1. Tokyo Babylon: Kizuna 
Chapter 2: Meetings 

 
Seishirou managed to press a slender finger against the little surface of the bell button as he balanced both the colorfully wrapped up package and the huge bouquet of bright tea colored roses in his left arm with a bit of awkwardness.

As he patiently waited for response he took his time to cast a thoughtful glance into the fresh blossoms that were so carefully enveloped in silver blue paper -Subaru's favorite color-, and how the intense lighting falling from the penthouse's entry hall ceiling casted a mimicking whiteness over them.

But still...

A slight frown appeared in the soft brow.

He had really preferred them to be white.

Somehow he enjoyed giving significance to all the small details he usually gifted Subaru-kun with, and immaculate white was certainly a color that suited the innocent, pure-hearted boy in the most perfect way, but unfortunately his usually visited florist had run out of them that night, and therefore recommended the closest possible substitute.

Just fine.

He discarded the triviality of the matter with a slight raise of his eyebrows as he risked to lean forward a bit due to the surprise the unusual amount of time he was being forced to stay at the doorway brought to him, remembering Subaru-kun's eternal motto of never making a guest wait.

The look in the gold brown eyes deepened as he was being carried once again into thought.

This impatience was also new.

He couldn't still understand the reason for the impulse that had driven him to clad himself in his best blue Armani and be at the twins' pent half an hour earlier.

A loud crash of cooking devices reached his ears as if the closed door that separated him from the inside of the large apartment was incorporeal.

Perhaps it was just due to the fact he hadn't got anything better to do with his time that night. It was incredible to realize how his leisure time seemed useless when he was not able to spend it in Subaru-kun's company...

Seishirou took a brief glance to his wristwatch.

Rushing pace of light footsteps heading to the doorway.

A satisfied smile bloomed on his thin lips.

Or maybe he could just give up this silly game of explaining and justifying and surrender to the fact that it was only the growing desire to catch up with all the time he had been apart from Subaru-kun on the last hours...

Gods... It's just been hours...

To share the adorable shyness of his bright green eyes, the lovely politeness of his tender voice as he called him by that eternally respectful 'Seishirou-san', the same for which he had driven through Tokyo's crowded streets with quite an even greater hurry than the usual one imposed by the maniac traffic.

That he could somehow understand.

The boy's presence had turned out to be the sweetest need in the last few days, and something he was still wondering whether to consider it good or bad for his sake.

But this desire to appear as good looking as possible in front of the teenage Omnyouji...

Seishirou considered his exquisite dressing choices for the occasion.

That was definitely something new to him as well.

He had noticed that look on Subaru-kun's timid eyes that evening: that furtive admiration that had enlighten his pupils the second they decided to walk along their secret pathway between the blossoming Sakura trees, and the distinguished heat that had rushed through his heart when he acknowledged the innocent beginnings of physical attraction in the young boy's shy glance had done the rest.

So Subaru-kun really found him handsome?

Seishirou grinned involuntarily as he caught sight of himself in the enormous standing mirror placed at the waiting hall, repaired on how the perfect outlines of the indigo coat and trousers gently defined the masculine shapes of his tall body, his memory suddenly taking him back a few months ago, to that beautiful starry night at Tokyo Tower...

Do you think I'm sexy, Subaru-kun...?

The cute boy had nearly fainted at the question.

So why now...?

No time for further meditations, the door was being opened.

And smiling Seishirou found himself staring directly into a bright, huge pair of shimmering green eyes, that even thought shone with such a different glimmer from the ones he had so badly expected to find.

"Good evening, forsaken lover!" a shrilling female voice resounded in his ears a bit painfully, as he couldn't help but complying to the playful, teasing smile that beautified the delicate face of the teenager in front of him in such a clashing way compared to the one he had known for so long.

He managed to suppress a sigh of what he thought was... deception?

The girl scanned his figure from head to feet with an outrageous grin of criticism, hands on her feminine, narrow hips, "Wow, but aren't we looking so awfully chick tonight?" with a quick gesture of her right, she stole away the enormous bouquet of roses from behind which Seishirou had been peeking down at her to breath their sweet perfume, "I wonder if there's any special reason for that..."

"Kobanwa, Hokuto-chan," he greeted, the casually cheerful and so much practiced expression on his handsome face, as he wondered if the crazy headed reflection of his Subaru-kun was actually planning to make him spend whole the night outside, "But of course there's a reason: seducing your twin brother to death, what else could it be?"

Just after voicing out the words Seishirou found himself considering the ironic ambiguities in the phrase he had made out.

Fortunately, he had known her long enough to be certain that joking so openly with her about the subject wasn't a risk of any kind, with this extravagant, bubbly girl being the number one sponsor of his borning relationship with her shy twin brother.

Hokuto returned the comment with an evil grin that was not only on her pixie face, but also in the sharp looking emerald eyes, carefully rimmed in pink to go with her bunny-like homesuit, "That's my old dear Sei-chan!" her hug over the roses tightened until she was so romantically crushing them against her thin chest, much to Seishirou's startlement, "So I'm not supposed to even think these ones are for me, right?"

Jade pupils glared as him in faintly disguised demand.

"Nope. Really, I thought you'd like this better," on times like that was when he congratulated himself for his precautions, as he carefully handed the big package out to her.

He watched as the bright eyed girl impulsively rushed to destroy the colorful wrapping beneath which the treasured surprise was so carefully hidden, his expression shifting from casually cheerful to a more inner focused one.

Hokuto-chan... were you really born from the same parents as Subaru-kun...?

"Woooooow!!!!!"

I sometimes find it really hard to believe...

The girl hugged two huge Haagen Daaz ice cream containers in both hands, a glorious expression on her delicate face, "Strawberry Cheescake Craze!! Caramel Cone Explosion!! Those are Su-chan's and my fave flavors! And you've also spared me the dessert preparation... You are the best Sei-chan!"

Seishirou let out a spontaneous chuckle he found much warmer that he had expected, maybe due to his previous thoughts, "Thanks for reminding me..."

"So c'mon in! Are you planning to spend the whole evening outside??" Hokuto surprisingly managed to tug at his arm sleeve as she held both flowers and ice cream pots in one hand, leading the handsome guest to the entry, her own steps taking her back to her housekeeper's duties at the kitchen, "Sorry your honey isn't here to welcome you with open arms, but he's gone to fetch both Mi-chan and fam. Guess he must be here in some minutes..."

Minutes, minutes...

A sigh escaped spontaneously from his lips.

He'd been waiting hours since the afternoon.

Ohh, Subaru-kun... We make a date for dinner, then break it. So now I come here to make amends on that and you're not even at home! Maybe your sister's right about calling me forsaken lover...

At that the girl turned round to face him as if to check if he had already finished untying his shoes and stepped into the comfortable slippers he used in his several visits to the pent, apparently remembering something important.

Seishirou dedicated a casually inquiring look to her when their eyes briefly met, as he apparently returned all his attention to his glossy black shoes.

Danger, his hunter sense told him.

He had detected that conspiratorial glance in Hokuto's playful green iris, that fascinating expression that so perfectly blended seriousness with childish secrecy Subaru-kun lacked, the one he wondered if Hokuto-chan wore for his eyes only.

So he didn't need to speculate on what was coming next.

"I suppose I don't have to apologize to you for last night's stood up," she began, a casual tone blurring the first impression a little, "Guess my twin already did it a thousand times this morning."

Seishirou chuckled warmly, as he patiently awaited for the real thing to turn up.

"You agree with me, don't you?"

Bingo.

The dark smile that appeared in his handsome face his back to her turned all at once into the most innocently surprised of the expressions when he reached out for his usual slippers and came to face her again.

"On what?"

Hokuto charged him with her best don't-think-I'll-bite-it glance, green eyes shimmering their obviously shared thoughts out as she looked so funny trying to appear dominating the situation with a fresh rose bouquet and two giant pots of ice cream in hand, the fact of Seishirou crouching lower on the entrance's small step backing her up a little.

"You know," she shot back, an incredibly cute evil smile on her delicate painted lips, "Not telling obaa-chan. Do you agree, Sei-chan?"

Seishirou blinked twice behind the transparent barrier of his glasses, while deep inside he was hiding a growing interest for this little exchange.

Was Hokuto-chan really testing him?

Or was it just another of her popping jokes coming towards him?

He laughed again, openly and unconcernedly, while setting his feet inside the soft slippers with an obliviousness that so perfectly veiled the fact that he was thinking that next one over.

A caring, sincere smile of faked fatherly censorship enlighten the handsome face as he stood up at her same level on the rugged floor, hands over his narrow hips, almost obliterating the fragile figure of the sixteen year old girl as he surpassed three times her height.

There was a slight blink of green that fluttered almost unnoticed through the deep pools of her iris as Hokuto had to tilt her head back in order to keep the eye contact.

"Whatever you treacherously decide to hide away from your dear obaa-sama, young lady, is not a matter of my concern," he teasingly lectured her, voice filled with tenderness, as his index softly poked at the tip of her delicate turned up nose, "So don't go trying to get this poor soul of mine involved in your family gags... Nevertheless, " at that he leaned over her feminine shoulder to whisper secretly in her jeweled ear, willing to play with her, voice assuming a conspiratorial tone, "If you did it just to protect my prospective romance with Subaru-kun, then we both know who's going to end up the beneficiary..."

He gifted her with a complying wink as he raised back to face her, to which Hokuto's sparkling green eyes responded regaining her usual glint of kinky affection.

"Just make yourself comfortable as I finish with dinner," she handed the bouquet back to him with a nearly commanding gesture, admitting her defeat, smiling as if a nasty secret had been sealed between them, "You could help me out a little and put those on water at Subaru's room. Besides..."

She turned round to stare at him exotically over her shoulder, quite a suggesting expression on her beautiful face, "That will give you a perfect chance to sneak inside your beloved's bedroom..."

Seishirou let out a loud laugher as the female Sumeragi sibling blew him a teasing good-bye kiss from the tip of her finger and head her way down the corridor.

He looked at her intently all the while until she disappeared behind the kitchenette's twin doors.

Captured the seductive pace to which she femininely swayed to both sides as she walked like model on a catwalk, deciding at once her fresh and daring beauty had nothing to envy from her brother's innocent, childish allure.

Only that her charms were somehow betrayed by her so opened and straight forwarded attitude, as he had always thought, making her more voluptuous and less mysteriously sensual than Subaru-kun, at least for his own taste, he meditated silently, hand on Subaru's room doorknob.

Uninteresting, in some funny sort of way.

He had already had too much of that in his life, and the overdose had eroded his taste for it.

That had surely been the reason for which he had decided to stick to his selected prey instead of changing sides when he had come to discover there was a female version available.

Perhaps it was also because of that Subaru-kun had achieved the miracle of triggering feelings in him instead of her...

No.

Seishirou turned his strong wrist to cast the small black door opened.

Somehow he knew there was a deeper reason...

He was getting so enthusiastic with his thoughts and conclusions that he forgot that the one that kept on troubling him reached a plain of logic he didn't quite dominated.

Feeling...

Though his mind was escaping him again, like every time he began to ramble on the subject.

Would I ever find a name for this feeling...

Only now he let it go, considering this time he had quite a good excuse to find himself distracted.

Sharp brown eyes lost themselves into the absorted contemplation of the spacious, perfectly tidy surroundings that appeared gracefully bathed by the dying, orange reminiscences of sunlight breaking inside through the uncovered terrace's glass doors, as Tokyo was slowly fading out into the night.

Alone in Subaru-kun's bedroom...

He barely remembered he'd ever had such a priceless, rare opportunity in the nearly twelve months they have been together.

Slowly closing the door behind him for privacy, he stepped out of his slippers to walk barefooted into the center of the large room, feeling the smooth surface of the futon, the way it reacted to his weight, breathing in the aura of pure cleanness, willing to taste the very atmosphere with all his questing senses.

A secret smile appeared in his lips.

How could it be he had never got the time to go through all the small details about that familiar room with such freedom...?

The austere though charmingly warm decoration, the impeccable care with which the belongings -specially the schoolbooks, so carefully ordered into the small desk's shelve- were lovingly kept...

It certainly gave out the kind of person Subaru-kun was.

He let his steps guide him to the small tea table placed between the two facing sofas, and absentmindedly picked up the empty china pot he normally used for placing his flower gifts to the beautiful boy, ready to accomplish Hokuto-chan's request.

Perpetually watered, as she used to keep it, mostly because of the lately increased frequency of the floral parade, Seishirou mused.

He'd better start thinking about making some innovations in his gifts.

As he accommodated the roses to achieve the esthetic effect desired -pail golden petals contrasting beautifully against the silver blue wrapping he didn't remove- Seishirou's hazel gaze drifted across the empty bedroom again, wondering if he'd have time to scrutinize the inside of Subaru-kun's wardrobe, or perhaps seek for a Dear Diary among the teenage Omnyouji's treasured books.

Remembering Hokuto's words he ended up discarding the possibility.

Such a shame...

But even as the handsome man stood up from his kneeling position before the roses something equally interesting and less compromising caught his sharp eye.

Subaru-kun's left bedside table, where he kept his small picture sanctuary.

My most beloved moments, the ones I wish to keep forever...

Feeling what he thought to be the teasing tickle of curiosity as he remembered the young Omnyouji's words, Seishirou decidedly head right straight to it across the room, and being only four steps away his attention was helplessly drawn to the large, unpollutedly clean and apparently feather-soft cloud of white that was the little Sumeragi's bed.

Amber eyes froze as if they were stilled in time.

Too big for just one small, skinny body...

A sudden flood of inner heat seemed to envelope his heart as he watched it, fill it with subtle wishes and unspoken promises as his eyes checked every inch of the untouched bedspread, and before he could even tell he was kneeling down at it's foot, his huge palm running smoothly across the immaculate linen.

His smile shifted again.

It felt like his skin.

As if it was the silky, alabaster cheek of the sleeping Omnyouji he was caressing.

Seishirou inhaled sharply and unconsciously closed his eyes, as he resisted the unexplainable impulse of touching his lips against the velvety surface.

He tried to focus his mind on the incomprehensible sensation that cascaded through him.

Pulled him.

Was this sweet and warm tenderness he felt as acknowledging the fact that the beautiful, innocent teenager spent his nights underneath the protection of those soft sheets the awakening of physical desire...?

Was it...

The bed also smelled like Subaru-kun.

It held the fresh, faintly masculine essence of his fragile body, the strawberry-like scent of his ethereal hair.

No...

A frustrated grin appeared in his handsome face.

A grin that gave away all his efforts to put his restless heart together.

It was deeper.

Stronger.

Why couldn't he name it...?

A low purr brought Seishirou back to his senses again.

The gold brown eyes rushed open, only to come face to face with a mismatching pair of feline iris that looked directly into his with vague curiosity, one as bright green as the other was rough and scarlet brown.

Not at all surprised, Seishirou stood up to survey entirely at the downy form of the white, long-furred persian he remembered all too well as the animal absently followed his intense glance, comfortably curling itself up over the bright sheets of Subaru's bed.

Totally unaware of the danger menacing it's meaningless life...

A deep frown appeared in Seishirou's soft brow, causing his glasses to slid down a little over the straight angle of his perfect nose, as he pushed down the impulse of closing his tight grip around the creature's furry neck and crush the frail pipeline, a pitiless punishment to the cat's excess of trust.

Shouldn't he be congratulating himself for this discovery instead?

Perhaps he would have, if it hadn't been for the odd sensation of abstract startlement the presence of that particular cat in Subaru-kun's room unexplainably brought to him.

The slanted amber eyes narrowed darkly as he concentrated his attention on that fiery red pupil, taking back the eerie feeling it had brought to him earlier in the afternoon...

Then a pair of young, melodic voices chatting and laughing along the corridor got him out of his thoughts again.

The next second the door was being opened, and Seishirou's eyes caught glimpse of a smiling, apparently overjoyed Subaru-kun in the company of another skinny, delicate looking teenager that bore a striking resemblance to him.

Subaru's emerald iris went sparkling bright as his distracted glance met his own, as his companion's grew wide with cute astonishment the second they followed their glance.

"Dr. Sakurazuka-sama!!!"

The shrilling voice of the surprised teenager won over Subaru's soft greeting words, making the young Omnyouji stare blankly at him in an open manifestation of cluelessness.

"Well, hello, Midori-kun!" taking all the beautifully disoriented expression of Subaru's face in, Seishirou just reacted as casually as ever, warm brown eyes giving out a calid resplendor of what passed so perfectly as pleased surprise, "I was really not expecting to meet you back until tomorrow morning..."

At that Subaru's evident confusion grew wider, while his partner's frozen expression of surprise and Seishirou's gentle smile didn't help to chase it away.

"You mean you know each other?" index finger to his velvet-soft cheek, the bishounen wisely decided to ask, too soon, as Seishirou thought would be a pity to let that priceless expression on his delicate features go out.

"Midori-kun just came to see me this morning at the clinic, "he cheerfully explained, his sharp gold-honey stare shifting a while to check on Subaru's companion, noticing how the surprised and maybe slightly startled expression on his beautiful face had already begun to blur into a polite smile, a bit too late than normally expected, "He was so terribly worried about his cat's health. I'm supposed to perform some minor surgery on her tomorrow morning..."

"Hokuto-chan told me Sakurazuka-sensei is the best animal doctor here in Tokyo, "Midori, cheerfulness now totally regained, turned to end up getting his partner out of the mist, green eyes deepening in satisfaction and evident, almost playful enthusiasm, "But she didn't mention he was the male friend you've been talking about all the time these last days!"

"Mi-chan!!!!"

Seishirou just had to chuckle aloud as he witnessed the way in which Midori seemed to share Hokuto-chan's power to drive Subaru's pale face into bright scarlet by his comments, with the radical difference that his own seemed to be entirely innocent, for he blushed equally the second he received Subaru's censoring cry and took one delicate hand to his lips, stammering an apologize as he nervously stared at both of them.

Though there was somehow a subtle, inner sparkle in Seishirou's heart triggered by the boy's words that kept him from being totally concentrated in these reactions.

All the time...?

Seishirou managed to suppress a thoughtful frown from appearing in his soft brow.

Why was it that he was sure this odd feeling of satisfaction had been evident in his face and eyes the second Midori had slid that comment in?

"Well..." Subaru took a shy step towards him and got him distracted again, the fierce red blush on his alabaster cheeks now diminished into a delicate, lovely hue of pink Seishirou's heart forced him to blame on other, deeper reasons, the huge emerald eyes that dare lift to meet his own supporting the idea, "I suppose that I don't need to introduce you to my cousin then, Seishirou-san..."

"I must confess I didn't really know he was a Sumeragi until now," it demanded such an effort to cast his eyes away from Subaru-kun's adorable attention, but finally Seishirou's curiosity took over the matter, and he was staring into that childish smiling face that somehow still seemed to appear bathed with nervousness, "If I had known you were Subaru-kun's cousin we should have surely skipped a lot of stupid formalities," he cheerfully assured as the young boy respectfully returned his smile, "But since you gave me an entirely different last name there was no way... "

He lingered on that incomplete phrase, noticing the way the viridian eyes went bright with danger, his intense glance begging him silently to change the conversation as if passing by a forbidden subject, though Seishirou shamelessly decided to play the non-understanding until checking on Subaru-kun's reaction.

Only when a frown was beginning to turn evident in the little Omnyouji's delicate forehead, he conceded himself the privilege of being pitiful, though his curiosity was slowly beginning to grow a bit too much for this green haired Sumeragi's health and the mystery he represented.

"Subaru-kun mentioned something about his dearest cousin when visiting me this afternoon, just like you previously did," he casually explained, one hand gently coming to lean over his narrow shoulder being enough to drive Subaru's previous thoughts away in a matter of seconds. Seishirou ignored the delicious shudder he felt underneath his palm for now, his attention totally focused on Midori, "That somehow got me to link the facts a little, but I wasn't really sure until I found your darling Kizuna hanging around Subaru-kun's bedroom."

Those words brought both teenagers' glances to follow the direction his warm, amber-brown stare pointed at, only to find the cat so comfortably half asleep over Subaru's bed.

"So there you are, you pranky girl!" delighted Subaru seemed to forget about the rest of the world to go take the downy creature so lovingly in his arms, gloved hands tenderly stroking at the small of it's back as the cat purred out in approval, "We were looking for you everywhere, Kizuna!! You've got both of us so terribly worried!"

That glaucous glint in Subaru-kun's eyes...

Seishirou had rarely seen him in such a state of giving out unconditional affection, and the innocent boy usually got to develop a crush on many of his clinic's patients.

Maybe it was because he'd never got the opportunity to have an animal at home, facing such a busy life as he the one had to go through, but something in those bright green pools told him the reasons ran deeper than simple affection towards his cousin's weird pet.

He mused at it as he came to stand beside silent Midori.

"She seems so strong and adventurous!" Seishirou commented with a caring smile, the smile of a gentle doctor admiring the progresses of his patient, "It doesn't really seem she has a health problem of any kind. You surely know how to take care of her so well..."

The boy's eyes appeared relieved when he came to face Seishirou again, even an unspoken gratefulness could be perceived in his childish expression of politeness, but Subaru was speaking before his cousin's lips parted to answer.

"Oh, Mi-chan and I have been petting her too much ever since she got here!" the young Head of the Sumeragi came to rejoin them in their conversation as he cradled the white persian slowly in his slender arms as if it was a baby, "I doubt you would approve on that, Seishirou-san."

"Well, when it comes to pets, discipline is something as important as..."

Seishirou's sketch to his veterinarian lecture instantly faded away from his mind, leaving him totally speechless as he had never been before in his entire life when he came to turn his whole attention to Subaru-kun for the first time in the night.

Self control was nowhere to be found, and he, the last of the Sakurazukamori, could just stare open-mouthed at the vision of the sixteen year old boy clad into an immaculate white, modern designed tuxedo matching the perfectly neat white tie that rested over the pale lavender shirt to go with the silk gloves that did nothing but emphasize the delicacy and slenderness of those hands.

Had he died and went to heaven...

There was a tsunami of emotion that enveloped his non understanding heart, and he could only blink out of his trance when he realized he was salivating.

"You..." his tongue appeared numb, but it didn't seem to matter.

Somehow that word had been enough to describe what he was feeling.

Immerse in that myriad of sensations and longings and wishes, it occurred to him that it could just be resumed, explained and adjudicated to Subaru himself.

"You... you look brilliant, Subaru-kun!" he added with a slightly absent smile when he thought he was ready to speak Japanese again quite fluently, his own self struggling to get back as he was staring into the beautiful boy's ivory face, witnessing the way in which his emerald pupils dilated with pleasure as they melted into his own glance, read what was evident there.

"Seishirou-san..." only after a seemingly everlasting second Subaru averted his eyes, crimson blush blossoming in his cheeks as well as a timid smile was being born in his curve pale lips, "Arigatou..."

"Are these the garments for which you had to flee from Ueno Park so abruptly this morning?" Seishirou had regained his composure, and was now too busy devouring the beautiful color game around the young boy's graceful body to catch glimpse of how delighted Midori-kun attentively watched the scene with a matching shy smile and pink blush on his cheeks before the cousin took the word.

"He didn't make it to the store in time, so Hokuto-chan had to try them on for him," the explanation was accompanied by a brief exchange of glances with absentminded Subaru, whose hold on the cat had already gone numb, and this time the childish complicity in the teenager's shifting green pupils didn't go unnoticed to Seishirou, "When he got to meet her she had already bought them..."

Seishirou just granted the other boy a passing second of his attention to then return to Subaru, a gentle, maybe far too affectionate smile in his handsome features, "Well, this time I must personally congratulate Hokuto-chan on her superb choices."

Subaru was flustering and mumbling shy, incomprehensible phrases, though Seishirou was aware of speaking from the heart, taking his time to go back to check on the last fashion costumes the young Omnyouji had been wearing on the previous days and that he kept logged in his mind.

The way Hokuto-chan was slowly driving her twin into pastels was something amazing.

She had always proved to be fashion wise -at least when it came to picking up Subaru's wardrobe, -but how she had come to discover the way those soft colors went perfectly with his pale complexion, emphasized the pink shades of his baby skin...

It was certainly as remarkable as the effects they seemed to cause in him.

He took back his previous thoughts about the dawning of physical attraction between them and the effects it might bring about, and Seishirou Sakurazuka suddenly found himself considering the possibility that it was not only happening to innocent Subaru-kun but to him as well.

"Oh, but before I forget, " he decided to go on with the conversation before both youths could figure out he was absent, eyes pointing at the fresh, tea-colored bouquet that patiently awaited on the table for Subaru to notice them, "Those are for you, Subaru-kun..."

The young Omnyouji's blush increased almost feverishly as he followed Seishirou's gaze, arms falling to his sides as he let the cat go free from his protective embrace a bit too abruptly, a dreamy smile coming to curve his delicate lips as an evident manifestation of satisfaction, wet green eyes dedicating him a shy, thankful glance.

"Seishirou-san... You... didn't have to..." he began.

"Oh, but I want to, " Obeying an impulse, Seishirou laid a caressing fingertip over those curve lips, his whispered words gently cutting up Subaru's polite tone as he let the expression in his handsome face sweeten, "What kind of guest would I be if I didn't bring a present to the one who invited me, don't you think, Subaru-kun?"

Subaru couldn't find himself capable of voicing an answer to such a gallant argument that went beyond a muffled sigh, and instead used the opportunity to escape from Seishirou's all at once too intense brown eyes with the excuse of checking on the roses, "They're so beautiful, Seishirou-san... And I really love the color. Thank you so much..."

So the color had been right... Lucky him.

Seishirou was just melting into the sight of the graceful teenager closing his glimmering eyes to breath in the roses scent when the presence of Midori-kun coming to stand closer by his side forced him to dedicate a kindly interrogating look to the young boy.

Midori return his gaze with no shyness whatsoever, just a radiant smile of thankfulness on his cousin's behalf, which let Seishirou appreciate the close bonds of affection that existed between both Sumeragi inheritors.

"That was very nice of you, Sakurazuka-sensei," the beautiful emerald eyes sparkled a light green, his usually high-toned voice now turned into a discreet whisper, almost as if he wished to keep their conversation apart from his distracted cousin, "Hokuto-chan told me she always keeps a watered pot for you to place the flowers you get for Su-chan. And you make him so happy... You are such a good person, Sakurazuka-sensei..."

Seishirou could only chuckle warmly at such a naive, totally unknowing comment.

Gods, if that boy could only know who was he sharing secrets with...

After all, one who had never known darkness could never tell where darkness was hidden.

"Please, do not overestimate me, Midori-kun," he advised, amber-brown iris glittering in what seemed to be a calid resplendor from behind the flawless disguise of his glasses, as he wondered if his words should be spoken more like an abstract kind of a warning. But then his eyes returned to his Subaru-kun, to the vision of him caressing his own cheek against the velvety petals of the rose blossoms, and he found that unknown heat flowing through him once more, casting all the darkness away from his heart, "Besides, making Subaru-kun happy is one of the most important goals in my life..."

What...

He doubted the source of his own words the second he had spoken them, but Midori's understanding, tender smile just made him realize it had just been his heart, and the nameless feeling he was struggling with that had betrayed him again.

"Then I can tell you care for Su-chan as much as he cares for you..."

More than the words, it was the voice with which the teenager pronounced them that made Seishirou's eyes turn back to stare into the minor brach of the Sumeragi Clan's delicate face.

Midori no longer faced him, eyes now of a blue-green color turned down to stare at his small hands, and Seishirou was quite surprised to confirm the mournfulness in his voice that appeared so clearly mirrored on his unexplainable expression of longing.

Envy?

Only that then Subaru returned to catch up with the conversation, not allowing the brief exchange nor Seishirou's wondering to go any further as he came to stand beside him, a big porcelain frame clasped in his gloved hands, the teenager's beautiful face graced by a timid expression of doubt.

Was Subaru-kun actually willing to show him something?

Oh, how he loved when he played the attentive household...

"Look, Seishirou-san. I've got my copy enlarged," he shyly commented with a slight smile as he turned the frame around so that Seishirou could look at the picture in it: the same he kept as an invaluable treasure at his clinic's office.

Seishirou didn't need to fake the warm smile that came to curve his thin lips the second he looked at it, his right hand closing over Subaru's own hold of the frame in a spontaneous gesture of fondness.

The boy did nothing to avoid his touch.

"It's us at Ueno Park!" he stared tenderly into Subaru's face, only to have the young Omnyouji smiling back at him with all the beauty of his most lovely timid expression, and the feeling that haunted his heart was growing more powerful at every second brown kept staring into bright green without barricading any of his deepest thoughts, "The one Hokuto-chan took for us..."

"Oh, I love that picture!" Midori assured with a playful giggle, apparently enjoying to see his dear cousin in such a situation, before he casted a meaningful glance to Seishirou himself, "But I really like the Aquarium one better..."

At those words a sudden thought inspired Seishirou to take a peek over Subaru's head at the left bedside table, and he was amazed to confirm what he had just wondered about seconds before and hadn't been able to check when he was left alone in the tidy bedroom: Subaru's picture sanctuary spread right before his eyes, his most beloved memoirs he always kept close to bed in romantic hope that they will bring along happy dreams...

And he appeared in every single photo of it.

Some of them featured the happy trio together, but in others there were just the two of them: Subaru and Seishirou at the zoo, at Subaru's school campus, at the Sunshine 60's Aquarium, even the very first they took of them together at Tokyo Bay.

And there, so carefully shielded behind the others in a bizarre position that gave out to the sharp-eyed that it had just been hidden there on purpose, the one of himself so cheerfully posing at the clinic's office with a chimpanzee in his arms, one Hokuto-chan had casually captured with her pocket camera and which he had never got to know where had it gone afterwards.

Until now...

Seishirou's eyes fled back to meet Subaru's, as he could feel himself burning with a distinguished heat from inside, something that he could faintly recognize as the most weird combination of pride and satisfaction and a thousand other emotions that were so entirely unknown to him, and he supposed he should have been smiling, for Subaru seemed to be struggling with his shyness to decide whether to smile back at him or let his heavenly face lean down so that the ebony strands of his thick fringe would hide his blush away.

He took skillful advantage of his decision towards the second option to let go of his hold on the frame in order cup the delicate chin in his hand and gently make the boy return to stare right into his eyes, making the frail body shiver slightly at his contact, white light coming from the room's ceiling bathing the beautiful face, filled with nervousness, as Subaru's own words returned to his mind once again.

My most beloved moments, the ones I wish to keep forever...

"Those are..."

"Subaru-kun's picture collection, though not in it's original order, since he had to put it away when obaa-sama came to visit us."

Seishirou listened to the harmonious, almost musical sound of that calm voice that had dared break the spell, wondering if it was just his imagination or maybe the humming of the sea that had reached his ears by means of some unknown magic, though Subaru's sudden reaction of startlement that made him snatch out of his touch in embarrassment while he hidden the frame behind his back as if it was the evidence of a nasty crime made him convince himself that the person standing at the bedroom's gate was very real.

Though his eyes appeared as tricky as his ears when it came to confirming it.

A woman of such beauty she could have been compared to a classical statue and though still bear some advantage, young, though a mesmerizing agelessness appeared to clad the perfection of her severe features with mystery was staring right at him with a glance that seem could trespass him with a single thought like a thin dagger of ice, such inner power they resplended with.

But no one had ever dared look into a Sakurazukamori's eyes in that way...

Intrigued and somehow darkly curious, Seishirou momentaneously forgot about both young boys and charged her with all the burning intensity of his own stare, as he analyzed every single detail of the vision that spread before him with his hunter's observing skills.

Sumeragi...

He would have sworn those eyes that fixed him with a barely disguised look of mistrust were as blue as the deepest reaches of the sea, though he knew they had to be green, just like the ones of every member of the Sumeragi Clan, framed by waves of shoulder length, ocean-colored hair. They only helped building up the shell of severity and arrogance surrounding the woman's slender figure and that he found so amusingly alike the one of another Sumeragi female he had got to know for many years.

Seishirou didn't bother to hold back a smile of secrecy.

"So I finally get to meet you, Sakurazuka Seishirou-san," the girl took an elegant step inside the bedroom without unfolding her slim arms, blue-green pupils never leaving his own as she did so, while Seishirou could perceive the unnatural pressure put in her pronouncement of his last name, getting to understand the stranger's attitude all at once.

So, there seemed to be more points of connection between the one he'd thought about seconds before and her...

"Both twins had told me a lot about you, " she assured in what sounded more like an ironic comment than a friendly remark, her eyes barely shifting to stare briefly at Midori's suddenly frozen face.

"Nee-san..." the boy muttered the word softly in what Seishirou supposed was a salute, as he seemed to be totally intimidated by the young woman's unexpected presence.

Even though Seishirou was a matter apart.

"Oh, had them?" his answer came in a casual, cheerful tone, his handsome face smiling obliviously kind as he was decided to play the girl's same game and win, his unexpected attitude obviously taking a bit aback the solidity of his opponent's arguments, for the azure stare falttered a little with a swift blink.

Close to his right, Subaru was softly clearing his throat.

"Seishirou-san, please let me introduce you to my cousin, Sumeragi Mitchuru," the bishounen respectfully decided to go on with the proper presentations, his own voice showing traces of deep respect towards the severe figure of his older cousin, as he followed his best friend's steps that guided him right in front of the beautiful young woman, "Mitchuru-san, this is Sakurazuka Seishirou, my... " the teenager lingered nervously at the phrase, leaving it incomplete for a much longer amount of time than the reasonable one, as Seishirou thought he might be hating himself for getting into such a compromising situation," my... my best... friend..." he awkwardly picked up at last.

There was a muffled manifestation from Midori to their backs, and Seishirou had a hard time trying to hold back a chuckle.

A delicate eyebrow was lifting over the girl's azure eyes in what seemed to be a censoring gesture, though Seishirou's hand was already moving to take gentle hold of hers, slender male fingers tasting the softness of a skin that had so very little to envy from Subaru's.

But as Mitchuru Sumeragi was ready for a sober, distant shake, she suddenly found her hand's back being gifted with a soft, respectful kiss, as the tall man in front of her leaned forward to perform such a gallant, old-fashioned attention, his luminous brown eyes lifting from beneath the clear crystal of his glasses to her openly surprised face with a look that almost made her heart stumble, the contact of those lips sending electricity to her whole, suddenly heated body.

Sakurazuka...

That revolution she felt inside...

The echo of the opposite forces' eternal battle, the mingling, the merging of two totally different entities, energies that came to touch in an extravagant, mismatching contact that was both repelling and attracting.

That lured her to that man as a firefly innocently reaches for the luminescence, unaware of the fact death awaits her in that false warmth...

Sakurazuka indeed...

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sumeragi Mitchuru-san... "

Seishirou spoke the words with his exactly same, cheerful tone, only timing it with a slight note of confessed admiration whose effects were so delightfully evident as the slight quiver in her pulse, though the beautiful young woman in front of him seemed to have some sort of special ability to rebuild her defenses, and there she was again, feminine lips slightly curved into an icy smile.

"Charming!" a hint of irony was reflected in her voice as the female Sumeragi joint her musician's hands behind her slender back, almost as if to drive them safely away from Seishirou's startling touch, blue-green eyes glittering mischievously, "Just as I had imagined... I see the siblings weren't exaggerating when they told me about your personality..." the ocean pupils were briefly deflected to some spot on the floor to then come to meet his again with seemingly recovered strength, "And a man after his own heart it seems. Please tell, Sakurazuka-san, do you always tend to leave your house shoes at the entrance of the rooms?"

Eh?

Seishirou was caught entirely off guard as he became suddenly aware of the absence of his slippers.

Silly, silly...

Guess he had been much entertained on watching Subaru-kun's dressing garments to even repair in that small detail his own was missing.

He should also made a mental note not to be so self trusting about his so considered faultless memory now that the feelings thing was seemingly affecting him.

But far from granting the girl's wish to get him uncomfortable, he won over that little cunning move of their power struggle by letting out a warm laugher that was almost the perfect manifestation of his true reaction.

"Oh, my, my... " his cheerfully attractive smile only widened when witnessing the disappointed glimmer that whispered pass the young Sumeragi mistress' deep iris as she kept on smiling politely at him, "I took them away just to avoid tripping over when watering the roses I got for Subaru-kun! I must have forgotten to put them back on... Funny how neither of the boys noticed..."

Mitchuru left him such little time to lavish a quick glance at flustering Subaru who stood in shy silence by his side before counterattacking.

"And you also bring flower gifts to a sixteen year old boy..." now it was time for her to smile her ironic smile, the graceful head turning a little to one side in what seemed to be a thoughtful gesture, causing the heavy waves of her celadon hair to caress her slim shoulder softly, "You are quite a remarkable man, Sakurazuka-san..."

So, we're going into low blows now, aren't we...

Just before Seishirou's masculine, smiling lips parted to let her hear his calm answer Subaru-kun had abandoned his muteness to surprisingly dare raise in his defense, a respectful though evident expression of ununderstanding reproach towards his cousin's attitude to his best friend and confident filling his soft features with such an unusual severeness that was so delightful to look at.

"Seishirou-san always brings me flowers when he visits us, Mitchuru-san, " the bright green pools shone just like fireflies against Tokyo's night sky: challenging and bright, causing Seishirou's surprised attention to be entirely drawn to him, a warm sensation of something that felt like inner satisfaction filling his heart, "And I really like it a lot."

So there.

Seishirou took care in hiding away a sly smile.

He was suddenly aware of feeling too much satisfaction than the proper one.

Almost as if part of himself wished to let this sneaking stranger know about every one of the infinite, spider web-like bonds that held him and Subaru-kun in perpetual union.

To enjoy the sheer annoyance it would bring about.

It was priceless to appreciate the veiled surprise in the older cousin's classical features when receiving that small though unquestionable affirmation from the young Head of the Clan, and Seishirou's sense of curiosity was badly expecting to listen to the answer that was about to flow from those perfect, feminine lips when the girl's attention was caught by something close to Subaru's feet.

The angry disgust and so the slight cobwebs of what he was sure might be an abstract sort of fear so similar to the one he had felt before blasted so evidently in the beautiful girl's azure eyes that Seishirou was instantly drawn to follow her glance, only to find all of it's intensity charging the unaware, fuzzy figure of the white persian cat that had come forward onto Subaru's side to sneak on what was happening.

Seishirou's gold brown eyes flee to the girl's face, an inner flame gleaming dangerously in their dark inside.

So she can also feel it...?

Mitchuru's head bolt upwards and onto Midori's silent figure so fast it made all of her silky hair rush down her shoulders as a celadon tide, her attention too centered upon fixing the young boy with a censoring glance to notice Seishirou's now thoughtful, half lidded stare on her.

"Midori, how many times do I have to tell you not to let this animal into Subaru-kun's room?"

Her voice was steady and demanding, and so were the bluish mirrors of her eyes, though there was that unmistakable hue of rebound, of wrongness that so perfectly echoed what he felt every time the soulless creature came in his way.

Seishirou took a step closer towards Subaru-kun in an instinctive, almost unnoticed move, the lovely figure remaining distant and unaware of the fact both elders in the room seemed to be willing to protect him.

Protect him...

Of what...?

Too strange...

"I-I'm sorry, nee-san..." Midori was stammering a shameful apology as the beauty of his flustering face appeared all at once clouded with fear and nervousness, iris twinkling brightly into a sharp leaf green.

His was not the look of shy submission of the innocent boy that got lectured by a dominating sister, but the look of the one who's keeping a deathly secret he doesn't want anyone to uncover...

It seemed as he would anytime run forward to protect the cat's unsuspecting, helpless figure in the soft cradle of his skinny arms.

And Seishirou's watchful stare was becoming deeper.

Midori-kun, what's on that awfully ugly cat that gets you like this?

"Oh, that's not a problem of any kind."

Subaru's gentle, cheerful voice came to make the heavy atmosphere shatter into pieces by the power of it's oblivious tone, as he was the one to crouch downwards to get the small, white form nestled in his tender arms, one lavender clad hand softly running through the messy fur of it's back, "It was actually my fault: I happened to leave the door open so Kizuna escaped your apartment and came here," he explained with a soothing smile that barely got to make any effects on his deeply frowning cousin, "Lucky us it seems Hokuto-chan found her. I like her a lot, so I really don't mind at all..."

"Subaru-kun's right about that, Mitchuru-san."

Seishirou decided to play the sympathetic soul and got the Sumeragi girl evidently surprised by his daring attitude as he came to stand close beside his young accomplice, taking the snowy form of the questioned cat from him with a skillful, maybe too swift movement of his left arm as he gently wrapped the other around the teenager's frail back, causing his alabaster cheeks to blush intensely, "Kizuna is such an educated and respectful girl she wouldn't dare to harm any of her protector's precious belongings, am I right on that, Subaru-kun?"

"Seishirou-san..."

The timid emerald pupils briefly fluttered over his female cousin's face, almost as if to check on her approval.

It seemed Subaru wasn't a good observer at all, cause he finally by-passed the most significant, almost scandalized glare those azure iris gave him to go let his shy stare melt into Seishirou's caring brown eyes, the usual dreamy smile curving the delicious shapes of his small lips, "Yes, you're right on that. As always..."

Always...

Seishirou almost felt like making it complete and pull the beautiful boy closer still to his suddenly heated body, partly because of his desire to amuse himself by watching the growing expression of wrongness that was becoming more and more evident on Sumeragi Mitchuru's stern face, half due to the awakening of that warm ghost of a feeling inside his heart at Subaru-kun's tender, totally trusting attitude.

He decided on the contrary though: he didn't really want to go overboard on his teasing, and the female Sumeragi was already fixing him with a deathly glance as the shameless person she considered he was.

Besides he had already succeeded greatly enough on snatching the cat away from Subaru's unsuspecting embrace.

It seemed the creature almost perceived the unspoken danger in his touch, for it was already purring out in disgust and trying to cast itself away from him. He put an end to the matter by closing his grip tightly around the front of it's furry neck in what seemed to be a gentle hold, though the animal went deathly still against his body at once.

"Oh! Please excuse my lack of memory, " Mitchuru's musichal voice slightly denoted her disgust as she stood in passive contemplation of what a delicious couple they made.

Subaru's innocent, totally fascinated expression as he let himself be embraced by that man...

The seductive glint in that person's golden eyes, half veiled by the most convenient protection of those smartly looking glasses, the way he smiled so lovingly and warmly, the way in which his long, strong fingers closed around the fragility of Subaru's shoulder...

The Thirteenth Head of the Clan... and a member of the Sakurazuka Family...

Something definitely dark made her shiver from inside as a somber certainty dawned in her mind.

"I have forgotten you are a veterinarian..."

"The best of all Tokyo!!!!"

Hokuto's cheerful head popped up from behind the young woman's delicate shoulder as if coming out of nowhere, her shrilling voice chiming so happily and unexpectedly Mitchuru couldn't find herself capable of suppressing a loudly manifested flinch.

"Hokuto-chan!! Please don't ever do that again...!" she laid a hand on her startled chest almost as if to make clear the heart leap she had suffered, quite an inappropriate attitude for a young, beautiful girl, as it occurred to Seishirou.

A jade sparkle of surprise enlighten the huge iris of Subaru's female reflection.

"Why not?? I'm speaking with the truth!! Go ask the bishounen in love if you want!"

"Hokuto-chan!!!!" Subaru almost jumped out of Seishirou's sheltering arm, his previous blush intensifying until covering the whole of his pale skin with a bright crimson shade, eyes flashing to meet his elder cousin's face, that had already gone febrile, "You don't have to start with your jokes now...!"

"Subaru-kun is right on that, Hokuto-chan," Mitchuru's voice was as severe as it had been ever since the female Sumeragi minor entered the room, though the way in which her gaze sweetened with affection when meeting Hokuto's outrageous grin brought Subaru's previous comments on the close bonds of friendship that linked the two girls back to Seishirou's memory, "There's no need for that teasing. Besides, you'll embarrass Sakurazuka-san..."

The blue eyed girl charged him with a serenely ironic glance to which Seishirou innocently smiled.

Sharp eyed beauty...

"Ohohohoho!!!!"

Hokuto-chan's loud laugher resounded in all the large bedroom as three graceful steps took her right beside the handsome guest, where she flirty wrapped arms around him as her velvety cheek laid playfully seductive against his huge chest," Sei-chan is like part of the family, Mitchu-chan. And I really doubt he gets embarrassed by the nasty truth!"

"Errr... Shouldn't we be going to talk anywhere else?" Subaru's nervous suggestion held Mitchuru from voicing any further protest and Hokuto-chan from answering it, as the totally flustered Omnyouji was gently shoving Midori's mute figure towards the door, "I mean... somewhere more comfortable...?"

Hokuto's feminine shoulders gave a slight shrug.

"Well, I actually came here to inform all of you I'm almost finished with dinner. Don't ask what, 'cause it's a sur-prise!!" she gifted the audience with a playful wink of her liquid green eyes as a purple-nailed finger was raised in mocking, lecturing gesture, "So if you just feel like going to the table I'll start with the parade of my so famous canapés á la Hokuto-chan!"

"Sounds unrefusable, so why don't we proceed?" Seishirou gently laid his huge palm on Subaru-kun's narrow back, indicating that as the man of the house he should lead the way with a kind nod of his head when the huge green lagoons came to timidly meet his stare.

Subaru held his glance for just a second longer, an indefinable trace of a feeling that came to sweeten even more the shyness of his emerald eyes putting Seishirou's heart on guard just before he turned his back to him and left the bedroom, followed by the chit-chatting figure of his crazy twin.

"So now you're going to know what a Tokyo meal is for real!!" the enthusiastic girl danced away to the corridor as she was bathing her visiting cousins with a speech that would surely last until dinner, "Nothing you can compare to the dull thing we had last night!! I mean, what's better than a good homemade dish...?"

Ahhh...

Seishirou shook his head in a warm manifestation of hopelessness, as he politely allowed himself to be last one to abandon the room, his rich mahogany stare fixed on the departing group Mitchuru leading her younger brother gently by her musician's hand laid on the frail shoulder closed, and he had to raise his dark eyebrows in a gesture of admiration.

That was the very first hint of affection the stern young woman gifted her brother with in the whole night.

So that was the female Sumeragi prodigy...

The one who was supposedly a skillful Omnyouji as well as a gifted violinist, and probably the most beautiful and severe woman he had ever laid eyes upon...

He gave in to the reality that she amused him.

Perhaps all due to the thrilling the fact she knew he was a Sakurazuka and openly despised him, and nevertheless did nothing direct to let that point out brought about.

Seishirou let his steps linger a while before going out of the room, trying to open his mind to the almost surreal idea of the young members of the Thirteenth Sumeragi Generation sharing a table with the Sakurazukamori, fingers absently stroking the white fur of the cat that rested in his left arm imbued in a terrorized paralysis, gold brown eyes now totally devoid of any emotion loosing their meditating stare into Tokyo's night, now perfectly seen through Subaru's large terrace.

Could there be any risks in the fact both cousins knew of his existence?

It had been daring enough from him to pay a visit to the Sumeragi Building considering his ancient counterpart was somewhere in that city and could turn up anytime.

His slender index came to give the cat's spine a few, rhythmic pokes, before letting it free from his captivity with a quick, totally careless gesture.

The thing made a sound of protest as it reached the floor to which Seishirou didn't pay the slightest attention.

If it actually became so, he would notice in time so he could do something about it.

It would be a real pity, though.

They made such an entertaining couple, and he really didn't feel like doing anything that could hurt Subaru-kun's pure heart.

Then again, what had he read in those watery green lagoons before the beautiful boy left the bedroom...?

A low purr made his stare lower to the futon, where the fuzzy persian laid at his feet, mismatching green and red pupils fixed on him almost as if in a thoughtless challenge.

'Go ahead, kick me...'

He let his lips twist up into a dark smile.

"Kizuna."

He called the pitiful, graceless object by it's senseless name.

Kizuna...

Tomorrow, it'll be at his will, so maybe then he could finally work out where do all the weird sensations this cat seemed to trigger in observing people actually came from.

Learn if it meant any kind of hazard to the only one that mattered to him.

And if so, destroy it.

It promised to be really fun.

Just the moment after his index swiftly switched the bedroom's light off, let it be engulfed by the shadows and become a part of Tokyo's dim night and his body was half out of Subaru's bedroom, a subtle impulse seemed to make a prey out of him and he was staring back at the small left bedside table again.

Something like a gleaming current of emotion came to fill Seishirou's void brown eyes, as it absently occurred to him that he could always fail in the next day's operation if Midori-kun's snoopy pet dared do the slightest damage to his Subaru-kun's picture treasures.

He began to carefully close the small black door as he caught sight of himself cheerfully staring right back at him from one of the perpetually still memories.

And suddenly realized that what had lead him to take a peek at the neat group of polished porcelain frames had not been curiosity at all.

An entirely different kind of smile came to give a touch of unsuspected warmth to the masculine, handsome face, that until that one moment had been an expressionless mask, as what haunted his heart could be perfectly read in the gold, amber eyes, all the plain simplicity of it.

It had not been curiosity.

It had just been the longing desire to be there.

 

 

"Oh, no, please! No more! Have mercy of me..."

Seishirou raised a slender hand in self defense, thought he'd die when he caught sight of attentive Hokuto so naturally laying three more spoonfuls of caramel ice cream in his empty sundae cup, as he glanced at the preparation with a cheerfully annoyed smile on his thin lips, where he could still feel a lingering taste of cloying sweetness.

All those awful little cookies popping out of everywhere...

He just had to avert his gaze.

It was true he had a particular taste for sweets, but to come to that...

There was a timid laugher from Subaru-kun sitting comfortably close to his side on the couch, as his twin's emerald eyes sparkled him her best offended household stare, "But Sei-chan! You were the one who brought this along! C'mon, it's the last portion!"

He shook his head with a vehemence he hoped could let the impulsive girl understand his immovability, "I've already had two cups! If I take a single more calorie into this poor old body I really think I'll explode!"

Hokuto rolled her glimmering green eyes backwards in a weary gesture of protest.

"Men! Now come they worry about being fit! So, anybody?"

Her questioning stare surveyed around the comfortable living room to where they had moved to go on with the conversation after finishing with dinner, a grin of disapproval coming to her delicate features as she swiftly discarded silent Subaru, who was still digging his spoon absently into his melted portion of cheesecake cream, her hopes totally centered on the two cousins that occupied the sofa to the left of the male couple.

"Mi-chan! I know you want this!" she musically teased her young male cousin with the decadent sight of the ice cream mountain, her beautiful pixie face going febrile when the boy spoke out a few shy words of refusal, what made her turn to his elder sister, "Oh, Mitchu-chan, let it be you! You haven't even taste a bit!!"

The young woman was actually smiling, letting out a wholehearted laugh that sounded just as the chimming of crystal bells being rocked by the sea breeze, as the elegant head shook softly in open deny.

"Dinner was so absolutely gorgeous I don't really think I'll have space for anything else," Mitchuru justified herself in a cheerful attitude, so entirely different from the one she seemed to assume every time she shared a comment with him...

And as his intense brown eyes silently watched the heavenly scene she made, Seishirou wondered if that was entirely true, or maybe she just didn't want to try it out for the simple fact it had been him the one who brought the dessert along.

He let his amusement manifest itself in discrete sigh, his gaze casually traveling along the luminous, spacious room, the large, floor-to-ceiling windows in front of them that allowed his gaze to get so comfortably lost in the infinity of the neon sea that Tokyo appeared to be at their feet, musing about the very remarkable group the five of them made.

The delicious and abundant dinner had proceeded in the same parade of comments and chatting: Mitchuru-san's acid though totally polite words needling him, his absolute control of the situation that had been evident to her all through the night in his cheerfully serene answers, Hokuto-chan's usual babbling and one or two brief remarks from Midori and Subaru-kun...

There was something almost mystic in the atmosphere.

Something the totally different attitudes and personalities of the four Sumeragis around him unawarely helped to build upon.

The sparkling of huge eyes resplendent in a such a wide variety of green, the alabaster faces whose delicate features appeared glossy and ethereal underneath the artificial caress of the room's lighting...

And of course, there was Subaru-kun.

The young boy had surprised him when he incredibly decided to share the couch with him instead of running to his sister's side as it should have been natural from him, and was now comfortably sitting to his right, maybe a bit too close than his eternal shyness had ever allow him, though every time their eyes met his shameful gaze would quickly escape him, a delicate blush igniting in his cheeks.

Surely, he could blame his attitude on the lingering feelings of guiltiness the other night's broken date might have still be bringing to him...

But there was new glimmer in those expressive green lagoons.

An evident warmth in the way he faintly smiled when both furtively looked at each other as if they shared a secret none of the others should know.

Something that had not been there before a few weeks ago.

Something that kept Seishirou's heart at a quick pace as it seemed to be a clear echo of the heat that enveloped his mind whenever he glanced into that lovely timid face, devoured the way in which his curve lips had turned wet red by the contact of cool ice cream.

Ah, these Sumeragis...

He broke out of his reverie to teasingly brush his hand against the young boy's arm -crooked to hold the big sundae cup- in what seemed to be a totally accidental movement, holding back a smile at the slight quiver he perceived.

Were they all of such beauty?

"Well, maybe you can steal a few cooking tricks from me so you can try them yourself back in Osaka," Hokuto seemed to forget about the whole unwanted ice cream matter at her female cousin's congratulating words, what awoke Seishirou's unspoken admiration once again to the evidence that Mitchuru really knew how to manage her.

And that was not an easy task...

Hokuto-chan let herself fall carelessly though gracefully over the single sofa in front of the visitor Sumeragi siblings, her enthusiastic spoon attacking pitilessly at the caramel covered dessert making it clear she had decided to take care of it personally, "It's about time you give Midori a good home meal, don't you think? I bet the poor thing has to survive on instant noodles and hamburgers with you being such a busy person as you are. Just look at him! He's almost as skinny as Su-chan!"

The green haired teen was emulating Subaru's flusttering shyness, as his attitude had suffered a tremendous change ever since the severe figure of her older sister had stepped into the scene.

Seishirou wondered why.

"I doubt I could ever bit your hand, Hokuto-chan," the azure eyed girl shot back in sincerely flattering tone, one ivory finger playing absently with a lock of ocean colored hair, "I'm not really skillful when it comes to those matters..."

"Oh, but I'm sure you're certainly skillful at many others things, Mitchuru-san," Seishirou hide the dark hints of the smile that came to enlighten his handsome features when the beautiful young woman turned her mesmerizing stare to him in a quite startled attitude.

Obviously she didn't expected him to introduce such a comment.

My fair Sumeragi lady, you still have to learn how awfully unpredictable your enemies can be...

"See, I've been told a lot about you as well," he cheerfully went on, never missing the slight glimmer of disturbance shinning somewhere in the azure depths of those expressive eyes, savoring the heavy aura of rebound that had again come over the figure of the female Sumeragi, "I believe you're such a gifted Mizunoto Omnyouji, as well as an excellent violinist, am I right?"

Mitchuru's bluish pupils drifted slightly to his side, where she charged helpless Subaru with a most significant glance of censorship, making the boy's alabaster cheeks blush bright pink in embarrassment, as his older cousin so correctly deduced he had been the main source of information.

Good.

Something inside Seishirou's mind experienced a dark satisfaction.

Let her know I am your confident, Subaru-kun...

"Mitchuru-san's mother, Sumeragi Mitsuko, was our mother's older sister," the teenage Omnyouji obliviously kept on giving away details on his cousin's private life on what apparently had become a conversation of their own, "And she was also a powerful Mizunoto trained by obaa-sama herself."

Another victim...

Seishirou's eyes blinked twice from underneath his glasses in what he let be considered a gesture of admiration.

"That's quite an exaggeration," Mitchuru spoke the words in a soft, calm tone, though still a bitter accent could be perceived: a very carefully disguised hint of what could be interpreted as self frustration, "As it happens with music, Omnyoujitsu is an art that can only be mastered after long years of exhaustive training, and I didn't have Subaru-kun's same luck of starting my education at such an early age..." she paused just a minute, to then turn her half lidded stare to him again, the traces of an ironic smile beautifying her delicate lips, "But I doubt you can understand what I'm talking about, Sakurazuka-san, since you are not a practitioner..."

Seishirou was aware of the frowning, interrogating glance Hokuto gave Subaru, as if trying to find some explanation to her cousin's evidently unkind behavior towards him in the glimmering depths of his emerald eyes, to which the teenager could only answer with a clueless face and a shoulder shrug.

"Call him Sei-chan, for God's sake!" Hokuto hissed in slight disgust, green gaze turned back to her rapidly disappearing ice cream "He's just a couple of years older than you!"

Mitchuru's classical face went radically stern.

"Well, I do have some Omnyoujitsu knowledge that comes from my family," Seishirou smiled a bit too widely at his own deceiving modesty, as he casually came to wrap an arm around the back of the coach against which the little Head of the Clan rested his narrow back in sort of an indirect embrace, "But most of all I've learnt a lot from the times Subaru-kun has been patient enough to put up with me as his assistant..."

He paid no attention to Mitchuru's intense, censoring glance on them, surely intensified by his apparently accidental mention of his, the Sakurazuka Family, as the dazzling, lovely smile Subaru gifted him with called all of his senses to enjoy it's innocent beauty.

And so the way the young girl blinked in scandalized attitude when Subaru's delicate head turned slightly to it's side, almost as if to go rest over Seishirou's broad shoulder went unnoticed.

He just continued, unstoppable.

"Subaru-kun also mentioned something about a yearly council for the female members of your Clan, could it be?"

At that Mitchuru's face was shadowed with a hint of nearly alarm at the large list of details he actually knew about her family activities.

"Yeah! Seishirou-chan, can you imagine it?" Hokuto almost catapulted herself up from the sofa she occupied by the endless enthusiasm her whole self gave away, a dreamy grin on her feminine features, "Me, at Clan Council?? It's such a cool idea!! That has been Subaru's business for so long I can barely remember the last time I took part in an official event of the family!! I've been dying this last days on what to wear!!!"

Her lively eyes suddenly went brighter with the birth of an idea, and came to fix him with a passionately inquiring look, "Sei-chan, you know most of my wardrobe. What do you think about that? Or should it be better if I have something specially made for the occasion??"

Seishirou's warm laugher came spontaneously out at such search for advise, as Subaru was shamefully shaking his delicate head beside him, "Hokuto-chan seems more worried about what to wear than about the Council itself!" he mournfully declared.

The older man's arm passed from the couch's back to go wrap gently around the sixteen year old's weak shoulders in what seemed to be an impulse of the heart, an oversweetened expression on his masculine face.

"Well, if she chooses her garments with the same fashion wisdom she picked up yours for tonight, then she will surely be the loveliest lady of the event, Subaru-kun."

Subaru's thick eyelashes fell over half the brightness of his glaucous stare, lips curved up into a smile that was far from being ashamed.

Closer to be delighted.

"Seishirou-san..."

Mitchuru Sumeragi was clearing her throat so loud it even surpassed the sound of Hokuto-chan's outrageous laugher, and Subaru was forced to break out of his trance.

Seishirou somehow saw reasons for it.

Both were acting as if they were helpless victims of a terrible crush on each other, displaying childish attitudes that he had never gone through before even in his high school days, and he was actually taking pleasure from it!

Though what was mostly remarkable was the fact he wasn't sure his diversion on annoying the pretty Sumeragi minor was the main reason for it.

"And what about the violin?" he thought of cutting the thing from there on, surrendered to the fact he wouldn't find any instant explanation to his own behavior and so concentrated in his patient work with the young woman, "Subaru-kun told me you were such a superb violinist, and I happen to be a great classical music lover," he charged that beautifully stern face with his best look of unconditional admiration, "I'd certainly love to hear you play sometime..."

He would then surprise himself by the consequences that kind comment brought about.

"Hey, Sei-chan! That's a great idea!!" Hokuto popped up from her entirely comfortable position over the sofa, and Seishirou knew that she was on something really serious, for she set the huge ice cream cup to one side, totally forgotten, eyes glimmering bright green with enthusiasm, "She's got the thing right here, so there'd be no problem at all!!" he had to interpret by himself that 'the thing' should actually mean 'the violin', for Mitchuru's bluish glance lit up in sudden alarm, surely anticipating what would come next as Hokuto turned to her, "Mitchu-chan, why don't you play something for us??"

Close by his side, Subaru was supporting the idea with an interested smile.

Though Mitchuru's face was absolutely somber, eyes sparkling out her evident disagreement.

"No, no," she shook her graceful head in open protest, a slight frown becoming evident in the soft brow, "That's definitely out of question."

And Seishirou wasn't like he was letting that one be missed.

Payback time for the slippers' matter, it seemed.

"Oh, that would be certainly delightful, Mitchuru-san. A perfect closure for the evening," his cheerful expression of approve only helped turning the young girl's face more stern, letting him know by the firm glimmer of her azure glance she wouldn't give him the pleasure of winning that over.

Just then Hokuto's delicate, feminine hand took gentle hold of hers, as the bishoujo's expressively beautiful features were clad by the most unrefusable expression of plea when going to kneel childishly at her cousin's side.

"Oh, c'mon Mitchu-chan! Puleeez...!!" Subaru's sibling certainly knew how to get what she wanted, her usually shrilling voice bathed in a lovely pleading tone that evidently worked it's way through Mitchuru's heart immediately, "A little bit of music would light up this meeting... C'mon! Do it for your fave, little cousin!"

Smiling her defeat out warmly, Mitchuru raised a slender hand to stop the assault.

"Okay, fine. But just a small piece..."

Seconds went by until utterly satisfied Hokuto went to fetch the instrument, a large, slender and ancestral-looking Stradivarius carved out of glossy, alabaster-colored wood, and so Seishirou had very little time to prepare himself for Mitchuru's long, pale fingers dancing through the strings in rhythmic, feather-like caresses, face casted away of the entire world as she let herself be swept away by her own music.

Even if he had got more time, he wasn't sure he'd been ready for what came next.

He felt himself at a strangely relaxing attention as he let his back rest comfortably against the couch's soft back, having the strong impression that the melody so perfectly emulated the humming and crushing of waves in the sea.

Honey brown eyes narrowing in fascination as he witnessed how the veil of severity and arrogance Mitchuru Sumeragi had been shielding herself with was gradually vanishing, letting out a piece of her real self with every note she lavished for her crying instrument.

Things that perhaps were only evident to his sharp-seeing eyes...

In his feelingless soul, he sensed sadness, an immensely deep saddness filling each graceful sound, something like a patiently suppressed frustration for which he somehow understood the reason as her attack cut through the strings with daring maestry, and it didn't seem surprising to him that she happened to be the disciplined girl she apparently was, as she let all of her tamed inner feelings flow freely and powerful into her performance.

Really an Omnyouji...

Mitchuru canalized her entire spiritual energy into music.

A very powerful one...

Immersed as he was in his inner thoughts, Seishirou was never aware of how Subaru, sitting closely to his right, had been equally enjoying his cousin's skillful performance until the emerald stare had come to lay on him.

The boy felt a distinctive flame being triggered in his heart as he noticed his best friend's abstracted glance fixed on the beautiful scene of Mitchuru playing her violin, a slight smile of deep fascination curving those masculine, thin lips that was so entirely different from the one Seishirou-san used to wear.

A smile that showed admiration of the purest kind.

Subaru's huge green eyes blinked out in self surprise, as he was trying to justify the sudden changes in his breathing, the equally rapid beating of his heart that all at once was filled with an unjustified sensation of slight anger, of subtle though fiercely throbbing rebound.

Seishirou-san, what's happening to me...?

He found himself wishing he could tear Seishirou's beautiful eyes apart from the certainly attractive figure of his female cousin.

Maybe back onto him...

Maybe by breaking all the strings of that suddenly shrilling-sounding instrument with a single thought of commanding magic...

He flustered at once in self reproach towards his own, evil thoughts, as he unnoticeably moved to sit closer still to Seishirou's absent figure.

I love Mitchuru-san. Love her very much...

His breath caught, the blush in his ivory cheeks intensifying as his eyes suddenly came to a meeting with Midori's shifting, teasing pupils, that somehow shone in childish mischief as if he was completely understanding of his unexplainable attitude.

And why it vanished as soon as his cousin played the last note of her brief serenade.

The room was filled with hand clapping and Hokuto's shrilling of praise, so maybe the loud noise had suddenly brought him back to his senses...

"Absolutely magnificent, Mitchuru-san," Seishirou assured himself of letting an evident hint of admiration be heard in his deep voice, as well as he captured the passing sparkle of blue that resplended in the young woman's half slanted eyes for no more than a fleeing second.

Felt like congratulating himself for achieving what seemed to be a ghosty resemblance of gratefulness from the girl's stone face.

First befriending trace, perhaps...

A brief glance to his rolex wristwatch succeeded in catching his attention, though.

Nearly half past midnight, and he could already hear the silent call of the subtle bonds that kept him tied to that dark entity that was never satiated...

I'm coming...

"Oh, Gods! But look at the time!" he slowly rose to his feet while gifting the others with a polite smile of worrisome, his voice a pleasant, cheerful sound, "I'm afraid I must leave. I have such an important operation to perform tomorrow and want to be fresh and rested so I can do my very best..."

Midori's green pupils glittered up into a bright, passionate pasture color when they came to meet his own, the boy's thin body being propelled out of the sofa by some sort of invisible force, "I'll be there with Kizuna first hour in the morning, Sakurazuka-sensei!"

Seishirou chuckled warmly at the teenager's spoken innocence, "I'm sure you will. And fear nothing for your pet's well-being: I'll take care of her as if she was my own..."

There was a slight trace of darkness to hide away in the crystal shielded depths of his brown eyes.

He surely would.

"But, Seishirou-san...!"

That unusually passionate accent of protest in Subaru-kun's soft, shy voice lead him to turn around immediately only to discover the boy had also stood up, and was now regretting his impulsiveness with faint a pink blush in his cheeks.

Dark amber iris went gleaming in surprise.

You want me to stay...

"It-it's so soon..." the innocent Omnyouji's justifications were as adorable as the timid though open expression of disappointment on his sad eyed-face, and Seishirou wondered if it was trick of his mind or was his suddenly heated heart really regretting that urgent need to escape the scene, "Please Seishirou-san... Are you sure you can't stay just a moment more?"

Seishirou barely refrained from reaching out both his arms and hugging that weak body longly and sweetly, shelter the beauty of that mournfully pleading face into the warmth of his chest's clothes and hide him away there so it could only be the two of them in a world of heat and silky-soft shadows.

Subaru-kun, if the choice was mine to make, if it really laid in my hands...

I'd stay with you...

He uselessly fought to push down the furious current of unknown emotion that had come to lay claim of him as he was aware of Subaru's true wish, and what voicing it out had really meant to him.

His sincere desire to have him by his side...

The twin, echoing feeling shining in those deep, liquid pupils that so perfectly emulated his own, new born emotions, even giving Subaru the strength to resist the powerful influence of his shyness, of the certainty of all the room's eyes falling onto his figure.

So why did it make him feel so startlingly weak...?

Seishirou was astonishingly rescued from that inner struggle with his own self by Hokuto's childishly lecturing tone.

"Su-chan, don't go that possessive on him! It's not correct to put a man in such a compromising situation," the girl's advice was as good as if she would have given it to a female schoolmate out for her first date, and was accompanied by a vehement expression, "Besides, don't you want Kizuna to be fine and healthy? What if Sei-chan falls asleep in the middle of the operation?"

It was as if breaking a time-freezing spell, and Subaru's shameful reactions came all in one moment: the blush, the stammering flood of lovely apologies...

But it contrastingly helped Seishirou to regain his own self.

"It was an incredible dinner, Hokuto-chan," he assured with a caring smile, forcing himself to cast eyes away from Subaru if only for a second, "I hope to enjoy it again in the future..."

Her delicate hand moved in a gesture of faked modesty, "Just fix a day and I'll go cook it at your place!"

Seishirou let her know by the glint of enthusiasm in his caramel brown eyes that he approved wholeheartedly, seconds before his attention was totally drawn to Mitchuru's slender figure, who had left her precious instrument carefully resting over the center table to come stand close to Hokuto-chan's sofa.

"So... it's time for your departure, it seems," her voice sounded polite and monotone as she risked a step forward, ready to perform the courtesy ritual of exchanging good-bye phrases, a bizarre, indefinable shadow veiling the resplendor of her ocean-colored pupils as she kept her hands beneath her back, demonstrating for a few seconds that she didn't intend to achieve any physical contact.

Then again, a delicate, elegant looking hand was extended to him in the end, as if hesitatingly.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Sakurazuka-san..."

There was no irony in her melodic voice as she whispered those words, only a mysterious, secret accent of satisfaction Seishirou didn't convince himself to adjudicate to the fact he was finally leaving.

Instead, he gently laid a respectful kiss on the velvety palm, rich brown eyes lifting to her distantly nervous expression as he held her hand in his for a time barely longer than the proper one.

The crystal barricade of his glasses disguised the dark glint of a hidden smile that lit his iris.

"The pleasure was all mine, Lady Sumeragi..."

Just as expected, Mitchuru's musician hand shivered against his touch, as a scandalized look appeared in her pale face.

"Don't ever call me that."

It was the coldest warning Seishirou had ever received.

Though her serene tone only gave out a hint of respectful modesty towards her so considered euphemistic comparison with the old Head of the Clan, he was perceptive enough to catch the secret frustration that strangled her authoritative tone as she went on, gently but firmly pulling away from him, "There is only a Lady Sumeragi, and so it will be for all times..."

So it'll be...

Seishirou did nothing but smile politely, though the intense resplendor of his gold brown eyes forced Mitchuru to blink rapidly as she took one instinctive step backwards, "Good night, Sakurazuka-san..."

A certain pity, he thought.

Young girls should pick up their models a bit more intelligently than you had, Sumeragi Mitchuru-san...

Seishirou turned round towards the door only to find Subaru standing beside him as he patiently awaited him, his long, navy blue coat cradled carefully in his skinny arms, such a gentle host's attention towards a leaving guest.

An involuntary smile appeared on his lips.

He had never heard the boy when he had left and returned.

What a lovely sad face is that, Subaru-kun...

"I'll go with you so I can open the building's door downstairs for you, Seishirou-san," the boy's kind offer was adorably accompanied by a faint hue of pink enlightening his nacreous cheeks, something that gave out the idea of some possibly hidden purpose in it...

One Seishirou seemed to share and understand so perfectly.

'Downstairs' happened to mean a thirty-six stories ride on the lonely elevator together.

Subaru-kun, are you really doing this on purpose?

"It don't really think there'll be any need for that, Subaru-kun," and there was Mitchuru's voice coming in what sounded like a nearly motherly censoring lecture, as the beautiful young woman was folding arms and giving her younger cousin a very significant, almost forbidding glance of her azure eyes, having suddenly assumed the roll of the scrupulous tutor, "I surely believe the doorman will take care of it..."

Subaru's childish face was delightfully bathed in what appeared to be the most pure, shameful disappointment, though he immediately replaced that expression with a polite, timid smile.

"Then... I'll just join you to the door, Seishirou-san..."

He let the boy know by the affection in his smile that if he just had to content himself with that, it'd be enough, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Subaru-kun."

Though he knew that wasn't entirely true...

As both headed down the main corridor in absolute muteness after he had finished with the last good night words, Subaru's stare lowered to his small feet as if he was groping out for some suitable words to say, the ebony strands of his silky fringe almost covering the whole of his timid eyes' brightness.

Why do I feel things have changed a lot between us, Subaru-kun?

Seishirou could just stare at the skinny youth in mute fascination, devouring the beauty of that sight as it occurred to him that both their steps were suddenly a great deal slower than usual.

Delaying the feared moment of saying goodbye to each other as long as it was humanly possible...

Why is everything more intense when it comes to each other now...?

And he was somehow understanding the inner rebound that he felt towards the idea of leaving that apartment...

Of leaving Subaru-kun...

The rich mahogany iris glinted with a warm, inner flame.

So now we finally have a moment of intimacy... what are we going to do with it...?

I wish I was the owner of many other answers apart from that...

"I had a wonderful time, Subaru-kun," he let out the words in a tender whisper, lips parting into a smile as the young boy's large, green lagoons rushed to meet his stare, glimmering in what appeared to be some sort of release now he'd been the one who broke the silence.

"Really?"

"Of course," Seishirou's smiled deepened in it's sweetness towards the little Sumeragi's evident nervousness, wondering at the same time about the meaning of his own, "Your cousins are such an exceptional duo to chat with..."

Subaru's green eyes averted for a short, though seemingly endless while, as if he was suddenly lost in deep thoughts. "I'll accompany Midori to take Kizuna to the Clinic tomorrow morning," he stated when they reached the door, venturing a timid glance up to his eyes as if to check on his approval, his soft, respectful voice faltering a bit as he went on to openly confirm it, "Would you like that, Seishirou-san?"

And Seishirou's heart was slowly being consumed by an embracing, enveloping fire.

An intense touch of strange that somehow made him realize that what he had misjudged as nothing more than a childish, flirting game to annoy Subaru's female cousin ran much deeper than he had imagined.

Both in Subaru-kun's heart and his.

"Very much," he was receiving the coat from Subaru's opened arms, putting it on with minute movements, as neither him nor the flustered young boy seemed capable of breaking the tie that held their eyes locked on each other, "Very much indeed, Subaru-kun..."

"Well..."

"Well."

An endless, vacant while of silence went by.

As neither of them was able to work out any further comment, Seishirou just had to force himself to be the one that whispered the dreaded words, as softly to his low-pitched voice as if he certainly desired they went unheard, "Good night, Subaru-kun..."

Subaru's smiling, melancholic eyes remained on his until the elevator's door closed mercilessly in front of his deeply meditating figure.

 

 

"So, how'dya like him??"

There was an evident sparkle of playful mischief in that voice that made Mitchuru's cheeks almost fluster with shame, though her eternally disciplined personality gave her the ability of pushing that embarrassing feeling down.

So, had she really been that obvious...?

"You mean Sakurazuka-san?" she refused to meet Hokuto's cheerfully inquiring eyes as she was sure the perceptive girl could deduce her secret thoughts out in less than a minute, centering her attention on gently returning her violin back to it's shelve, now that the person in question had left and therefore the 'family' meeting seemed to be over, "He's quite an interesting man..."

A disgruntled sound reached her ears as her sixteen year old cousin was abandoning her place at the one person sofa in order to scrutinize her expression closer.

Surely not satisfied with the briefness of her elusive answer.

As shameless as ever.

"Are you kidding or what??" Hokuto shot back in open, exaggerated disbelief, hands on her narrow, feminine hips as her voice was raised to shrilling tone, "He's the sexiest man on the entire planet!! And all you can do is mutter a dry 'Oh, he's such an interesting guy' about him???" Mitchuru could almost imagine her shaking her bunny ears-crowned head in open protest, as she didn't risk lifting an eye and let her appreciate the faintly evident color on her alabaster face, "And not only that: he's sensitive, caring and educated..."

A wishful, totally kinky moan escaped from those painted lips as she let herself fall to her knees beside her, "Guys like that are not found just around the corner, you know... I swear that if he wasn't with Subaru I wouldn't hesitate to get my greedy little hands on him!!"

An electric shiver ran through Mitchuru's spine from the very birth of her celadon hair at that supposedly casual remark.

If he wasn't with him...

It was the first time her younger, most beloved cousin spoke so openly about the subject when being alone with her.

"You mean... it's for real?" her azure, totally stern look was finally forced to drift onto that naively beautiful face if only to grant her question enough vehemence, the shadow of an unspoken disgust surely evident in her frowning brow, "Is he really with Subaru-kun in the way you speak about it?"

Because that would clarify a lot of unanswered matters to me...

Hokuto glanced back at her as if the answer was too obvious to even be spoken.

"Oh, Su-chan's just too shy I sometimes want to slap his face to let him know of what's he's missing. Guess there's still a lot to work out from him," the elder Sumeragi sibling rested her proud chin on the backs of both her hands, placing her elbows ontop of the little tea table, her shiny stare acquiring a conspiratorial glimmer, "But don't tell me you didn't notice the way they look at each other..."

Smiling...!

As if she was entirely satisfied with the whole thing...

Or worst still, sincerely supporting it.

Mitchuru impulsively stood up from her crouching position by the small table's side in openly annoyed gesture, taking a few steps away from Hokuto's half surprised figure.

"There's something startlingly dark about that man," she whispered the words as if she was afraid of the ghosty presence of the tall, handsome guest that might be lingering in the room, almost as if still perceiving the startling intensity of his gold brown eyes on her, "Something I don't really like about him..."

"Oh," Hokuto-chan's voice was lowered in secrecy, filled with faked, mocking astonishment, "And is that something the little 'not vacant' sign hanging from his perfect nose...?"

Mitchuru tried to be martial with her, fought so badly to achieve it by fixing the exotically dressed child with a look of deathly seriousness.

If only you knew...

"He is a Sakurazuka: that should be enough for you to think as I do," the ocean-like stare of those eyes narrowed in sort of obscure precognition, "Besides, and if you feel any satisfaction from my admitting of it, I did find him too dangerously attractive, too mesmerizing to Subaru-kun's innocent eyes..."

Her elegant shoulders shrugged in concern as she didn't noticed the way in which she had finally succeeded on making Hokuto-chan lift a delicate eyebrow in intrigued, ununderstanding attitude.

"And you know how pure souls are hopelessly drawn to darkness..."

 

 

"You can stay here with me tonight if you want to, Mi-chan..." Subaru's soft, strangely relaxed voice got lost into the unpolluted whiteness of his bedroom's broad ceiling.

Both Sumeragi boys laid side by side on his large, comfortable bed, each huge pair of liquid green eyes staring vacantly at the infinite as their slender bodies peacefully rested, the soothing, almost ethereal form of Kizuna curled up sleepily between them as if she was part of the sea of soft, welcoming cushions, purring out in approval even as a gentle hand reached out to absently stroke her cloud-like fur every once in a while.

Subaru barely believed he had ever found himself at more ease.

Being with Midori, his latest discovered confident and twin soul, was almost as if interacting with a gentle, comprehensible part of his own self.

That was something not even Hokuto-chan that was his closest blood relative could achieve from him, and there was even something about the tender sensation of restlessness that filled his heart every time he shared a moment alone with Seishirou-san that kept him constantly on guard, specially when it came to the last few weeks.

Specially when it came to the last few minutes...

No mystery how he always felt drawn to open his heart to Midori on moments like that.

He thought about all this as he shifted his delicate head to one side, the silky ebony mane flowing entirely onto the bedspread as if bearing a life of it's own, musing at the young boy's reasons for suggesting that both escaped to the intimate shelter his room could provide as soon as Seishirou-san had left the appartment.

"Thanks, Su-chan. I'd surely love to," even before Midori voiced out the words he could have been sure he was about to decline the invitation, as the perfect communion between both their souls seemed to be as strong as to be shared, "But still, I don't want nee-san to be left alone upstairs..."

Who's the one who's gonna be left alone?

Subaru kept his eyelids shut for a thoughtful second before he answered.

"It's fine."

Fine...

Though he felt a light tickle of wrongness that told him his own words weren't entirely sincere.

And still, if he could ever justify that constant seek for loneliness in each of Midori's decisions...

Nearly as if he longed for it...

"Can I ask you something?"

His thick, silky eyelashes batted upwards at the question, specially when perceiving the tone of secret intimacy Midori's chiming words had acquired.

"Sure! What is it Mi-chan?"

At that the green haired boy lifted himself over the bed on one elbow, the expression that filled his beautiful face as close as ever possible to Hokuto-chan's kinky one when she was about to speak about...

Subaru let his emerald eyes grow wide in surprise.

That subject??

"I saw you exchanging glances with Sakurazuka-sensei all through the night," the extremely sympathetic accent of Midori's words brought a bright blush to his cheeks as he listened disbelievingly to the rest of his cousin's arguments, "Even noticed the way you got obviously jealous when he was looking at my nee-san... And considering how you've been talking about him all the time these last two days... well," at that Midori himself got flustered, stammering to go on as Subaru's face was turning an even deeper shade of red, "I can't help but thinking the two of you really care for each other..."

Subaru just had to lift himself out to a sitting position in order to check on his cousin's seriousness.

Mi-chan, you too...???

Still, there was something about those words that made him put them a mile apart from his twin's teasing, outrageous babbling...

A hint of gentle, totally sincere interest that perhaps was the reason for which Subaru suddenly found himself staring shyly at his lavender gloved hands, searching for an answer inside his own heart as he could acknowledge the way in which his blush was slowly diminishing.

Perhaps it was just the need to finally talk about it with someone he knew wouldn't gag him.

The need to admit something was really happening between Seishirou-san and him...

"Seishirou-san is..." Subaru wished he could find the exact words to describe what that gentle, always tenderly smiling man really meant to him, the way he had come to occupy all the possible rolls the lacking male figures in his life would ever had so easily.

The happiness and still the nervousness that always came together when he was around...

The long dark fans of eyelashes crowning his rose petal eyelids fell forward, lightly tickling at his cheeks as the teenager squeezed his emerald eyes shut hardly for just an instant.

Why now, Mi-chan...?

He was only partially aware of the way in which the glimmer in his deep, transparent green pupils shifted when a cascade of fleeing images concerning absent Seishirou swiftly passed in invisible parade before his abstracted glance.

Seishirou-san laughing warmly as the Sakura petals at Ueno Park stroked his ebony hair...

Seishirou-san leaning teasingly over him with that intense glint in his brown eyes...

Seishirou-san staring lovingly at the picture of both of them he kept so treasuredly close to his bed...

And suddenly realized he was totally speechless.

If you had asked me this same question a few weeks ago, then I'd surely have given you a simple answer.

But not now...

Not now I don't even know the answer myself...

"Seishirou-san is... the best friend I've ever had," he tried, though still it wasn't satisfactory, somehow it didn't seem to be complete, "He's one of the most important persons in my life... and I... I really love him dearly," there an inner flood of heat filled the restlessness of his heart when speaking out those words, almost as if, in his fierce struggle to conceal his feelings, he had finally achieved a small, partial victory. That was maybe the reason for which he felt himself able to go on, his delicate grip closing unnoticeably over the bedspread, "And I can tell he cares for me a lot too... Though he sometimes does things I don't totally understand..."

On the contrary, Midori's warm green iris were surely twinkling at him with total, affectionate comprehension, almost as if he was aware of something he didn't have still realized.

As if the answer was simple enough to be read in his nervous, quivering stare...

"Are you lovers?"

At that Subaru did flustered for real, the aura of trusting peace that have been filling the room and influencing on his otherwise shameful personality being cracked to pieces in a matter of seconds, as the young Head of the Sumeragi felt the throbbing of blood flowing furiously to his graceful head.

And with it, an almost imperceptible hint of frustration.

After all, it always had to end up like that...

"Mi-chan!! We're both male!!"

"I know! I'm so sorry!" Midori was then again proofing their striking resemblance by blushing up himself, his gaze that until then had been totally concentrated on Subaru now averting nervously to some undefined spot over the immaculate wall, "It's just that..."

A pause then, as if the boy was suddenly trying to pick up the right words.

That...?

Subaru thought if he should mentally prepare himself for what was coming next.

Though he would have never known.

Wouldn't have ever anticipated Midori's thin, extremely weak arms coming impulsively around him, pushing him against his skinny body in a loving, almost protecting hug that brought to him the strangely soothing, pleasant sensation that it was that always-escaping, stronger side of himself the one that was embracing him.

In his mute astonishment, he absently found himself laying his head over that frail, insignificantly narrow shoulder.

Wondering if his own body really felt that weak, that vulnerable when Seishirou-san was holding him...

"You can always trust me, Su-chan. I love you," his cousin's voice was a tender, melodic sound that reached him muffled by the pasture-colored cloud of his hair, and Subaru almost felt like apologizing to him for actually mistaking it all for simple teasing, nothing more than the joking curiosity Hokuto-chan used to practice about it, as he returned his cousin's hug, emerald eyes wet with emotion, "And I don't want you to suffer just because you are scared of your true feelings. Don't want you to be that lonely..."

Afraid of my own feelings...

Was that what was happening to him?

Subaru's beautiful face was enlighten by an expression that was the perfect mirror of that fear.

Was he really that scared to let Seishirou discover what he really felt for him, that frightened to admit it to his own heart that he premeditatedly shielded behind his shyness?

Seishirou-san, that would be so cruel to you...

And yet, he really feared loneliness much more than he could ever fear anything else, just to imagine what the world would be like without Seishirou-san in it, as being lonely to his life actually meant being without him.

Him...

"Oh, Gods...!"

Subaru's eyes grew wide until they captured all the radiance of the room, reflecting it out like wet, glaucous mirrors, a sweet, undeniable realization that half overjoyed them, half terrorized him being born inside his soul to which those eyes were an open window.

Something that screamed in every corner of his heart with such a strenght he was no longer able to deny it...

Seishirou-san... and me...

He didn't even blink once when Midori came face to face with him again, a tender, childish smile that was far too understanding, far too knowing to go unnoticed, even to his abstracted glance.

"I really envy you, Su-chan" his cousin's words were filled with a sadness as deep as the shimmering blue his expressive, always shifting eyes had suddenly acquired, "Just because you're able to be by the side of the person you love..."

 

 

"Well, well. This has been an evening of surprises..."

Seishirou cheerfully lit up a cigarette that balanced gracefully between his sensual lips as he slowly descended through the almost infinite, broad stairs, turning around to cast one last look to the cyclopeous, twin-towered building that was just a small part of the vast Sumeragi empire.

The smile in his handsome face becoming wider when taking back all the meeting's words and events.

You should really take pride on your cousins, Subaru-kun... They're far the most amusing and intriguing persons I've ever met, and believe me, I've known many...

He savored the familiar smoke absently before breathing it out into the chilly night breeze, let it caress the waved shadow of his hair, drift up from the inside of his navy blue coat as if turning it into a pair of dark wings.

The wonderful taste of freedom...

As for the elusive feeling that was constantly harassing him, it seemed to have momentaneously retired to some lower reaches of his virgin heart, silenced by the urgent call of darkness, though he was fully aware it would hurry back to him when letting his thoughts drift then again to Subaru.

To the way in which both have felt and acted that night...

I still need answers, Subaru-kun...

His gold brown gaze drifted through the many colored spots of light that were the skyscraper's balconies and windows, trying uselessly to find the one that belonged to the beautiful, pure-hearted boy.

Wondering if he was also thinking about him.

I'm not the kind of person to give up that easily...

Maybe all we need is time.

An unexpected, hard impact on his broad right shoulder suddenly got him out of that train of thought, as Seishirou realized he had been so concentrated in his inner ramblings that he had accidentally walked into someone.

Fine, clusminess was the one thing he'd been missing to go with it.

A very tall, remarkably muscular man took a few steps back from him until he was bathed into the dim shade projected by the building's towers, his harsh voice muttering out some not really nice words about him.

Seishirou secretely smiled at them.

Surely unaware he had just ducked into a hunter seeking for some suitable prey...

"Oh, please excuse me," he spoke out a few polite words of apologize as his slender hand moved to rub the spot beneath the fine cloth of his coat that had received the strangely too painful hit, gazing down at it in slight surprise as it actually felt like a burnt rather than a blow, "I really didn't see you..."

A frown came to Seishirou's soft brow as he lifted his honey brown stare again only to discover the man had furtively vanished into the darkness.


 

End of Chapter 2 - Go to Next Chapter