http://clampfix.fanworks.net/guests/blood1.txt </head><body><pre> Blood Ties A crossover between Sohryuuden and "X: Sides" by Kristin Huntsman Prologue -Maine, 1993- :Is it over, Niisan?: He wanted to say yes. Wanted it so badly. He could hear, feel the exhaustion in his brother's thoughts and knew it was mirrored in his own. But he could not do else than tell the truth. :I don't know, Tsuzuku. I hope so... But I don't know.: The ruby scales shifted against his own sapphire as Tsuzuku moved his sinuous neck to look fondly at the black and white scaly forms wound around each other, sleeping. :Well, perhaps we can rest for a while, anyway. We've done enough world-saving for one day, don't you think?: Hajime chuckled, the sound emerging from his Dragon's throat as a deep rumble. :I agree completely.: He rested his head on Tsuzuku's back and let his eyes close. The four Dragons slept on a deserted stretch of beach, serpentine bodies intertwined in a multicolored knot as complex as a Celtic design, blissfully unaware of the stir several hundred miles away in Washington, D.C. as the bureaucrats attempted to unravel the logistical mess created by being unexpectedly rescued from a full-scale nuclear strike by the same supposedly hostile Dragon that had destroyed every major military installation in the U.S. Chapter 1 -Tokyo, 1999- A scream, tearing through him like fire scorching the water that created him, pain beyond human endurance. He instinctively drew back into the shelter of the great beast that coiled in his soul, seeking shelter, to escape the touch of an alien, yet achingly familiar mind and the horrifying weight of its soul-deep agony. He saw, with a Dragon's eyes, the power flaring and reared his head up in alarm. A Change! :No!: he cried. :You can't! You mustn't Change!: He plunged forward and touched, just for an instant, ignoring the pain that felt as though giant shards of glass were tearing at his own flesh. He looked out through the shocked, blank eyes of his borrowed form and roared a silent warning. :LEAVE!: He saw a man he did not know, so startled by the Dragon's sudden appearance in the eyes of his defeated enemy that he dropped the ornate sword he was holding with a clatter as the steel struck the ground. He stared for an instant at the Black Dragon watching him within blue-violet eyes, then turned and fled so quickly none but a Dragon would have been able to see him move. Something stirred, a spark of consciousness deep within the shocked mind that he inhabited for the moment, and he crooned to it. :Sleep, Dragon, fear no more... your friends are coming...: And then, since he was no longer needed, he loosed the contact and awoke suddenly, in his own bed, sitting bolt upright, clutching the sheets in nerveless fingers. He made his fingers uncurl and brushed his brown hair from his eyes, turning to look as Matsuri opened the door, all prepared to give her usual cheery wake-up call. She suddenly had to stop herself as she realized he was already awake, then frowned. "What's wrong, Amaru-kun? You look spooked." He smiled at his brother's wife. "It's nothing, Matsuri-chan," he said. "I just had a dream, that's all." Kotori was screaming, a high, thin sound of wordless horror that barely carried over the sounds of falling rubble as what was left of the pool house of CLAMP Campus slowly disintegrated, the shattered ruins unable to bear their own weight. Subaru vaulted a ragged chunk of concrete projecting at near right angles from the ground and landed on an uneven surface that was as close to an open, flat space as there was. As he hit the ground, the cracked concrete fell apart under his feet, and with a gasp of surprise he started to fall to the street two stories below - A hand grabbed his arm and stopped his fall easily. Subaru looked up, his face hardening into a mask of hatred. Seishirou made a tsking sound with his tongue. "My, that was careless of you, Subaru-kun." Subaru hauled himself up with the aid of the ragged lip of concrete and yanked his arm away from Seishirou's grip. "Get away from me," he hissed, and turned away, running toward the small group of Dragons clustered a few hundred feet away, his long coat flaring around him like white wings as he ran. Seishirou merely smiled, and followed at a more leisurely pace. Subaru knew that he was following, and made himself not care. He came to a halt beside the rest. Kotori had stopped screaming, but she huddled on the ground with Yuzuriha, both of them crying as the dark-haired girl tried to comfort Kotori, patting the mess of blond hair that was pressed against her shoulder. "It's a dream," Kotori was sobbing over and over. "It's a dream, I'll wake up, it'll all be over--" Subaru looked away from her anguish, at the Shinken lying on the ground a few feet away, its gleaming silver blade decorated with thin streams of blood. Almost unwillingly, he looked down, crouching next to Seiichirou and Sorata, who held a torn, bleeding wreck in their arms, a wreck that somehow still breathed. Tears slid from Kamui's blank eyes and trailed down his cheeks, carving paths through the streaks of blood on his face. Subaru looked at those empty eyes and closed his own. It was all happening again. <I thought I could protect you... I'm sorry... Kamui...> "No kidding?" Owaru said to Amaru as he snagged more than his fair share of pancakes. "You haven't had any Dragon dreams in like six years!" "What do you suppose it means?" Tsuzuku asked, looking in the direction of their eldest brother. Hajime took off his reading glasses and frowned. "I'm not sure. Amaru, you're sure you didn't know either of these Dragons in your dream?" Amaru nodded as he poured syrup over his pancakes. He liked them really sweet, like Owaru. "Hell, that can't be right," Owaru said through a mouthful. "We're the only real Dragons left, aren't we?" "Owaru-kun, don't talk with your mouth full," Matsuri chided. "And don't swear at the table." "Hai," Owaru sighed, while Amaru stifled a grin. Owaru was 21 now but he was still as rough as ever. Sometimes it was hard to believe they all came from the same family. Hajime rested his chin on the palm of his hand, ignoring the previous few sentences of the conversation in order to answer Owaru's question. "I honestly don't know if we're the only Dragons left or not. Even with all the research I've done into the legends, they're still extremely vague." "Yeah, and it's not like we remember enough to be useful, either," Owaru complained. "But I don't remember any other Dragons even back then," Tsuzuku said with a frown. "You would think more Dragons such as ourselves would be somewhat obvious." "Yeah, but if there were other Dragons, why didn't they help us out against the Gyushu?" Owaru complained. "If the Gyushu won they were gonna destroy everybody of Dragon blood!" "We may be getting worked up over nothing," Hajime said firmly. "I'll keep looking into it, but for the moment, I suggest we go on with our lives, since if we don't, we'll be late for work and you'll be late for class." Owaru looked at the clock and yelped another curse as he sprang up from the table, ignoring Matsuri's accusing "Owaru!" as he bolted up the stairs to his room. Tsuzuku chuckled and left the room in a more dignified manner, even removing his and Owaru's dishes from the table. Amaru hurriedly went to collect his books. Although technically his classes didn't start until an hour after the others had to be at the Kyowa School, he always went with them and spent the extra hour in the library, either working on homework or researching Dragons, since so much more of Hajime's time was taken up by the school now that he was head of the Board. Uncle Toba was still on the Board, but now that Hajime had been firmly instated and there had not been a single hint of anything further to disrupt their lives, Toba had simply changed his usual sucking-up target to Hajime, since he was the one in power now. Hajime put up with it a lot better than Amaru thought he personally could have. It was almost hard to get used to this big house again. Most of the past six years they'd been hiding in the U.S., waiting, at least for a while, in fear that someone would come after them again. When Hajime and Matsuri had finally given in to the inevitable and gotten married, Hajime had decided it was time to take their old lives back, and they'd returned to Japan and settled back in almost without a murmur, as if none of the events of six years ago had happened. That was kind of odd. But it was nothing Amaru could complain about, that was for sure. As long as everything was peaceful, he was happy. But that dream worried him, warned him that the peace might not last... Nokoru made sure that all the Dragons of Heaven had been ensconced in the room where Kamui lay resting, dead to the world, completely unresponsive to any of their attempts to wake him. All of them except Seishirou, that is. He had vanished on some unknown errand of his own and no one had made any move to prevent him. Kotori had fainted and Nokoru had put her to bed in another room, the one next to Kamui's. Then he retreated to the safe haven of his office, locked the door, and slid into his chair, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the smooth surface of his desk as he buried his face in his hands. "Kaichou?" a soft voice asked. Nokoru felt no surprise as he looked up and noted that Akira and Suoh had entered the room as easily as if there had been no door, much less locks, to bar their path. Suoh closed and relocked the door behind him. They knew he hadn't meant to lock *them* out, anyway. "That was too close," he said. "Nothing happened," Akira pointed out. "You felt it. I have no idea what intervened, but if it hadn't, we would be dead right now. Without a doubt. I knew I was playing with fire and I wasn't careful enough." "This isn't like you," Suoh observed. "You're not usually so grim." "Every time we do this, the stakes get higher. I'm treading a wire and if I slip, I'll take the world with me. How can I *not* feel a bit stressed?" Nokoru said with a weak smile. "That's why you are who you are," Akira said with a shrug. "Oh, thank you. That's very helpful," Nokoru returned, but he was beginning to sound a bit less gloomy and more like his usual self. Just then, a knock sounded on the door. The three of them looked at each other, and then Akira went to open it. Sakurazukamori stood on the other side of the door, smiling. "May I come in?" Kakyou rested his golden, cat-slit eyes on the water before him. Its smooth, glassy surface, undisturbed by ripples, reflected not his own face, any of them, but the massive scaly countenance of a Dragon, black scales gleaming darkly as it regarded him with something like wary distrust. It knew of his presence, but it made no attempt to speak to him. Kakyou did not establish contact either, but he allowed his form to shift, letting his true nature come to the fore. His face stretched outwards, red-violet scales coating his skin. For long moments, the two Dragons stared at each other, not contesting, just watching. Then, curiosity apparently satisfied, the black Dragon turned with a swirl and vanished into the depths of the water. Kakyou allowed his body to resume its usual shape and turned to face his new visitor just before she arrived. "I seem to be having a lot of company today," he said lightly. "Who was it?" Kotori asked, standing in her pink nightgown on the rocks at the edge of the water, her wavy golden hair blowing in the breeze that carried seagulls wheeling through the air, mournful cries echoing over the silent water. "No one you know," Kakyou said. "A friend?" Kotori asked hopefully. "Maybe." She dropped her gaze. "You know... what Oniichan did..." Kakyou nodded. "Will he come back?" Kotori asked tearfully. Kakyou hesitated. "...I can't tell you," he said at last. "But..." Kakyou leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "Go home," he told her. "Kamui needs you." "But won't you help me?" Kakyou smiled sadly at her. "I will protect your Wish, princess, as best I can. I can promise you no more." She nodded unhappily in acquiescence and vanished into sunlight. Kakyou turned again, glad that Kotori had left before the third presence had arrived. "Yumemi," Daishonin said, rearing high above him, her auburn scales gliding silkily against the stones of the Dreamscape. "When are you going to cease playing these ridiculous games? You know which side you are on, and all the regrets in the world will not change it. The Future is set." Kakyou refused to react to her gesture of power and revert to his own draconic form. "Say what you will, sister. I will not wake until the Promised Day. You know this. Trying to goad me will not change things, either." "I am First Born," she hissed. "You can play at being neutral until you wake, little brother, but afterwards you must fight with us, whether you like it or not." Kakyou knew he'd only managed to stay out of the fighting this long through some very elaborate preparations made before Satsuki had Awakened as Daishonin. He only shrugged in response to her statement. Suddenly her irritation turned to smug satisfaction in the blink of an eye. "But perhaps the Promised Day has arrived sooner than you thought. You have company again, dear brother. I think I'll leave you to it." With that, she vanished, just as Kakyou sensed an arrival in the distant, waking world, the physical protections shattering under an onslaught of power as familiar to him as his own. Immediately he pulled the intruder into the Dreamscape, where he held power. He knew who was there even before the figure appeared to him, hands still stained with blood. "Fuuma," he said in greeting. "Or will you now insist on TKamui'?" "I think Bushin will do," Fuuma said, and expanded suddenly in size, giant coils of blood-red scales twining around each other as he assumed Dragon form. He'd doubly Awakened - both to his role as "Kamui" and to his Dragon past. Both at once. Kakyou had time to worry very much about what a double Awakening would do to someone's sanity before Bushin attacked, shredding the Dreamscape apart with his claws. Kakyou tried to hide behind defenses that were woefully inadequate as the most powerful of his siblings smashed through them as if they were no stronger than blown glass. Bushin seized Kakyou's Dream-form in his claws and crushed it. Kakyou gave a silent scream, dragged unwillingly back to his physical body. His weakened muscles jerked, his eyes opening for the first time in years. Bushin's human shape reached forward with one bloody hand and tilted Kakyou's chin up, looking at his face with predatory dark eyes. "Time to stop hiding," he crooned. </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>