http://clampfix.fanworks.net/x-fix/gambit01.txt </head><body><pre>All characters are property of CLAMP. Standard disclaimers apply. --- Gambit (Part 1) An "X" Fanfic Presented by Alison Koh [Shadows of Time 1 - begin] She ran after her friend. In the rush of her excitement, she almost failed to catch her breath. "Tooru! Wait for me!" she cried. Upon hearing Saya's voice, Tooru turned around and waved to her best friend and Special Person. "Take it easy, Saya. You don't have to run," she said. Finally Saya reached her. Still gasping, she said, "I've not seen you since graduation. Of course I'm excited!" Tooru nodded and said, "I've heard that you're married. Congratulations." Saya beamed, "Yes, and I'm the proud new mother of a beautiful baby boy. Speaking of which, will you accompany me to the department stores? I need to pick up a few baby clothes for him." Tooru smiled and agreed. Along the way, Saya kept giggling to herself. Puzzled, Tooru asked, "What is so amusing?" Her friend replied, "I see that you have begun your destiny." Tooru was surprised. She gently touched her belly on a reflex and asked, "Is it that obvious?" "Not at all, but I can sense these things, remember? I had a dream about you last night," Saya smiled, "So who was the lucky father?" Tooru said, "This child is born for the Earth. His father is not important." She paused and sighed wistfully, looking at her abdomen as if she could see the nascent image of the child growing within. Then she looked up to her friend and continued, "But I made sure I gave the best for my child. He's a university student, barely older than we are. Very good-looking, intelligent and hard-working, and I sensed a latent power in him though he doesn't seem to be aware of it. He was very nice to me when we were together, and I felt sorry to have to leave him so suddenly." She lowered her head, sadness brimming in her eyes as she recalled the final parting scene. /"I've expected this day when you'll finally leave me. Please don't cry. Somehow I've always known that a greater destiny awaits you. I shall constantly remember our brief time together with fondness."/ She felt Saya's arms circling around her elbow and turned to face her friend who was looking at her with compassionate eyes. "Do not be sad," Saya said, "At least you'll always have your son." Tooru smiled and said, "Thank you." At last they reached the store and filled their conversations with discussions on baby products for both a new mother and a mother-to-be. [Shadows of Time 1 - end] * The prickling in his senses told him that he was definitely being watched. The aura was faint, as if the one possessing was trying to hide it, but he recognised it immediately. He had been searching for that person for most of his adult life. Instinctively he raised his kekkai and waited for his nemesis. With the bridge deserted and the sound of the traffic silenced, he was able to pick out his watcher instantly. Standing haughtily on one of the steel girdles above him, the watcher observed him with arms folded and a slight smirk on his face. With a mocking laugh, he leapt down to the ground and remarked, "You're getting stronger, Subaru-kun. There were many occasions in the past where I had secretly observed you like this but you never noticed. I must congratulate you." Subaru, who was already tensed by the Sakurazukamori's presence here, grew visibly more disturbed by the latter's words. The assassin had been stalking him all those years. He has always been under his nemesis' mercy and yet blissfully unaware of it, thinking that his enemy was studiously avoiding him. "Are you here to destroy the kekkai?" Subaru asked. Seishirou smiled amusedly. "No. I've just been given permission to resume my Hunt. I am here specifically to kill you." "When does the Sakurazukamori require permission for anything?" Subaru glared at him. Seishirou ignored the question, instead saying, "I hope you're prepared to die. This time, I'm not going to let you off that easily." Anger welled inside the Sumeragi as Seishirou mocked him with his smile. Subaru reached into his coat for his ofudas and cast a storm of winged Shikigamis at his enemy. Seishirou responded in kind. Their battle had begun in earnest. * He covered his ears with his palms, trying to muffle the ringing in his ears but to no avail. "Kamui, what's wrong?" Sorata asked. "I sense Subaru's kekkai." Arashi frowned, "That's strange. I don't sense anything." "Me neither," Yuzuriha said. Sorata placed an arm on Kamui's shoulder. "Are you sure? You might be feeling a little too tensed. Subaru-san should still be at Clamp Campus." Kamui shoved the monk's arm aside and looked firmly at him with his violet eyes, angry that his comrades should doubt him. "I'm sure of it and I think he's in danger. We have to help him quick." "But we can't leave this place," Yuzuriha said, "The Dragons of Earth might be here at any moment. The Princess said so." "I don't care!" Kamui yelled, "Subaru is all alone. I won't stand by and see him get hurt a second time!" Sorata tried to approach Kamui but the boy's angry stare forced him to back away instinctively. "Calm down, Kamui," Sorata said, "You can't just barge out like this. I've already raised a kekkai over this area." "Well, remove it then." At that very moment, Inuki, who had been lying quietly in its mistress' arms all this time, began to bark furiously. "Someone's here!" Arashi whispered. The four Seals directed their attention to the source of Inuki's hostility and saw a group of about thirty men in dark suits and glasses eyeing them menacingly. With her second sight, Arashi noted the ofudas hidden within their forms and said, "Human-form shikigamis." "These are not the Dragons of Earth," Yuzuriha said, "What's going on?" With anger bristling in his voice, Kamui replied, "It's a trap. It's Hinoto's trap." "What..." Sorata did not have time to finish his question when the enemies attacked. Arashi unsheathed her sword from her palm while Inuki transformed into one for Yuzuriha, and the two girls proceeded to slash through their opponents, sending sliced ofudas fluttering around them. Sorata used his lightning strikes to burn the enemies to crisps. Meanwhile, Kamui raged, "I don't have time for this." With a yell, the ground split around him, throwing up sharp rocks which hurtled towards the shikigamis like projectiles, tearing through them, following with a huge 'ki' blast which finished off the rest. With the enemies destroyed, Kamui turned to Sorata and said, "Remove the kekkai now." Sorata acknowledged the boy's words and the kekkai soon disappeared back into the palms of his own hands. Kamui immediately flew off in the direction of Subaru's kekkai. With Sorata's kekkai gone, the other Seals, too, can feel the weak hum of the Sumeragi's kekkai. They followed closely behind Kamui. * "After all these years, you are still not my match," Seishirou laughed, "I am really very disappointed." Subaru was lying on the ground before him, weak and exhausted. Cuts and bruises lined his body, while the assassin remained relatively untouched except for a slight cut on his cheek. Seishirou walked over to Subaru and kicked him squarely on the chest, flinging his body a few feet away. Subaru grabbed at the pain where he had been kicked and slowly forced himself to stand. "I'm not done yet!" he choked. Blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth and onto his coat. Seishirou chuckled, "Really? You'll never avenge your sister in this state." Stung by those words, Subaru leapt into the air and launched a final barrage of ofudas to crash around the assassin, splitting the ground below him. Seishirou cast a shield to avoid being harmed by the ofudas before jumping away just in time to avoid falling through the hole and into the sea below. A snap of his fingers and a magnificent hawk-shaped shikigami appeared on his wrist. With a smirk and a quick motion of his wrist, the shikigami flew towards Subaru, forcing the onmyouji to cast a shield before him at tight quarters. The resultant blast was too strong for him and he was sent crashing onto the ground. Sharp, intense pain wracked his frail body and he could no longer move. Through his laboured breath he groaned softly, and then spat a pool of blood onto the road where he lay. His kekkai was slowly disintegrating. * The Seals saw Rainbow Bridge in the distance and hurried forward. Momentarily, the kekkai surrounding it began to break up. "Subaru!" Kamui screamed in panic and increased his speed. The rest of the Seals struggled to keep pace with him. * Seishirou lifted Subaru and smiled almost regretfully. "You were my most enjoyable opponent. I shall miss you." He raised his arm, preparing to strike Subaru through the chest and said, "Game over, Subaru-kun." However, before he could strike, his senses warned him to jump away in time to avoid Kamui's energy blast. One by one, the Seals landed on the bridge and Kamui was the first to run towards Subaru's side. He held the wounded Sumeragi in his arms and glared at the assassin. Standing behind him, Sorata prepared to raise his kekkai. Seishirou laughed, "I'd suggest that you not do that." Pointing to Subaru, he said, "You'd better send him to a hospital quick, or he will die without further help from me. Best for me to leave before reality takes over completely." And he jumped off the bridge and into the air. Gradually, traffic hummed back into life, but the failure of Subaru's kekkai revealed itself in the partially collapsed bridge and long stretches of vehicles damaged by collisions and fallen debris. People wailed in panic as they lost their loved ones, or were themselves trapped in pain. Kamui hung on tightly to Subaru, tears rolling down his cheeks, as he ignored the other Seals. * The door opened. "Leave us alone," Kamui said. He was sitting on the bed next to the sleeping Sumeragi, holding onto the latter's hands as they had done for each other before. The intruder ignored him and continued to approach the bed. "I said leave us!" Kamui warned. "You could do with more manners, you know?" Karen replied. Kamui was surprised by her voice and turned around to apologise. "I thought you were Sorata or the other girls." "I rushed here the instant I heard from Arashi. You mustn't blame them for what happened." "I know, but..." He lowered his head, trying to avert her searching gaze. Karen sat down beside him and ruffled his hair affectionately with one hand. Kamui looked up at her with a puzzled expression and she smiled. "You care very much about him, don't you?" Kamui nodded his head haltingly. "So do the rest of us. We are all members of the same team. None of us would wish for the other to be hurt. Sorata, Arashi and Yuzuriha are already feeling very bad about Sumeragi-san's injuries. You shouldn't rebuff them like this. They would have laid down their lives for him if they had known that he was in danger." "I'm sorry," Kamui said. "That's more like it," Karen smiled, "By the way, Princess Hinoto sends her apologies. She suspected that she might have been intentionally misled in her dreams by the Dragons of Earth. She is sorry to know that Sumeragi-san was hurt." /"She's lying,"/ Kamui thought but he dared not voice out his suspicion. The other Seals still held the Princess in high regard and they would never believe him. Especially not when the person who gave him the warning happened to be Kakyou, a Dragon of Earth and dreamgazer who was also responsible for blocking Hinoto's visions prior to this incident. He had been disturbed by the insidious smile of Hinoto that he saw reflected on the floor of her dreamscape once. But he was not sure if he might have misread it. Now that Subaru was injured because the rest of them had been led on a wild goose chase, his suspicion regarding the Princess was confirmed. He could only try to remain vigilant to her schemes and hope that nobody else got hurt in future. "Could you do me a favour please?" Kamui asked, trying to change the topic. "Yes?" "Please let Sorata and the others know that they can come and see Subaru if they wish." Karen smiled and left the room. * "You failed to kill the Head of the Sumeragi Clan," Hinoto said. Seishirou shrugged. "His cavalry arrived in time." "It would have crushed Kamui if he had died." "There'll be plenty of other opportunities. Subaru-kun is still my Prey. I 'll kill him sooner or later." "I am having serious doubts about the Sakurazukamori's efficiency," she said, displeasure rolling in her words. "Why are you so interested in having Kamui dead when you were the one who called for him to become a Dragon of Heaven in the first place?" "You're not hired to ask questions," she snapped. Seishirou laughed, "Not when my professionalism is being insulted." Hinoto ignored his words. "You can play with your Prey whenever you wish, I do not care at all. However, I have new instructions for you. I want the head of Kamui." The assassin tapped his chin in delicious anticipation. "This is going to be interesting. I shall have to up my fees." Hinoto smiled, "As I've told you before, money is no object." "Wait for my good news then," Seishirou bowed and left. ----- Dreams of Sakura Home -- http://www.starhub.net.sg/~alison X Shrine -- http://www.geocities.com/asuka_sg</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>