CLAMP Campus
University Hospital The room smelled of antiseptic. A battery of medical equipment lined the wall above the head of the bed. So it was another one of those dreams. "According to the indicators, he's awake, Imonoyama-san," the tall physician told someone outside Kakyo's range of vision, though he still couldn't figure out why he would dream of an aged Sakurazukamori being a doctor... But then, the man was a veterinarian. And humans were mammals... "Kuzuki-san?" A man in a pale yellow suit with gold ornaments matching his wavy hair settled into the plastic chair next to his bed. He was young for someone who came to consult his dreams — but those were always the worst; they were ambitious. "I'm Imonoyama Nokoru—" Kakyo winced at the name. He hadn't known that the powerful Imonoyamas used dreamseers, but— "I'm sure Akechi-sensei told you already where you are and—" Akechi? Who is—? Imonoyama smiled and Kakyo waited for the first question, the first inquiry. The man was a good interrogator; his smile even reached the blue eyes. "—tell you how you got here and what happened to you." Imonoyama leaned back. "At least, as far as we have been able to piece it together." "You... want to tell... me?" Kakyo croaked in disbelief and winced at his rough, rasping voice, at his halting lines. He'd always been eloquent... in dreamspace. His voice had been well-honed and fine... in dreamspace. He was sure he hadn't changed that... in dreamspace. "I'm sure you have many questions," Imonoyama in front of him said. He had only one. "Is this reality?" "I've seen it all happen — one way or the other, depending on decisions and wishes and chances." Kakyo's voice was merely a whisper, but at least a fluent whisper by now. "And in all of them the Shinken pointed to Kamui's heart and the world went white..." He turned his head to the side, staring almost desperately at the set of IV lines running across the white cloth of the pillow toward his bandaged wrist. Bandaged because of the infections the unattended needles had caused in the days after the Final Battle, before... Mono had caught on to the Twin Star's memory about him and told Imonoyama where to find him. If only it had taken him longer... "I thought it was the end of the world, the end of humanity's existence... and therefore finally mine." "Finally?" Akechi checked the instruments above his head. "Young man, it is unwise to offend your doctor by preferring death over life." Imonoyama in his chair laughed faintly. "You better heed that advice," he told Kakyo. "The good doctor's a frightening fellow when he feels slighted." Kakyo drew a slow, laborious breath that made one of the health monitors briefly change its color to yellow, and told him, "Everybody always asked how the Final Battle was going to end. It didn't occur to me to ask myself whether it would end at all." He returned his attention to Akechi. "The world didn't end; humanity didn't end; but reality changed and a yumemi dreams only of the reality that is..." Another breath. "I don't know the dreams of this reality... yet." He escaped the room — not into a dream but into the darkness behind closed eyes. "And they will come for me and ask again. What can I do to escape but wish for my death?" "Hasn't that wish already been granted?" Imonoyama wondered. "You said yourself: 'a yumemi dreams only of the reality that is'. Your reality ended. Nobody has to know any different." "Instead of locking yourself in your grave, you should explore—" The doctor pushed the curtains back and the window wide and Kakyo stopped hearing their words. Wind and sunlight streamed in, blew up the curtains. The cries of gulls circling the building filled the room, together with the sharp smell of salt and oil, fish and seaweed... "The ocean..." he whispered. ~:~:~:~:~ Edogawa, Tokyo Togakushi Shrine Tattered, bleached police seals covered the place. Last summer's weeds stood dry and dead in the yard where snow and winter hadn't brought them down. The public area of the shrine had been properly maintained, but the keeper's house... Kamui removed the last scrap of paper from the door and pushed it open. The plain movement tore at his still healing ribs, and he gasped. Fuma reached for him and he had to force himself not to shrink from his friend's touch. His friend who shared the face of the enemy. Shared, since four weeks ago the Final Battle had... gone poof. Kamui's ribs had been broken twice since then. He avoided the touch by dragging his bag through the door. The destroyed wall had been patched up; the police likely had wanted to preserve the site of crime for further investigations. They hadn't removed the blood. Two people had died here; torn apart by swords that over a month ago had become dragon teeth; a dragon that had disappeared to become... the whole, as Subaru had tried to explain awkwardly in one of the few talks they'd had after the Sakurazukamori had disappeared. Subaru had left soon afterward, not wanting to risk encounters with the Twin Star without Seishiro for backup. Seishiro. Subaru's words. Kamui shuddered. He remembered the pain Subaru had shown him within his soul. He knew from experience what the Sakurazukamori was capable of, yet... ...he couldn't forget the image of Subaru and the Sakurazukamori together, bloodied, drained, clinging to each other as if nothing else existed. "We should use one of the guest rooms for now." Fuma came back from his inspection of the house. "They're in much better shape." "No." Kamui left his bag lying in the middle of the main room and went in search of cleaning utensils. "We have to clean this up." The brush scrubbed raggedly over the already soaked wall. They would have to paint it once it was dry again, but at least the dark stains of dried blood were fading. Kamui's back ached; his arms protested and he tried hard not to think about his ribs. Fuma had insisted on doing the kitchen and — later on — the floor here. He had wanted to do more, but Kamui wouldn't let him near the bloodstained wall. Tokiko had been his aunt and he still had that picture from Hinoto's dreams in his mind: of little Fuma licking the blood from his mother's corpse off his hands— "Stop right there!" an angry voice barked behind him, and Kamui froze, the scrubbing brush still pressed to the wall. "This is sacred ground. What do you think you're doing?' Kamui sullenly dragged the brush a last time over the wet wall and turned slowly to face a man in his sixties waving a flashlight. "I'm Tohime Hirose of the neighborhood committee caring for this shrine until the Mono-siblings return and—" "May I ask why you are threatening my guest?" "Kannushi Kyogo—" The man stuttered, shocked, then stopped. "No... Fuma-kun, is that you?" "Tohime-sensei." Fuma nodded slowly. The old school uniform was gone; instead he wore the white shirt and blue hakama Kamui always associated with Kannushi Kyogo and the Togakushi shrine. "I thank you for maintaining the grounds during my... absence. Surely you remember Shiro Kamui?" "Shiro... oh my! I really didn't recognize you. And there you were in my last class." He shook his head and laughed. "Where's Kotori-chan? Surely she won't stay here until the house has been cleaned and—" His words died at Fuma's grave expression. "My sister won't return, Tohime-sensei." "Her heart?" Tohime asked in a low voice. Fuma nodded solemnly and Kamui winced, realizing that Fuma was telling the absolute truth. Kotori's heart had failed, failed to accommodate the Shinken the Twin Star had sunk into it. He— "Fuma-kun, have you cut yourself?" Tohime asked suddenly. "Your cheek is bleeding." Kamui dropped the brush. The divine sword nailed his hand to the concrete. "Such a nice voice... Kamui..." A whisper, the purr of a deep, familiar, forbidden voice that vibrated over his skin and down his spine. It silenced his cries, numbed him when glass shards cut through his hand and shoulder, pinning him even stronger against the torn wall. "The earth is wishing for a change..." Blood filled his mouth, spilled over his lips. Even breaths fanned over his skin. A wet tongue licked the sensitized spot on his throat. Teeth followed. He arched back against the shards holding his hands and leg, arched into the body leaning against him. Excruciating pain... turned to— to— "Fu...ma..." His chin was tipped back. Brown eyes held his gaze. "A change that won't be hindered by humans." A hard body pressed him to the stone. Narrow hips pushed against his groin. The words were whispered like a caress: "For that I will kill all those who make the earth impure..." Arms were around him, holding him down, choking him— comforting him— Fuma kneeling on his futon, holding tight against his panicked struggle. Fuma pressing against— Fuma. The Twin Star— "No!" Kamui scampered back, curling up around himself, hugging himself. "Don't touch me." "You were calling my name," Fuma said quietly. "It looked as if you were having a nightmare. I—" his voice trailed off. "Don't touch me..." Kamui repeated with an unsteady voice, clasping his scarred hands to his chest. "I won't. Promise." Fuma sat utterly still and Kamui realized guiltily that he was trying not to scare him even more, but wouldn't leave him alone like this, either. It had been such a close call earlier, with the Twin Star reaching for the surface in Tohime-sensei's presence, but Fuma had persevered, had reined him in. Fuma was here now. Not the Twin Star. Why couldn't he trust him then? The neighborhood people would be crowding them tomorrow. He had to trust Fuma then, hadn't he? Quiet brown eyes looked at him with concern. "Want to talk about it?" Kamui shook his head silently, but... "Please... don't go."
Notes: Akechi Shigetaka M.D. is the school physician of CLAMP Campus. He is a character of 20 Menso ni onegai (Man of Many Faces) and if I ever saw a blue print of Seishiro's "kind veterinarian act" it's him!
He is Ijyuin Akira's uncle and fourteen years older than Nokoru (and Seishiro in my timeline), loves eating and cooking, likes to tell anecdotes (the first one being about the hassles of getting a sakura to bloom ;) ), feeds sparrows inside his surgery, and has a not-so-innocent secret job & identity as well. Dao (and Subaru's awkward explanation of it). The 42nd stanza of the Tao Te Ching reads: "Tao begets one; One begets two; Two begets three; Three begets the myriad creatures." (TTC 42, tr. Lau, modified).