![]() Death leaves danced wildly in the unusually chilling autumn breeze, and their rough caress somewhat accompanied the mood of dark decision that enveloped the heart and mind of the man who, dressed in shiny white Shikifuku, a feeble protection against the furious elements, rushed through the yellow grass that rugged the deserted garden. Green, emerald-shiny eyes lifted to stare at the reddish shadows of the moon, half veiled by the waving strands of ebony hair that surrounded the man's pale face. Nara was cold that time of the year. As cold as if an unexpected winter has taken over the death of fall. As cold as it had been that night, when it all had started. A smile was there, curving the soft lips. A smile that was neither born from happiness nor from grief. Could it be called... Longing? A slender hand raised to brush away a single tear that had furtively run through the ivory cheek, colored light red with the hue of cold. Yes, longing was the word. He stared at both his hands, allowing himself to so absortly contemplate them for a while, allowing himself to momentaneously forget the vital importance of not being late to his "date". Graceful, doted with slender fingers through which magic flew like fresh water from a creek. Powerful, trained to be as gentle when picking up a flower as strong when summoning the Balanced forces of the Light and the Dark, from which he gained his power. Able to control the hard discipline his Clan had dominated since the dawn of history, yet not able to control his own fate. Not able to control his own feelings... My dearest okaa-san, I trust that when you find these lines I would be already facing the destiny I have been fearing for so long, yet so madly expected, looked forward to in an almost sinful way... The alabaster hands clenched firmly into fists, huge green eyes twinkling brightly with bravery in the darkness of the forest as the stranger resumed his pace, walking more rapidly now, almost running, his wooden geta making no sound through the smooth grass, lately wet with cool night water. Velvet fans of long eyelashes chased crystal tears away. How can I ever begin to say I'm sorry? Which is the best way to purge my guilt for all the sorrow I had brought to you, the one who made of me all I feel proud of? To my beloved, my eternal Mitsuaki, whose indestructible love and faith in me I will treasure in my heart forever. To my new born children, who I maybe never get to repay for what I'm taking away from them now. Which is the best way to cleanse my soul of all the anguish I will bring to you with the choices I've made...? He halted, breathless and coldly sweating beneath the soft, immaculate cloth of his robes. He halted as a single, star shaped blossom, colored beautifully by a faint hue of pink, caressed his soft cheek and landed in his cupped hand, so lovingly greeting. So ominously beckoning... I wish I could tell.... The raven haired, proudly beautiful head raised abruptly, senses alerted by the eerie hush of the wind caressing soft petals, the whisper of branches being cradled by the breeze. I know this is the only way... At that, the bloody moon freed herself from the veil of dark clouds, the ghosty silver of moonlight penetrated into the darkness, until then only lit by the crepitating light of stone lanterns. The only way... There, alone in the voidness of the garden's clearance, stood a single sakura tree, glorious in all its bloom despite the coldness and the season. Beautiful, in the most sinister way. In what might have well been an involuntarious impulse, the velvety eyelids slowly fell forward, calmly, eclypsating the strange glare that sight had brought to the green eyes, a futile attempt to deny himself out of the dark certainty that tree represented. Futile, indeed. He could already feel the invisible, indescribable touch of the youki that slowly begun to surround him, embracing him sweetly in it's half delightful, half uncomfortable lure, filling him with the certainty that he was no longer alone. A deep inhalation made the thin chest tremble. How very fitting it was, that it ended up this way. That feeling of justice helped a little to calm down the restlessness in his soul. As the beautiful maboroshi finally closed in on him, he breathed in the mesmerizing scent of cherry, emerald eyes closing in a bizarre mixture of grief and satisfaction, awaiting for what he knew would come then. "Welcome, my darling." A voice that sounded as velvety caressing as the sakura petals that now slowly stroked his face filled the air, coming from seemingly a non determined point among the strong, slender branches of the Sakura Barrow... Green eyes opened to the darkness of the night, knowing what they would find. Yearning so badly for it. The truth is all of us kill the ones we love. Wound them mortally with our lack of tenderness, with our cowardliness, with our incapability of fighting against ourselves. I did it with the fragility of my heart. And I will do it again, this time I hope for the better... A woman was now standing in front of him, right at the feet of the tall sakura tree, her hair the blackest shadow night could ever bring, waving slowly in the night breeze as if bearing a life of it's own, sending dark shadows over the stranger's hypnotically beautiful face. An abstract smile appeared in her painted lips, a smile that was both as calid and sinister as the predatory glint in her ruby iris. Night is so voluptuous and tempting when we are nothing by helpless children facing the irresistible mystery and beauty of our antagonizing soul... "I have been waiting for you..." Her voice, so casual, almost loving... It somehow filled the atmosphere with a perfect mimic of familiarity and warmth. He charged her with all the melancholic resplendor of his sad green eyes, as a hint of a soft smile appeared in his delicate lips. "I know." "You are a bit late, I was almost worried about you. I always considered it one of the family traditions of the Sumeragi Clan never making a host wait." A muffled sigh escaped from the man's thin frame. He was sure that, if he closed his eyes again, if he somehow managed to carry all the certainty of the moment away, he could still hold on to the hope that she really cared about him. That she ever had. If only you could make this choices for me, as you did with my whole life, with my identity, even with the names of my children... Yes, okaa-san, you taught me strength, you taught me will of command. I only wished you had taught me how to command my feelings. How to command love... "Setsuka-san..." he muttered her name slowly, almost as if savoring all the honeyed poison it had brought to his heart. "Setsuka-san, please. We both know why I'm here. I want it to stop. I want it to come to an end, no matter what that end may be..." A hint of a perfectly built surprise appeared in the woman's attractive features, red brown eyes shinning, questioning. "Should I understand for that that your intentions are never to see me again?" her right elegantly reached out to her perfect face, sending a rebel lock of the thick raven mane behind her ear, brushing inexistent moisture out of the woman's face. "But... why? Don't you love me anymore? Or is it that the recent increase of your family has brought you closer to the memory of poor, late Mitsuaki-chan...?" She paused a little, maybe to wonder at the effect her words had caused in her midnight visitor, at the storm of emotions they had triggered in him, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You still cry for her death, don't you?" a sigh that was supposed to sound as sort of resigned escaped from the woman's crimson lips, her steps taking her closer to her companion in a seemingly unnoticed way, her side to him, "As soft hearted as always, Seimei-kun. Don't you know that's the main reason for which I love you? Always so attached to your family and principles... I'd blame it on your dear mother's influence, if you asked my opinion." "Setsuka-san, please..." the emerald eyes were begging for her to stop, begging for her to put an end to all that senseless prelude to what they both knew was inevitable. Anyhow, she went on. "Yes, a real pity your loving wife didn't make it after giving birth to your twins. Her health was always frail, and the burden of bearing two sons ended up exhausting the poor thing. I'm so sorry I couldn't attend to the funeral, but after considering the differences between Lady Sumeragi and I, I finally decided it wouldn't have been fitting..." "STOP!!!" The man's scream broke through the smooth surface of the silence, cutting his torturer's calm voice tone as easily. Her hazel stare of faked astonishment penetrated like a dagger of ice through his already mournful heart, unable to tolerate another bitter word, another cruel sarcasm from the one he had once loved, from the one he thought that loved him... "Stop..." he commanded her again, this time with a ragged whisper. And even though this pain that fills my heart, this anguish that runs as deep as the certainty I let her drive me to betray the very essence of what I am, of those who I love best represent, seems to be enough of a punishment for my unforgivable weakness, it is not. Never would be enough... "I have come here tonight... to give myself away, to you..." He looked at her with those glimmering eyes, those deep green pools as bright as the unseen stars that he was named after, perfect mirrors of his pure, tormented soul. Begging, praying for her to give him what he sought so badly. She took one more step towards him, smiling, arms slightly opened as if to embrace him. "Lover mine..." "I know what you are." It is so ironic, as my whole life has been. Here, at the verge of my fate, I suddenly find myself feeling no fear, but wondering what it would be like to be like them. Shielded. Void. Protected from any pain that may come either from love, anguish or loss. And, Gods forgive me, why do I find myself suddenly envying them...? Just a moment, and the mirror cracked. All the previous sarcasm, the false gentleness, the faked feeling disappeared from the dark lady's face, and Seimei couldn't resist a shudder when he could finally see through all the lies, all the false illusion his heart have been filled with and was finally able to look at her as what she was. Another smile curved the sensual lips, this one totally different from the one of the lover, the hunter's smile of the sibylline woman he had been seduced by. A smile he wished he would have never seen. "You are the Sakurazukamori..." Have you already guessed where have I gone? What am I decided to do? I bet you are. You know everything about me, and have the power of reading my expression like in an open book. I am sure you knew it when you kissed me goodnight, when you left me in the darkness of my room after we both lulled the twins to sleep. And you also knew there was nothing else to be done but what I decided. And yet you granted me the benefit of your magnanimous silence... The woman approached him with slow, elegant steps, her scarlet eyes never leaving his as she did so, that empty, senseless smile still frozen on her lips, and he felt the world melting away around her, as if suddenly nothing else existed in the world but the two of them. Lover and beloved. Hunter and Prey. I love you so much, okaa-san... She stopped right in front of him, so close to him he could even sense the rhythmic pounding of her heart beneath the ebony of her yukata, his senses intoxicated by her erotic scent, by the gentle, unstopping caress of sakura petals that surrounded him, slowly beginning to melt consciousness away. Reaching forward, she held his delicate hand in hers, taking it close to her tempting mouth, only to place a soft kiss on the back of his alabaster skin. Lifting her hazel red eyes to his, she smiled, setting him free. A strange wave of warmth run through his spine, and he fought to hold back a scream, knowing what she had done, understanding perfectly the meaning of that kiss, and hid the soft blue light that now emerged from both his hands in the long whiteness of his Shikifuku's sleeves. He draw a sharp breath. I hope you understand... "I have come to give myself to you, to surrender to your will for the condition that you spare my children's lives, and my mother's. I guess it's a fair deal since I already belong to you, and they never will." There was a somber trace of decision in that statement. His voice didn't tremble as green pupils met ruby, a dull feeling of strange peace coming to ease his mind now he had finally spoken. Setsuka just stared at him with a slight hint of laugher dancing in her eyes, arms folded thoughtfully. "Never will?" Desperation exploded inside him, mocking his previous feeling of relax when he read in the woman's face and voice the hidden meaning of that question. "Haven't you already taken it all from me? My purity, my love, my pride, my family! And soon you will take my life as well, so I can tell for what you have just done!" the words rushed to his tongue almost awkwardly with fear and sorrow, as he raised his slender hand to reveal the runic shapes of an upside-down pentagram that now shone ominously against the paleness of his silky skin, "You destroyed me entirely and completely! There is nothing I can do to fight against my feelings for you! Just leave the rest of my family alone or I'll find the way to do it!" Tears broke in his eyes as a rainstorm of diamonds in a sea of marble. But do not worry, okaa-san. Please fear nothing for the children, because they may never follow my same destiny. I would protect them from her, giving away the last thing in me that is left to offer her. To satisfy the thirst of a Death Giver, you must offer nothing but Death itself... She was seemingly amused by his despair, yet he could not tell from the void of expression in her hypnotic face. And so he supposed. She was about to give her answer to his stupidly useless speech of threatening and imprecating, when a new voice resounded in the dark maboroshi, sending his thoughts away with surprise. "Okaa-sama?" His emerald stare rushed terrorizedly to where the owner of that innocent, childish voice stood. A little, probably ten-year-old boy dressed in black school uniform was calmly standing at the very feet of the Barrow Tree, surveying the bizarre scene with the innocence of those who still don't know anything about death and sorrow, a hint of interested curiosity half perceived in his face, veiled by shadow. Seimei's momentaneous astonishment about how the little intruder had managed to break through the spiritual barrier of the maboroshi was instantly chased away by the sudden urge of saving that innocent from the deathly trap he had put himself into, entering the sinister realm of the Sakurazuka Clan. Adding another victim to his own tragedy would be too much for his already tormented soul to bear... And just then the boy entered the circle of moonlight that illuminated the clearance. Blood that have been until then pounding furiously across his veins froze in the very instant his eyes met the child's. No. All of his being denied the reality of what he saw before him. His mouth opened to let out a pain filled cry, to voice all of the wrongness and all of the horror that haunted him in that moment by that vision, but his weak voice broke until being able to break through his dry lips, and so no sound came out. Yet all the rest of his self was screaming. Denying. No. "Who's this Omnyouji?" The child's serenely demanding voice, showing no fear, showing absolutely not the slightest trace of emotion... It was barely audible to him in the dizziness his desperation had brought about. As he felt his physical strength being drained away, his knees bent and he collapsed over the sakura petal rugged floor, the ethereal whiteness of his robes falling around him as an angel's broken wings. No. "Seishirou!" Setsuka's voice appeared enlighten by the strangest combination of surprise and joy, and he managed to raise his weary head to capture the unusual glint of familiarity in the woman's crimson eyes, the trace of a smile that, not given the moment, he would have called a loving one, as she called the boy by his name. Seishirou... Seimei's febrile eyes flashed glaucously expectant. "Come over here, sweetheart!" Setsuka held out her delicate hand, the presence of her disturbed lover suddenly as if forgotten. And the child obeyed, rushing to the woman's side as his questioning glance never left Seimei's bright emerald pools. The woman put her pale hands on the boy's proud shoulders, sheltering the little body against her long limbs, then turned again to face her visitor, the startling voidness of her smile blurred a bit by a dark hint of satisfaction. Seimei's green eyes went wide open, until they almost occupied all of the space left in his beautiful face. Setsuka's smile grew wider. "My son." But, after all, I wish I'll bring a bit of peace and relief to the sorrow that fills your soul, the soul of a mother that has let her son go alone into the darkness of his fate, by telling you happiness has not being an alien word in my short life. I have known the immense, indescribable joy of having two beautiful sons in which I know my memory will live forever. That gives me the strength not to falter in my way to voidness and death, to believe that my journey through this world had not been at all senseless... "Your... son... ?" Seimei shook his head slowly, refusing to believe, resisting the certainty that lay before him, though his own vision gave him all the evidence he needed to know his deny was useless. The boy's eyes. Empty. Divested of all trace of humanity whatsoever. Void mirrors that gave away only his own perplex reflection as he stared fixedly into them, surrounded by a thick shock of Setsuka's same raven hair that was softly stroke now and then by the delicacy of a sakura petal. A face that was already handsome in his early childhood and promised to grow until his masculine perfection surpassed even the beauty of his mother, whose long, graceful features perfectly emulated. A face that had never known the trace of any emotion and never will. And with all that, the terrorizing possibility that he might as well be... No. "But... how? When...?" Seimei's mind was incapable of thinking correctly, busy with a myriad of fears and doubts and questions that fought to be clarified. The now almost glassy green eyes somehow managed to escape from the little boy's silent inquiry and flew to the woman's ones, without even bothering to disguise his fear, "... Why didn't you tell me...?" "What for?" Setsuka's cutting simplicity did not admit any possible reply, "What would you have done after all, overjoyed as you were with the birth of your own inheritors? Seishirou's existence would have remained indifferent to you, until now." Her pale fingers brushed through the silky dark hair of her beautiful son in sort of a caress, "Mitsuaki-chan's twins, and my Seishirou... they belong to the next generation... " We must make it a last sacrifice, dear okaa-san. We must let this senseless circle of blood and death come to an end. Too many years we have been struggling, trying to fight the inevitable existence of those who are our opposite souls. Light and darkness must exist together, in harmony for upon them lies the sacred Balance we protect. We should not let the story be repeated anymore... "No! They won't!" Seimei managed to take strength out of his despair to fight against the inevitability of Setsuka's words, his slender hands clenched into fists, crushing the delicate pink petals that covered the ground as he tried to stand up, "You can't do this! I beg you, Setsuka-san, if you ever felt the slightest bit of care for me. Do not force the child to witness this! Do not make him follow the same destiny you chose! You can't do this to your own son!" The echo of his voice was lost into the darkness of the maboroshi's misty depths. Eyes as sorrowful as beautiful, shiny with tears of compassion laid over the Sakurazuka child's stoic face, and Seimei, standing at the same level as his beloved and counterpart now, let out a whimper that seemed to linger beyond forever. All his fear, his pain, his death illusions and frustrations went away with it, and at the gates of death he finally managed to find himself at peace. Hopeless and fearless. Calm in the agony of his broken heart. "Don't make the child see how you kill me." A last prayer for the dying. The last will of a condemned soul. The serene beauty of his delicate face even caused the Sakurazukamori's pupils to dilate in pleasure, fascinated by the heavenly vision that was offered to her eyes. A final, devoted good bye gift. With that final inheritance, I must bid you farewell... "Do not worry, my darling." her dark smile emulated once again all the sensual passion that had enraptured his heart when they were forbidden lovers, as she closed her fingers firmly on her child's shoulders, "I won't kill you..." A breathing, awaiting silence enveloped the aura of the maboroshi for a few moments that seemed to went on for eternity. "Seishirou will..." Arigato, okaa-san. Arigato many times. You made a man of me, a man able to face the beating certainty of closure, of good bye. A man brave enough to abandon all that he holds sacred and beloved for it's own sake. I don't keep in my heart a single protest against what you gave to me. My love is all yours, and so, I'll always be with you... The boy's interrogating stare lifted to his mother's face, as if to be sure he was being allowed to play an interesting game which rules he was still beginning to learn. Setsuka smiled warmly at him, a great contrast that denied the nature of the moment, and bowed her head slightly. "Don't... " Seimei closed his eyes as if like that he could be able to chase all the horror in his heart away. The thick eyelashes lifted a bit, allowing the green radiance of his melancholic iris to come out one last instant in his lifetime. "Please, don't make him do it..." "Not him..." Not him... Seishirou's stare fixed over him. A rich, golden brown that shone as cold as the chilling breeze that cut through the frail barrier of his clothing. Fascinating. So cold... Beautiful... And cold... Suddenly nothing else in the world seemed to exist but the calm, empty lure of that stare. A flurry of sakura blossoms was carried away by a sudden gust of wind over him. Seimei's eyelids began to feel heavy. The sudden strength of the glaze enveloped him in a daydream of flying sakura petals. And he was suddenly tired, so tired. And sad. Something velvety and small brushed over the side of his alabaster face, opening a deep wound that soon started bleeding. There was something very wrong... He frowned as a myriad of pink engulfed his white clad body. Something as little and delicate was not supposed to hurt. Sakura petals were flying, flying, their furious stroke cutting through him like a rain of diminutive crystal shards, but bringing no pain, as the bright whiteness of his ceremonial robes was slowly beginning to turn scarlet. Seimei's lips opened to gasp for air, a sweet, warm taste breaking upon his numb tongue. The world was blood red with sakura petals... Can you do me a last favor, dear okaa-san? Can you, after such a bad son I have been? I just want you to take care of my two precious jewels, my lovely twin stars in my behalf, for I am not very sure if from where I'm going I'll be able to do it anymore. Please love them dearly, and teach them good from evil as wisely and patiently as you did with me. Please give them the last, goodnight kiss his father won't be able to give them again. Please protect them against the fate I was not able to avoid. And with the memory of their beautiful, innocent sleeping faces I will make my journey through eternity in peace, as their names I will carry in my heart through all the darkness I may found. Hokuto... "Subaru..." A last, ragged whisper escaped from the shuddering frame, and with it, his last breath. Gracefully and slowly, Seimei fell back to the sakura covered grass, leaving a twinkling path of crystal tears that managed to break out of the now obscure green eyes in the last instant behind him. "Subaru?" little Seishirou's voice sounded confused, as if trying to work out the meaning of his prey's last words, his thoughtful brown eyes looking indifferently at the lifeless body that laid in front of his small figure in the middle of a bright red pool. "Farewell, darling Seimei-kun," Setsuka's abstract smile was half hidden by the long shadows projected by the tall Sakura Barrow, "and have no fear, for I will not be the one to harm your beloved children..." The bloody eyes lingered just a minute more over the beautiful, peaceful face of the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi Clan, to then rest over the contemplative figure of her son, "My time is soon to be over, as well..." "And then we will meet again." Sayonara, dearest okaa-sama. Sayonara forever.
A tormented, impotent howl resounded in the night to then fade into a broken whimper, it's echo stretching all through the dark, empty corridors of the large Japanese mansion. Olive green eyes filled with endless rivers of tears lowered their blurred stare to the frail sheet of paper, written with graceful, slender calligraphy she had just crushed with her own trembling hands in a futile attempt to deny herself to what it revealed. Not quite revealed, but more likely confirmed. The old woman tried with little success to straighten the frail surface of the note again, pressed it against her shivering chest, sobbing as her body bent forward and her long, cinder colored hair fell over her sorrowful face to wipe away the moisture. Just then a chorus of protesting gasps made her turn her attention to a luxurious cradle that remained hidden from moonlight in the center of the room. The woman stood up and let her slow, yet never faltering steps take her to the side of the small bed, where she pulled away the long veil of rich silk that surrounded it. A new glimmer was born in the depths of her crying green eyes as they rested on the two heavenly creatures that laid sheltered side by side beneath the warmth of the covers, their faces of the most sublime purity and beauty the world had ever known. It seemed her cry had made them awake. Lady Sumeragi's fist grew tighter with decision over the cradle's curtain, eyes turning brilliant green steal, as her other hand reached out to fulfill her son's last wish. "Never again." Her caresses somehow lulled the slumbering babies back to sleep, curled up one against the other as they sought for the familiarity of each other's warmth. The old woman's voice was a promise lost in the shadow of the unlit room. "Never again..."
"Subaru-kun...?" The gentle worrisome in that voice made the slender, graceful teenager turn around in slight startlement, forgetting for a moment that which had distracted his attention from his morning stroll. "Mmmmhh...?" the huge, shinny green eyes raised to stare at the tall, stunningly handsome man that stood beside him, a glint of curious surprise enlightening his caring, hazel brown pupils. A tender smile came to curve the man's thin lips as he noticed the young boy's absent expression. "Daydreaming again, Subaru-kun?" The ivory cheeks blushed delicately, half because of the shame of being caught up in his deepest thoughts, half due to the open intensity of his partner's loving stare. "No, no... Of course not, Seishirou-san... It's just that..." Subaru's big eyes turned again to the deserted park from which what had distracted him had come from, "I just thought I heard someone crying..." "Probably just the wind among the sakura's leafs," the middle aged, attractive man followed his gaze absentmindedly, "The day is pretty cold for this time of the year..." "Yes, the wind..." Subaru's arms embraced his own body, his little gloved hands fondling his arms above the thin cloth of his black turtlenecked catsuit in order to keep himself warm. "I can give you my coat if you want to." his companion gently offered, half beginning to take the garment in question away. "No! Don't!" Subaru's negative was almost desperate, his alabaster face now bright crimson with shame, "Thank you so much, but... then you'll be the one that will freeze." "In that case, here." Seishirou smilingly held the side of his coat open, "Come inside and so we'll keep each other warm." "No!!!!" The look in the teenage's beautiful features was almost febrile with shame. "Oh, c'mon, Subaru-kun!" approaching him fastly, the handsome man practically drag him beneath the warm shelter of his clothes, Subaru's whole body being instantly warmed up by the exhiting sensation of being pressed up against Seishirou's muscular chest. "If we stay here for a second more we'll both catch a terrible cold. See? Don't you feel better now?" The gold brown eyes looked sweetly into his, and Subaru suddenly found himself resting his head against the tall man's soft body. "Yes... Much better..." At that Seishirou averted his eyes. "So let's keep going. Hokuto-chan will get really mad if we are late for lunch." Both started walking again, tightly embraced against one another, until they left the sad sight of the death autumn park to their backs. Behind them, the wind kept crying. The End. |