Tainted Purity - Chapter 3

[tankyasue]

Title: Tainted Purity
Author: Tankyasue
Warning: Shounen-ai. Lime in later chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Babylon, Clamp does.
Summary: Subaru discovers who Seishirou really is before the end of the bet.


Chapter 3 - Nobody Beats Me in the Nightclub

Subaru often felt lost amongst the massive sea of people that continuously flooded the streets of Tokyo, but at that moment he had nearly forgotten that they were even there. The puppy that he'd found amongst the trash was the only thing that he could think about. If he hadn't given him to Seishirou, maybe he would still be alive.

During the last time that he’d last visited Seishirou’s apartment, on the day he’d found the puppy, he had seemed so kind and gentle. He had handled the puppy so delicately, so lovingly; it was difficult to imagine those same hands ripping through its tiny chest.

Subaru-kun, you don’t have to worry about this little fellow anymore. I promise you that I will take extra special care of him. Once his paw has healed, I’ll find an owner for him.

Clearly that had been a lie.

But, that hadn't been the only time that Seishirou had lied to him. He'd lied to him about everything he was, everything he did, and everything he said that he felt.

Seishirou only pretended to care about the animals in his clinic. That puppy wouldn't have been the first animal that he killed. He probably killed many other animals as well. And, if he was the Sakurazukamori, he had killed people as well... and he hadn't even felt anything at all when he'd killed them. Nothing at all.

Why had he allowed such a person to get so close to him and his sister? Not only was it a disgrace to the Sumeragi clan, but he was placing his sister in danger as well. How could he have not noticed the signs? Everything had been so obvious! What kind of veterinarian could use spells or even knew anything about onmyodo? Even his last name had been suspicious. Sakurazuka. Sakurazukamori. How could he have not noticed it before?

I am such an idiot!

Subaru was glad that people cared so little about others in Tokyo. If he'd been anywhere else in the world someone might have stopped to ask him why he was crying, or at least he would have gotten a few sympathetic stares, but here no one even glanced at him. He knew that it was stupid for him to cry. Tears wouldn't make things return to the way they used to be, or give the puppy back its life, but running wouldn’t help either. No matter how much he wanted to get away, he would have to go back eventually. Seishirou would always be able to find him no matter where he tried to hide.

For the first time, Subaru took in his surroundings. He had expected to find himself standing on an unfamiliar street, but he was only a block from his apartment.

His watch indicated that it was nearly eleven o’clock. He didn’t want to cause Hokuto to worry about him any more than he already had.

Subaru sprinted in the direction of his apartment; his lean frame easily weaved through the masses of people around him. Men and women in flashy, revealing clothes were slowly replacing the high school students and businessmen that had been so numerous before. He tried to his best to ignore a group of unruly-looking teenagers that yelled at him as he ran by, but he couldn't prevent himself from glancing back at them just to be certain that none of them had piercing, golden eyes.

Subaru stood just outside of the door to his apartment only fifteen minutes later. He could hear Hokuto-chan’s voice chatting on endlessly from within, but it was the masculine voice that answered her that caused Subaru’s blood to turn cold. For a brief moment, he thought about dashing outside again, but he knew this would be useless the moment that he heard Seishirou say, “Hokuto-chan, I think there’s someone at the door. Maybe you should go answer it.”

Footsteps move towards him. Then the doorknob turned. There was nothing to do now but face the inevitable.

“Hello Subaru! I’m glad that you’ve finally returned home. Sei-chan’s missed you soooo much,” Hokuto said merrily as she pulled him into the living room by the arm. Before Subaru had a chance to fully grasp what was going on, he found himself standing right in front of the Sakurazukamori. Knowing what he was and what he'd done hadn't made appear any different outwardly than he had before. He still smiled the same way that he had before, and the half eaten donut in his hand only increased the feeling of familiarity. Yet underneath that he could sense that there was something very wrong about the man in front of him. The

Sakurazukamori shouldn't smile like a child or eat donuts.

"Your job must have been extremely difficult to have kept you so late. I hope that everything went alright Subaru-kun," the man said in his usual gentle tone.

Subaru found himself at a complete loss for words.

"Subaru-kun, you look frightened. Have you been crying?" the man asked, rising from his seat. Subaru was afraid that he would walk over to him, but he stayed where he was, waiting for him to approach him.

Subaru stayed in place.

"I-I'm fine," he whispered. "Everything's fine."

"Are you sure? Is there something that you want to say to me?"

"No. There's nothing."

"Do you feel bad about leaving me all alone this morning to go to a job that neither your sister nor I even knew about?" he asked, taking a step towards him.

Subaru stepped back.

"Erm... well... I didn't... I'm sorry..."

“You don’t need to apologize, Subaru-kun. I realize that due to the nature of your work, it isn’t uncommon for you to receive phone calls in the middle of breakfast, though I am surprised that someone would be crude enough to request your presence so early in the day. Unfortunately, it seems I can’t ever have you all to myself, even for a moment.”

"Are you just going to stand here all day, or are you going to spend a little time with poor, lonely Sei-chan? He's been waiting for you all day, you know. He would have driven you to the place where you needed to go, if you hadn't left before telling him where you were going," Hokuto scolded, reminding him that she was there.

Subaru reluctantly sat down on a chair next to Seishirou, without touching the donut box on the coffee table. Though he didn’t want to be close to Seishirou, he couldn't think of anything that would get him out of this situation. He had been even closer to Seishirou than this in the past, but during those times he had only noticed the smell of the his cologne and the cigarettes that he never smoked in his presence. Now he could distinguish another third odour. He smelled of blood.

Subaru suddenly felt the urge to vomit. He couldn't help but remember Seishirou's victims; the puppy and the little girl lying on the ground with blood pooling around their bodies and large holes through their chests. He hadn't noticed any signs of decay when he'd seen the puppy just a few hours ago. Seishirou could have killed him today while he was gone. Maybe if he'd spent the day with Seishirou, the puppy would still be alive.

“Wouldn't it be nice if you really could have Subaru all to yourself?” he heard Hokuto say to the man beside him.

“Truly, I would love that more than anything, but if I could at least spend an evening with the man I love, I would be very happy.”

Seishirou’s tone sounded so genuine that for a moment Subaru almost believed that the person in front of him really was just a kindly veterinarian with a sick sense of humour, but the scent of blood lingered heavily in his air. He couldn’t lie to himself anymore.

“Seishirou-san, please don't say things like that,” Subaru said harshly, clenching his fists in his lap. He couldn't tell that both Seishirou and Hokuto were staring at him because he was looking down at the carpet beneath his shoes.

“But, Subaru-kun, I do love you. Is that really so difficult for you to believe?” Seishirou replied predictably.

“Yes it is.”

The phone rang loudly, interrupting their conversation. Subaru dashed towards it, and automatically lifted the receiver to his ear. Hokuto glared at him from the other side of the room, but Seishirou merely appeared contemplative. Perhaps his earlier remark had been unwise.

“Hello. This Sumeragi Subaru? The onmyoji?” an irked voice asked.

“Yes.”

“I have a job for you.”

At the time, it had seemed like a good idea to accept the job, if only to get away from Seishirou for a little while, but now he deeply regretted it. Running wasn't going to improve his situation in the long run. He would have to face the Sakurazukamori again when he came to pick him up, and when that happened, he had no idea what he was going to do.

Could I win if I had to fight him? The Sakurazukamori must be extremely powerful, and I... What am I going to do?

Subconsciously, Subaru lifted the fax in front of his face. He'd never enjoyed his work, but there was a familiarity about it that eased his mind. He would get this job done since he had already agreed to do it, and worry about the Sakurazukamori later.

Subaru began reading the fax slowly, making sure that he got the directions right. He was glad that the fax also included information about his job since he had completely forgotten the conversation that he'd had with his client earlier. His client was the owner of an establishment in Roppongi. He had been experiencing problems with an angry spirit for several weeks. Seishirou had dropped him off less than a block away from the place that he was supposed to go-if he remembered correctly. He'd also said that he would wait for him in the parking lot, but he'd rather not think about that if he could help it.

"You," a man cried out, startling him. It took Subaru a moment to spot the man that he thought had spoken to him amongst the rest of the crowd. He was a foreigner, so he normally would have been able to see him right away, but there were so many other foreigners here that it wasn't so easy. Though his clothing seemed to be expensive, it appeared sloppy because of the way he wore it. His shirt had been buttoned up poorly, and neither his short nor his pants seemed to fit him properly.

"Hey you!" the man cried out again. Now he was walking towards him taking quick, long strides.

"Um... yes?" Subaru asked, taking a few steps back.

The man, ignoring his obvious discomfort continued moving towards him at an even faster pace. Soon, he was standing right in front of him. Subaru was frozen in place.

"What kinda ladies ya lookin' fer t'night?" the man asked him. He waved some flyers in his face.

"Um... excuse me? W-What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb kid. I know exactly why yer here."

"Erm... what?"

"A young man walking alone at night in Roppongi. There's only one thing that you could be looking for, and it's got great big tits and a nice ass, right?"

Subaru's face became extremely hot. "I'm sorry... I'm not interested."

"C'mon kid. Mah ladies are the best, an' if it's money that yer worried about, I might be willin' ta give ya a discount."

"N-No thank you. I really need to get going."

"What? Yah a faggot or somethin'?"

"What! No!" Subaru cried out. He had no idea what the man was even talking about, but he didn't like his tone or his expression.

"Then what ya want is a nice lil' bitch with big-ass tits."

"No... please go away."

"What's wrong? Nancy-boy don't like the taste a pussy?"

"I-I really need to get going..."

Subaru dashed away before the man had a chance to bother him further. He tried to pay attention to street signs and anything else that might give him an idea of where he was supposed to go, but all he could see women standing nearly naked in the streets, and men with flyers trying to sell them to passer-bys. He couldn't stand looking at any of them, and yet he couldn't prevent himself from doing so. It was their eyes that bothered him the most. They all had piercing, golden eyes just like Seishirou.

Subaru started crying despite himself, but he kept on running. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought that he saw two men kissing each other in an alley, but it must have been his imagination. He tried not to look at any of the people around him any more than he already had, but it was difficult to ignore all the stares. If he could only find the address then he could get away from all of this.

Finally, he noticed a large building that seemed to stand out from the rest. He was sure that the fax had told him that the establishment would be inside a building like this one. He stopped and checked the address before glancing back at the fax. This was the place that he was looking for.

The building was much darker inside than he'd expected it to be, but there was just enough lighting to allow him to find the elevator with little difficulty. There was a large man with several tattoos on his arms standing directly in front it. He vaguely remembered that his client had said something about telling security to allow him through on the phone, but he couldn't prevent himself from shuddering at the sight of the man.

"What're ya doin' here kid?" the man asked, catching him off guard.

"I-I'm here on a job to take care of the spirit that the owner of a club downstairs has been complaining about. Please let me through." Subaru winced at the sound of his own voice. Did he always sound so pathetic?

“A kid? I’d been expectin’ an old man er somethin’. Honestly, I don’t wanna let ya in d’ere kiddo, but boss’d gimmie hell if I didn’t. Stupid superstitious motherfucker!” Subaru eased a bit. He had to behave in a professional manner or he wouldn’t be taken seriously. His grandmother had reminded him of this several times.

"Anyway, jus' be careful."

Subaru found it odd that the man seemed so concerned about him. He knew that he was young, but he was a professional.

"Thank you for your concern, but I am prepared to deal with the spirit."

The man raised an eyebrow and pointed downstairs. “Ghosts’ll be da least of your worries down d’ere kid.”

Subaru felt a sense of vertigo as he went down the elevator, but he did his best to continue to maintain his dignity. His grandmother constantly told him that he had to work hard to behave professionally when he was in front of his clients especially because he was so young. He couldn't let his personal issues get to him. His eyes still appeared slightly red through the mirrored walls, but he didn't think that his client was the type of person to notice.

When Subaru got out of the elevator, he found himself in a dark hallway. It wasn't difficult to find the door he was supposed to enter because there was a large, neon sign above it. The sign was written in English, and though Subaru could understand some of the language, he had no idea what the sign said. He could hear loud techno music leaking out from behind the door. Subaru tried to ignore it as he entered.

When he went inside the room he was encased in the heavy odours of cigarette smoke, sweat, and alcohol. The music had been tolerable from outside the door, but now he thought that his ears were going to bleed. There weren’t really a lot of people in the room, considering what kind of place this seemed to be, but there were still far too many for his liking.

"Hey! You Sumeragi Subaru?" a man yelled at him from the other side of the room.

"Um... yes," he replied too softly to be heard.

The man walked over towards him anyways, smiling enigmatically. Though he wasn't much taller than him, and quite slender there was something about him that made Subaru feel uneasy. It was possible that it was the way that he dressed, which was definitely inappropriate, but there was something about his disposition as well. The man had a strange, predatory grace that made him think of Seishirou.

"You've never been out clubbing before, have you?" the man asked in what Subaru took to be a condescending tone.

Subaru choose to ignore it. "Were you the one who called me about the spirit before?"

The man's smile widened, but it didn't make him appear any more friendly.

“I hope that ol’ Brutis didn’t give you too much trouble getting in. He doesn’t like letting minors in here, but he’ll do whatever I tell him, so I’m sure that wasn’t too much of a problem. Anyway, this place won't close for ten minutes, so why not relax until then?”

Subaru cringed when the man grabbed his hand. He reluctantly allowed him to lead him towards a small, unoccupied table in a corner of the room. No one in the room seemed to pay any attention to them at all, which only made him more uneasy.

“Sumeragi-san, please sit down,” the man said. He gestured towards a padded, comfortable-looking chair. His tone sounded almost comforting, but his expression indicated that what he said had been a command not a request. Subaru complied immediately.

“I’m Johnny, the owner of this place. I've seen you on TV a couple of times, so I thought about you immediately when we started having problems."

"Oh."

"I’ve heard that despite your age, you are extremely skilled in your profession-even more so than your elders-so I assume that this job won’t be a problem for you.

You can handle this, right?”

“Of course.”

“Sumeragi-san, you seem a little uptight. Would you like something to drink? It might help you relax a little."

Subaru felt his face become hotter when he placed his hand on his thigh.

“N-No thank you, Johnny-san,” he replied, trying to keep his composure. He drew away from the other man.

“You’re cute,” Johnny murmured almost too quietly to hear. “Very cute. It’s a shame that you don’t seem to realize it yourself.”

Johnny moved progressively closer to him until their faces were barely an inch apart. His breath felt warm against his face, and smelled strongly of cigarettes.

Subaru wanted to push him away, but he was too terrified to move.

This is just like that time in Tokyo Tower with Seishirou...

“You know, this job isn’t exactly urgent…” Johnny whispered in his ear, breathing heavily. His hand moved further up his thigh, until it was almost at the place where he wanted it the least.

Subaru pushed Johnny away harshly. He couldn’t remember when exactly when the music had stopped or when everyone had gone away but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t let this person waste anymore of his time. He had a job to do.

“Please don’t interrupt me right now, Johnny-san. I want to finish this quickly.”

“Fine. Fine,” Johnny muttered under his breath. He pulled a cigarette pack out of his pocket. Subaru immediately recognized the brand.

It was hard for Subaru to believe that the room had been overflowing with people and music only a few minutes ago, but the stillness made it easy for Subaru to detect a presence in the room that he hadn’t noticed before. He attempted to clear his mind of distractions while he began uttering a relatively simple incantation, but he could feel the stress from the day’s events gnawing away at the back of his mind. The barrier that he'd set up before wouldn't last long in his present state of
mind. He would have to finish this quickly.

Suddenly, a glass mug hurled towards his face. Subaru just barely managed to dodge it. The mug crashed noisily onto the floor. Subaru couldn't help but turn to look at it. Seeing the glass mug shattered on the floor caused him to remember what the Sakurazukamori had said to him at the end of the dream.

To break your arm like this... it's no different than breaking a glass cup.

Subaru's entire body began quivering. Tears spilled down his cheeks. His knees suddenly gave out from underneath him, causing him to tumble to the floor. Glass shards cut through his gloves to the tender flesh of his hands, but Subaru barely noticed. He just kept on crying. He didn't even turn around before a chair hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Even if he'd seen it, he wouldn't have cared.

"Sumeragi-san..." a melancholy voice whispered just loudly enough to be heard. It was impossible to determine if the person who had spoken was male or female.

The voice was too high pitched to be a man’s and to low to be a woman’s.

Subaru opened his eyes to see the person who had called him, but there was only blackness all around him. The air lacked both temperature and scent, and the ‘ground’ if it could be called that, felt like nothing underneath his feet.

Subaru found the silence and desolation of the place comforting. It was what he'd always wished death could be like.

“Sumeragi-san…” the voice said again. It sounded closer than before. A figure appeared in front of him dressed in a plain white garment. It was still impossible to

tell if it was a women or a man. Subaru couldn't see the person's face even though he was sitting in front of him because his head was hidden behind a veil of hair.

Though Subaru couldn't hear the person crying, he had a feeling that he was all the same.

“Um… excuse me. W-Who are you?” Subaru asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. He sat down beside the person so that they would have been almost eye-level.

The person did not raise his head to look at him.

“I am Kuzuki Kakyou… a dreamseer. I am the one who showed you your past through your dreams, since he’d made you forget. I wanted to warn you about what kind of person he really is before it was too late.”

Subaru remained silent. Through his profession, he was aware that dreamseers could see the future through their dreams, but he didn't know that they could see the past as well.

“...I thought that if I just showed you the truth, that you would be able to change the future on your own, but it seems that I’ve only made things worse.”

The man began crying loudly now. Subaru gently placed his hand on the person's shoulder. He wished that he could provide more comfort, but he didn't even know why this person was so upset. "Why did you show me my past?" he asked finally.

"Because I thought that if you found out... I thought that you would kill him and change the future on your own," the person screamed, suddenly latching onto his arm. "Why? Why haven't you killed him yet?"

"I-"

"Do you have any idea what he'd going to do in the future?"

“He’s going to kill me isn’t he?” Subaru said calmly. "It won't be possible for me to make him feel love, so he'll kill me at the end of the bet."

The person let go of his wrist suddenly, but said nothing.

"I-I'm upset that he's lied to me all this time, and I don't like the things that he does, but if he really wants to kill me, I see no reason to resist. Many people die in the world. Why should my life be saved?"

“You're mistaken, Sumeragi-san. The Sakurazukamori isn’t going to kill you," the person said mournfully. He pushed his hair back, allowing Subaru to see his face for the same time. Though the face was very androgynous judging by its length Subaru guessed it was a man.

"I've seen the future, many times. Your sister is the one who will be killed by the Sakurazukamori. If you don't do anything, she will offer her life to him so you can live.”

Subaru would have asked the dreamseer what he was supposed to do if he'd had a little more time to speak to him, but before he could think of anything to say, the dreamseer had vanished leaving him alone in the dark.

Seishirou effortlessly lifted the limp body into his arms. He might have been pleased that he didn't have to use a spell to put the boy to sleep before he'd disposed of the spirit, since the spirit had already knocked the boy out cold before he'd arrived. However, he didn't like that the impact had left a rather nasty bruise on the back of his toy's head. There were a several deep scratches on his hands and forearms as well from the glass on the floor.

Initially, he had intended on disposing of the spirit quickly and efficiently, but when he’d noticed how badly his toy had been damaged, he’d decided to prolong the spirit’s suffering. He had been surprised that such an insignificant thing would irritate him, but Subaru was his. No one had the right to mar his property.

Even if Subaru had suddenly decided that he didn't like him, he still belonged to him just as much as he had when he'd first found him seven years ago.

Seishirou brushed his lips against the back of Subaru's gloved hand, now bloody and torn. He enjoyed the taste of Subaru's blood. It had a sweetness like none other.

"You're mine, Subaru-kun. Nothing you can do will ever change that," he whispered, tracing the boy's lips with his fingers. He could have indulged himself in the luxury of tasting the boy's lips, but there were other things on his mind. Like Subaru's uncharacteristic behaviour throughout the past few days. At first, he'd just seemed a bit more nervous around him than usual, but now he was lying to avoid him, and then there'd been his uncharacteristic outburst before. Subaru had always shielded away from his advances, but he normally did so with weak pleas and nervous stutters. He'd never openly turned him down until today.

“But, Subaru-kun, I do love you. Is that really so difficult for you to believe?”

“Yes it is.”

There had been a look of genuine anger and distaste on his Subaru-kun's face when he'd said that. It was hard to believe that innocent, little Subaru could feel such a thing towards anyone.

Still, it wasn't necessarily anything serious. He would just have to keep a closer eye on his little pet from now on. Maybe he would tell him what was wrong on his own if he gave him a little time.