumped in the other's arms. For a second they watched each other warily. Then thrusting Subaru behind him, Seishirou started across the distance between them, clipped steps threatening.
Fuuma's hold tightened on Kamui protectively, and despite the terrible weight of exhaustion, he pulled at the dredges of the energy he'd unwittingly stolen. The air crackled between them warningly. Seishirou halted, stopping on the brink of that terrible force, feeling it press against his skin. Dragging in a breath, it burned through his lungs. Dangerous.
"So that's the boy's Power." Eyes met cold, uncompromising eyes. For a few minutes neither moved.
Then Subaru ducked under Seishirou's protective arm and swept across the distance before anyone could stop him. Fuuma let the boy approach, letting that fizzle of Power fade away before the apparition of a blood-streaked face. Something about that soft smile crinkling that ruined façade just drained the tension out of him. He could feel the strain in his shoulders release as the boy drew closer. Subaru just had that effect. And then he was there, pausing to examine his brother with one wide, emerald eye. Fuuma carefully tilted the body in his arms when Subaru's fingers curled in Kamui's sleeve, silently asking to see him. After all, it wasn't Subaru he was worried about… Fuuma was distinctly aware of the amber eyes watching with unwavering intensity, following his every move.
When Subaru nodded in satisfaction, he relaxed further, feeling as though he'd passed some sort of test.
"Thank you for keeping him safe." Subaru smiled, and before anyone could react, he reached up and kissed him soundly on the cheek, while Fuuma tried not to drop Kamui in shock. The next second, Seishirou had dragged Subaru away, snagging an arm around his waist protectively.
"No, Subaru-kun! We don't kiss people in public!" Those amber eyes were back to boring holes in him, and Fuuma had the feeling that if the man wasn't going to kill him before, he certainly was now. But luckily Seishirou had to keep his arm around the boy to restrain him, and that was definitely inhibiting any threat he presented.
Subaru blinked quizzically at the reprimand, as though seeing nothing wrong with this. The man's grip tightened when he tried to shift a bit so he could see. Tightened painfully, bar-like arms keeping him firmly imprisoned. Clearly there would be no escape a second time. But escape wasn't what he wanted. He squirmed as much as he could trapped as he was, twisting to look up, to catch that amber-eyed warning directed over his head. An hour ago he wouldn't have understood it. Maybe he still didn't. Seishirou's motives had never made the best sense where he was concerned, but suddenly it wasn't so confusing as it was reassuring. More than any ill-conceived kindness had ever been. He smiled at the man and stretched up on his toes to kiss along the line of the jaw above him. "Thank you too."
"Subaru-kun!" Startled, Seishirou turned to look down at him, piercing amber eyes staring into him now. Quizzical. Curious.
There was no denying it. There was definitely something wrong with Subaru… But, Seishirou decided as the boy's fingers traced his mouth far from as tentatively as they should have, he fully intended to enjoy it for as long as it lasted…
Fuuma took advantage of the man's distraction to get around them. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen the last of Seishirou-the man had far from let them go-but at the moment there was an exhausted air about all of them, an ache he could feel all the way to his bones, that seemed to call for a truce. At least for the night. He smirked ruefully as he carried Kamui home, taken suddenly by the irony of the scene behind them.
"Kamui, I think your brother's going to be just fine…"
Author Note: I know this is a month late, and I'm sorry. But there's no way I could have foreseen this thing getting 8 THOUSAND words long! It was like it never ended! And I feel sort of justified, seeing as how this is two to three times longer than usual and I got two other stories up in the mean time. Also, does anyone know what form of martial arts Sei and Su practice? I only know Tai Chi, and I started laughing every time I thought of one of them calling out Seven Stars! White Crane! Embrace the Tiger! It just wasn't working for me. XD Anyway, I have no idea what would happen if two maboroshi were created over top of each other, nor if spells 'can' be started by one person and finished by another. I had to guess on so much of this chapter it isn't funny. Gah, I hate writing fights! Am I getting better at them or worse?
Note, damage to the right frontal lobe part of the brain can result in so many different functional problems, it isn't funny, so I narrowed it down to one that sounded fun: lack of restraint.
Also, I missed someone last chapter. Luna Moonserf also guessed that Setsuka was responsible several chapters ago. Sorry about that.
Finally, I apologize. One of my Japanese Major friends finally clued me in that children NEVER call their parents by first name. It is just not done. I thought family members would be close enough to use first names, but no. So I apologize if I offended anyone, but I hate to go back and change that last chapter now, because it sounds strange being formal in such a situation. Like when someone is about to be run over, you don't shout "Excuse me ma'am, I hate to bother you, but you're about to die!" So does anyone know if it works the other way? Like would Setsuka never call him outright Seishirou? Gah, I should never have gotten myself into this Japanese name thing… I should have kept it strictly English…
Just one chapter left. I want this thing done. There are too many incomplete fics in the world as it is. I haven't forgotten about the seal, I promise, there just wasn't room to get it into this chapter. Not to mention I need Kamui awake.
Chapter: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen