Subaru had been staring at the door for a long time.

He'd been here before, and Seishirou had always answered the door promptly, knowing immediately who stood on the other side. But Seishirou wouldn't be answering the door any longer.

Resolutely, Subaru blinked burning tears away and shoved the key into the lock and pushing the door open before he could change his mind.

The suite was almost spotlessly clean, as if not even dust would dare touch the belongings of the Sakurazukamori without his permission. But it was cold, and it had never been cold before. It was as if, Subaru mused morbidly, the apartment knew it was empty, and that there wasn't anyone to warm any longer.

He drifted forward slowly, letting his ungloved fingers ghost over various things. Seishirou's silky black leather couch, the glossy surface of his mahogany coffee table, the satin surface of his marble countertops in the kitchen.

Eventually, Subaru made his way to Seishirou's bedroom.

Contrary to what he knew some of the Angels and Seals believed, Subaru had never seen the inside of his opposing star's bedroom. Seishirou had never felt the need, he remembered bitterly, to destroy him with physicality. It had been so easy to do that emotionally.

He glanced around the chamber curiously, still re-accustoming himself to seeing with two eyes. It wasn't quite what he'd expected.

Somehow he'd always envisioned Seishirou as having a huge western style bed, with luxuriant coverings. Thick carpets, perhaps a discreet, but expensive entertainment center.

He certainly hadn't envisioned simple wooden floors covered with a thin mat, a futon laid with simple black cotton sheets and an ivory coverlet, and wall hangings that could only be described as traditional.

Something tossed almost carelessly on a simple dresser across the room caught Subaru's eye. He moved almost unconsciously toward it. Towards the dresser, filled with Seishirou's crisp shirts and ties.

And towards the sunglasses lay atop it. Seishirou's sunglasses. Gingerly, he picked them up, stared at them. They were so black that no ray of light would ever dare to even try to break through their surface. So black that no one ever had the hope of seeing any expression change in the wearer's single bronze eye.

So black that they blocked out the world itself. In his more naïve, idealistic moments, Subaru had thought that had been the point. To darken the world so much made the job of the Sakurazukamori more bearable.

Eventually, of course, Subaru had realized that Seishirou had no need to do that. He wasn't like Subaru; he did not, nor had ever, seen any inherent goodness in the human soul, and he certainly didn't need to darken anything to make his job bearable.

Subaru slid on the glasses he still toyed with, trying to see the world as Seishirou had. Just as quickly he slipped them off and put them back on the dresser with a faint clink.

He would never be able to see the world as Seishirou had.

~fin