http://clampfix.fanworks.net/x-fix/setsubo2.txt </head><body><pre>Hello Friends. I’m happy to say I’ve figured out what the hell the plot will end up being (now the real challenge is to see if /you/ can figure it out too, convoluted and confused as it is). My favorite Keiichi puts in an appearance here, yay! You know I once read a description of him as “inducing spontaneous bouts of diabetic seizures”… -_- Whatever, I /still/ like him!! Disclaimer: Clamp characters are not mine! Honest! ------------------------------------------------ Subaru sighed, turning to leave. Then, as if on an after thought, he paused and turned to the younger man on the bed. “Are you okay now Kamui-san?” “Yes,” Kamui blushed, and was thankful for the relative cover of darkness, “It was just some stupid dream. I don’t know why I got so worked up. Sorry for yelling so loudly.” “I’m not upset.” “Yeah, but I always call for you, I… I apologize for being such a pain. I really don’t mean to be a burden Subaru-san.” He smiled sweetly, as his head tilted to one side. The tears had long since dried, leaving Kamui’s face with a stiff feeling. Subaru nodded, but lingered in the doorway. Kamui watched curiously as Subaru's face took on a "Ah the hell with it" expression, and the Sumeragi walked towards him. The teenager’s pulse redoubled its effort. Subaru sat at the very edge of the extremely large, Imonoyama bed. And Kamui was suddenly, very annoyed that it was /that/ big. But he just couldn't find the courage within himself to invite Subaru to sit a little closer. Subaru's fingers toyed with the edge of Kamui's sheet, before he finally met the young man's eyes. "What's bothering you so much Kamui-san?" The boy turned his intense, violet gaze away for a moment, and thought of what he should tell Subaru. "My… my past, what else. The same thing that always haunts me: my mother, Aunt Saya and Uncle Kyouga… Kotori-chan." Even as he said it, Kamui was certain Subaru could tell what was really occupying his thoughts. “I think… I mean I really… I-” Kamui looked up, “I really miss Fuuma, Subaru-san, and it just doesn't seem like... like I'll ever have him back again. I wish I could hate him, I really do! It would be so much easier that way.” his words continued to tumble out, “But I can't; I just can’t because… because he's all I want-" Kamui stopped, too embarrassed to continue. His mind frantically searched for something to change the topic, but in the end he pretended to be falling asleep. "Thank you for listening Subaru-san but I think I'll rest now." Subaru looked surprised and reached out, but Kamui turned away from him, curling onto his side. "I'm very tired. Goodnight." Kamui squeezed his eyes shut, and after a moment he felt a weight being lifted off the bed. Wildly, he suspected Subaru would come to his side, put a long arm around his body, holding him closely and comforting him. Instead he heard the click of door closing behind the Sumeragi. “Huh?” He sat up quickly, stunned for a moment. What had just happened? Hadn't Subaru realized he needed to be comforted? Kamui hopped out of bed. The encounter had been more than a little disappointing, because the truth was Kamui didn't want to be alone He felt utterly restless, and the room was suddenly too small. And he wanted company! He had inadvertently screwed himself out of the opportunity to be with Subaru, and he was certainly not in the mood for the other available Seals, that left… “Thanks for meeting me so late at night, Segawa-kun.” Kamui smiled sheepishly. Segawa Keiichi had an utterly put-out expression on his usually, happy face. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and crinkled his nose to the cold, night air. “May I ask, Shiro-kun, what was so important that I had to sneak out of my house in the middle of the night?” Kamui wondered how to work around Keiichi’s peeved mood. He decided to play it cute. “Oh! I was hoping Segawa-kun would like to take a walk with me,” he looked at Keiichi with big eyes, and touched his arm, “was I mistaken?” It had the desired affect. Keiichi suddenly looked flustered, and reached out to put a hand on Kamui’s shoulder. “No, not at all Shiro-kun! It’s just that, well… couldn’t you pick a /normal/ time when we could do this ?” “Segawa-kun, it’s just that tonight I have a lot on my mind, I’m restless, and I just feel like I need some company.” He took a step towards Keiichi, and the taller boy’s arm unintentionally slipped around his shoulder. Violet eyes shining, he smiled with all the charm his cold, facial muscles could muster. “Do you mind terribly?” Keiichi retrieved his arm and blushed furiously. His responded with a series of nods, and started walking quickly, keeping his nervous gaze locked on the ground. As they continued down the darkened street, Kamui let out his pent- up anxiety by talking. It was therapeutic, in a way, to be around someone who was completely oblivious to the Promised Day. It made him feel almost… carefree. He stole a furtive glance at his friend, and was mildly shocked when their eyes met. Kamui gave a lopsided grin and looked away. Both boys were blushing. “Shiro-kun, I was thinking about you today.” “What?” “Errr! That is to say, I mean… I was /wondering/ about you! You and your friends, who all live together in the Imonoyama mansion.” “Oh…yes?” “Well, why /is/ it you are all together? It struck me as a little odd, that five dissimilar people all share the same house.” “We’re not that dissimilar… we have certain things in common which make it convenient to live together.” “Ummm… I see.” But it was quite apparent to both of them that he didn’t. Kamui tried to change the topic. “Would Segawa-kun mind inviting me to his house again?” “I thought you were kind of bored the last time you came over?” “Of course not! It’s just that I didn’t get to spend any time alone with you then. Maybe this time you can show me your bedroom…” Keiichi’s mouth dropped a little. Then, out of nowhere, an electric sensation shot through the air, as if some powerful current of energy was approaching. But the feeling was gone in an instant, leaving Kamui startled. “Shiro-kun?” Keiichi noticed the sudden silence of his friend, “What’s the matter?” Kamui shook his head, “I don’t know, for a second I swear I… did you just feel that?” The look on Keiichi’s face made it clear that he hadn’t. “Nothing… it’s nothing. Listen, it’s getting late, you should get back home.” There was an anxious feeling in the pit of Kamui’s stomach. Something was going to happen. “Oh! How come /now/ you decide it’s late?” Kamui shook his head in annoyance, “I don’t know! It just is. So goodnight!” “What’s the matter with you Shiro-kun? We were just talking and-” “Will you just go home!” Why, of all times, was Keiichi choosing /now/ to be difficult? Kamui was beginning to feel frantic that he was putting his friend in danger somehow. He took a breath and tried again, touching Keiichi’s arm with a coy look in his eyes. “Unless… unless Segawa-kun had wanted to take /me/ home with him?” The look of shock on Keiichi’s face was priceless. “S-Shiro-kun?! I… I… you know what? It /is/ late! I better go! G’night, s-see you tomorrow!” Kamui nodded gravely, trying valiantly to hide his grin. A cold wind turned up the collar on his coat, and Kamui realized his was bathed in the shadow of the massive skyscrapers that towered above his head. He wondered what that flickering instinct he felt earlier was a result of. He leaped onto a streetlight, and crouched there getting his bearings. The false yellow of its light cast an ugly glow on the pavement below. Kamui suddenly felt very sick looking at the grime below him, and decided he needed to be higher up. Perched on the rooftop of a local building, he looked down at the city wondered how something that was made with such care could be so forsaken. “But, this is what I chose to preserve.” The wind whipped at his jacket, as he stared at Tokyo’s glittering lights. Farther away, the other Kamui stood with his eyes downcast. He felt a little touch of dread in his stomach at the task he was about to perform, which intensified the strange imbalance that was already unnerving him. “Contemplating anything deep?” The smug look on the Seishirou’s face was beginning to bother the Dark Kamui. “I’m not contemplating. I just… feel strange.” “Fuuma” looked away, crossing his arms about his chest again. “Yes, I rather noticed you did. Care to tell me what it is?” He wondered how it would be possible to try and explain an emotion to the Sakurazukamori, but in the end decided to say: “I think Kamui is here.” A strange sensation had begun to tickle at his mind, the same feeling that pervaded his senses whenever Kamui was near. It tugged at his soul, pulling him into doing things without his own accord. It was a fierce… /wanting/. “Ah, he’s come to play with us! Well we cannot disappoint him then, but perhaps if we see to the task at hand first…?” The Dark Kamui looked confused for a moment, before realization dawned across his face. “Oh! The Kekkai.” “Yes,” Seishirou gave him a funny look, “ /Those/ things. You do recall what they are, right?” Fuuma scowled as he began to gather power in his fists. “We’ll begin now!” The Sakurazukamori smiled. “What a grand idea.” The rooftop began to shake beneath Kamui’s feet. Startled out of his trance, he jumped out of the way just as a violent movement toppled the heavy boxes stacked around him. “An earthquake?!” He watched the cars below him crazily swerve off the streets as the ground trembled and bucked around them. As Kamui leapt from building to building he could hear the frightened screams and see the frantic rushing of men and women, trampling each other to get to any, relative safety. Kamui’s head shot up and he saw a flash of lighting hit strike nearby, but it looked like… “A Dragon of Earth!” He suddenly remembered Keiichi and desperately hoped that he wasn’t caught in this frantic mess. Kamui descended to the ground, but there were too many people running around and cars blocking his path; he couldn’t see his friend anywhere! The Dark Kamui watched the chaotic scrambling below him. “This is insanity…” He whispered under his breath. “What?” Seishirou looked at him surprised. “Why are we doing this Sakurazukamori?” “To free the Dragon of Earth, to cleanse this planet… what else have we been doing all this time?” Even as Fuuma nodded there was a disturbed look on his face. He turned to look back down at the scene below him. “It is the Earth’s ‘wish’. I must fulfill it. But…” Kamui felt the hairs on his neck rising, he looked up and his heart jumped into his throat. There, at the edge of a building, was a form he knew all too well, leaning over the edge peering down at them. “…Fuuma!” Inexplicably, their eyes locked. The screaming around them, the fires and the upturned cars, the debris scattered across the ground, all ceased to exist for one moment. Kamui steeled himself for action.</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>