X/1999 fanfiction.My standard disclaimers apply.
Requiem
Subaru laid back on his bed and
closed his eyes. It’d been a downright
exhausting day.
Kamui had gotten on Sorata’s
case. Again.
The clues he’d been following to
uncover the base of the Harbingers led to a dead end.
He’d been ambushed by the
Harbinger, Yuto Kigai, almost bringing down another kekkai in the process.
And finally...
He’d gotten caught in the rain
without an umbrella.
<Definitely not my day,>
he thought as he turned over to his side. Dripping wet, he’d made a beeline for his bathroom and had taken a nice
hot bath/soak as soon as he’d arrived back at the Imonoyama Estate. As much as he hated to admit it, he was more
than a little miffed at not finding the Harbinger base.
Another shot at revenge down the
drain.
He opened his eyes and his gaze
fell upon the marks on the back of his hands, remembering well the day that
Seishiro had placed them there.
He was prey for the
Sakurazukamori – the guardian of the cherry blossom burial mound.
The man who’d killed his twin
sister, Hokuto.
The man he had also fallen
desperately in love with.
<This is ridiculous,> he
thought to clear out that last thought. The last thing he needed was to think about Seishiro. Subaru punched his pillows in an annoyed
attempt to fluff them up and plopped his head down, determined to make his
sleep a lot better than his day.
The first images that he saw in
his dream were that of a park, washed in the colors of a hazy spring
morning. Everywhere he looked, he saw rainbow
flashes of light reflected off dewdrops that clung to leaves, petals,
benches…. Somewhere off to his right,
the faint laughter of flowing water came to him, signaling the presence of a
stream, or possibly a small fountain.
Dressed in his customary black,
he walked with his hands in his pockets, content as he listened to the singing
of the birds flying overhead or nesting in the trees. The crisp morning air was perfumed lightly with the smells of
spring blossoms, making it heady, thought not overly so. He did not find the fact that there were no
people around at all unusual. He found
that his dreams were cooperative in that they reflected his mood at the time,
more or less, and right about now, he felt like being alone.
As he walked deeper into the
park and its surrounding vegetation, he suddenly became aware that the happy
sounds of spring life begin to drop away. Eventually, an eerie, deafening silence was all that remained of the
previously relaxing scene. Subaru
pulled his coat closer over himself as he continued to walk, every snap of a
stray twig echoing into the now-empty forest, the mournful sound seemingly
sapping his strength.
At last, he emerged out of the
trees and came upon a clearing. Initially, his heart leapt at the sight of sunlight upon grass, but his
joy lasted for but a moment when he realized just where he was.
At the center of the clearing,
upon a gentle rise, stood the Sakurazukamori’s tree.
Subaru closed his eyes as he
pulled out his hands and fingered the brands on his skin, a numbing coldness
emanating from them. Thankfully, they
two sigils did not glow. As he
continued to walk towards the tree, the chill started to creep up his arms, into
his body and down his legs, until, by the time he got to the tree, he could barely
support himself. With his remaining
strength, he raised his hands and placed them on the trunk. It was hot, almost scalding, he knew, but
the cold of his hands kept the heat from harming him. He was surprised when he faintly felt the tree throbbing – almost
as thought it had a beating heart. Then, the sigils on his hands began to throb in time with the beating of
the tree – something that he’d never seen before. He barely had time to contemplate this new observation as he
realized the only reason for the sigils to glow.
Too late.
Seishiro’s powerful hand landed
on his shoulder, yanking him away from the tree. An instant later, he felt himself slam back first onto the trunk,
his hands pinned by Seishiro above his head. Subaru shook his head to clear away the sparks from the impact and
opened them to a cold, familiar face smiling at him.
“This is just about the last
place I’d expect to find you, Subaru-kun,” Seishiro whispered as he relished
the look of frightened surprise Subaru gave him. “But then again, this place does bring back a lot of fond
memories, doesn’t it?” He traced the
lines of the sigils on the slender man’s skin with the hand that held him
firmly in place.
“I didn’t expect to end up in
this place,” Subaru said, annoyed at his present predicament. Somehow, his bad day had just managed to
carry itself over into his dream. “I
can think of a lot more appealing settings for me to be in, and they don’t include
you.”
Seishiro just smiled at the
response, and with his free hand, he cupped Subaru’s chin with his fingers,
lifting his face almost violently to look directly at him. “But you’re here right now, aren’t you? I couldn’t have lured you here, because
you’d arrived before I did.” He pressed
down on Subaru’s hand to keep him from getting away the moment Subaru shook his
head to one side and out of Seishiro’s hand. These were the most enjoyable types of games that he played with
Subaru. Games of confusion, games that
weaken. “Maybe this is exactly what you
wished for.”
Subaru felt him lean in even
closer at those words. Shakily, he
turned his head back to face Seishiro, their faces barely inches apart. Almost like a reflex action, his lips met Seishiro’s. All Subaru had in mind was just a small
kiss, but Seishiro didn’t want to stop there. He began to return the kiss gently, at first, but it became more and
more rough, almost violent even, as he pressed his body against the younger
man’s, pinning him fully to the Sakura tree. Above them, Subaru felt his fingers intertwine with those of the hand
that held him steadily in place, Seishiro’s grip almost strong enough to break
his bones.
Dark satisfaction came to
Seishiro the moment he released a breathless Subaru from the kiss. “You know that it is my destiny to kill you,
Subaru-kun,” he whispered as the grip he had on his hands tightened even more,
making Subaru wince. “Be it directly or
indirectly, I will succeed in doing so.”
“I don’t care,” he replied,
almost shamefully. He felt Seishiro’s
fingers once again tracing the lines of the sigils, his other free hand
stroking his face with the back of his fingers.
“This brand,” he said, looking
up at their ‘bound’ hands, “marks you as my next victim. In a way, it also says that you can never
belong to anyone but me.” Looking down,
he saw the dreamy, mesmerized look on Subaru’s face. “And I will kill anyone who would even dare call you his
own.” Subaru nodded at those words,
making him smile. Nudging his face
close, he began to kiss him once more, this time, releasing Subaru’s hands from
his grasp. Almost immediately, he felt
those arms wrap themselves over his neck in a desperate embrace.
“Until the day you claim my
life,” Subaru whispered. “Or I claim
yours.” He felt Seishiro’s lips kissing
his neck and heard his reply.
“Until that day.”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Subaru opened his eyes sleepily
at the sound of someone pounding on his door, faint tendrils of sunlight
seeping in from the windows to greet him.
“Subaru! Get up! It’s time for breakfast!”
The door into his room opened,
revealing Sorata’s cheerful countenance.
The young priest blinked at Subaru, his next comment making Subaru come
fully awake as well as earning him a pillow thrown in his direction.
“Gee, I didn’t know that you
liked to live in such luxury.”
Subaru continued to look at the
closed door and the pillow lying beside it. It was then that he realized what Sorata had meant.
His bed, as well as a good part
of the floor around it, was littered with cherry blossoms, their scent mixed
with something that smelled like a man’s cologne.
He remembered his dream….
… Or was it?
**********
The End **********
original
© May 2001 by Lady Aria
By Lady Aria (writersblock@edsamail.com.ph)