X:2099
A fanfic by Epeeblade aka C. Pontoriero
Part 5
Kamui woke up hugging his pillow tightly to himself and murmuring into the soft fabric.
He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the gray ceiling of his dormitory room in the
BEAST complex. Today was the day of choosing wasn’t it? He looked back at his pillow,
slightly moist from drool and sweat. He sat up abruptly, his path suddenly clear to him.
Soon he dressed and headed down the halls.
Subaru was normally in his office, no matter how early or late it was, in fact, Kamui
rather suspected that the older boy never left. He recalled seeing a cot tucked away into a
far corner of the room. He entered it now, as usual, without knocking. The office stared at
him, quiet. Guiltily, he surmised the window he had broken, now completely repaired,
thanks to BEAST. His eyes ran over the desk, the chair where Subaru usually sat, then
beyond, past the shelves, in the corner, Subaru cuddled cutely in his cot.
“Subaru,” Kamui whispered, shaking the boy awake.
Subaru looked up at him confused, he didn’t recall getting much sleep the night before
and really couldn’t remember why. “Kamui?”
“Yes, listen, Subaru, I like you a lot,”
“Um, that’s nice, Kamui,” Subaru said softly, nuzzling his pillow, he still was not yet
fully awake.
“And I hate what’s been done to you, and I wanna make sure it’ll never happen to anyone
like you again. But I especially hate that you’ve been hurt,” Kamui reached forward,
brushing the soft black locks away from the implant over Subaru’s right eye socket.
Hesitantly, he touched his lips to Subaru’s forehead, then his cheek, carefully moving to
place a gentle kiss upon his lips.
Subaru snored delicately.
Kamui grinned and turned away from him, meaning to leave the office. Seishirou stood
in the doorway, frowning at the smaller boy. Kamui only grinned at him and said, “A
choice has been made.”
***
Fuuma carefully made his way down the steps to the first floor of the Tokyo Mission. He
had placed Yuzuriha in her own room and she had fallen back asleep quickly. The rest of
the party were, he assumed, all still asleep, and he had no desire to wake them or the
children in the Mission. He grinned to himself to see Kusanagi still standing guard beside
the window, through which daylight was just beginning to emerge. “Hey,” he whispered,
“Do you want me to relieve you?”
Kusanagi turned back to face him, “Nah, I’m fine. Everyone’ll be up in a bit, besides,
Sister Kotori’s making breakfast in the kitchen.”
“Sounds good.” Fuuma turned back to his friend, a worried expression on his face. “I
have an odd feeling, something’s going to happen today…”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Kusanagi decided.
Fuuma shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, “Well, I want you to know, in case
something happens to either of us, that it was a pleasure serving with you…and being
your friend.”
“Fuuma, don’t talk like that,” he shivered, the words disturbing him for some reason. It
was like Fuuma was already dead.
“Just promise me you’ll protect her, in case anything happens to me.”
“Of course!” Kusanagi declared.
“Thank you,” Fuuma smiled, turning to get some breakfast in the kitchen. “Hello sister,”
he greeted.
Kotori looked up from the stove, cooking for such a large brood was difficult, but she
hadn’t wanted to disturb anyone else. Truthfully, she liked the quiet times in the morning,
preparing food for her children, and the adults who often wandered in. “Good morning,
Fuuma. Are you hungry? There is plenty here.” She deftly made him a platter of a
variety of foods, placing it on an empty spot on the table.
Fuuma picked up a fork, staring at it for a moment as if unsure what to do with it.
“Sorry, the church supplies only had Western utensils,” she grinned, “Would you like a
knife?”
Fuuma looked slowly up at her, and his eyes began to glow. “Please.” He growled.
***
“So Kamui, I hoped you made the right choice,” Satsuki greeted him cheerfully.
“Why are you so happy?” Seishirou, who stood behind Kamui asked. The two had
stepped out of Subaru’s office in order to … talk, but they had been interrupted by
Satsuki herself, actually walking down the hallway, which she rarely ever did. She
preferred to stay within her synchronization chamber and communicate with her circle
via earpiece messenger.
“Because I know where the enemy is,” she grinned, looking almost sinister in the buzzing
fluorescent lighting. “And we are going to make a frontal assault after lunch. Except for
you Kamui.”
“I know. I must await the other /Kamui/.” He agreed, knowing that there was only one
destined fight.
“And I don’t want you getting killed accidentally by one of the enemy.” She grunted. “I
have plans to make. See you at lunch!” Flashing them a victory sign, she bounced down
the hallway. Truly a frightening sight, Seishirou thought.
***
Something was leaking out of the kitchen. It tickled Kusanagi’s peripheral vision, and he
blinked, wondering if he was suffering delusions from a lack of sleep. He turned away
from the window and confirmed that something red was sliding under the kitchen door.
He paled, inwardly denying what that substance could be, and slowly, slowly, he walked
toward the kitchen and flung the door open before he lost his nerve.
He clasped his hand over his mouth to keep from retching.
Fuuma sat atop the table, carefully polishing a long, golden object, like a sword, but
looking far too large and ornate to be useful. He had his legs crossed and was humming a
tune under his breath.
But lower, just under the table, rested Kotori’s head, which started at Kusanagi with a
fearful expression upon her face. Her legs were near the fridge, one arm on the stove, her
torso in various bits along the floor, which was covered with her blood, sinking into the
wooden floor.
Kusanagi stepped back, swallowing hard at the suction sound his feet made. “Fuuma,
what have you done?”
“/I/ am Kamui,” Fuuma hissed, raising his head slowly to gaze at his former friend. His
eyes glowed a bleak red and flashed suddenly. “She carried the holy sword within her. I
needed to get it out.” He shrugged, and went back to cleaning the sword, which was
difficult since the cloth he used and all of his clothes were blood soaked. “Gather the
dragons, the first wave will be here soon.”
“What?” Kusanagi swallowed hard.
“Do as I say, unless you /want/ to be the first dragon to fall.”
Kusanagi turned and ran.
***
“I don’t believe you,” Yuzuriha had told him when Kusanagi went to wake her up. Now,
she stood in the doorway, staring horrified at the man she had loved. “Fuuma” she
whispered, bravely stepping forward into the muck. Her foot hit something and she
looked down to see Kotori’s arm, still clutching a kitchen knife. “Ah!”
“I am /Kamui/” he told her simply. “Get ready for battle, Princess,” he leapt off the table,
swinging the sword in a half arc as he did so. “The others are coming.”
Yuzuriha’s eyes filled with tears. Fuuma was the /Kamui/ Kakyou had spoken of, but the
Dream Gazer had never once mentioned the cost. She too, fled the scene, running into
Arashi’s arms where she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed….
***
“There it is!” Karen called enthusiastically, emerging from the transport vehicle along
with Nataku, Sorata and Seishirou. Satsuki stayed inside, once the others left, the vehicle
began transforming into something else entirely. This was the only way she could bring
BEAST into Old Town, but he was no less effective. Thank Bill Gate for wireless
technology, Satsuki grinned, releasing the controls and letting the wires merge with her
body.
In front of the mission stood Kusanagi and Aoki, each guarding the Mission while
Yuzuriha and Arashi shooed the children out the back with Keichi. Hopefully they could
hold the enemy off until their return.
“Kusanagi-san,” Aoki gulped, seeing the large machine that crept closer to the mission. “I
don’t know if we can do this…where is Yuuto?”
“He’s behind us, in the main room with Fu— I mean, Kamui. Get ready, one, two, three!”
Kusanagi gasped.
As Satsuki’s inner circle approached, Kusanagi slammed his fist onto the ground, calling
for the earth which he knew was not far below, despite being covered by concrete for so
long. Cracks began to form in the concrete, then one long green stem emerged, and grew
so quickly it caused the entire sidewalk to crack. The weed roared into the air, then
slammed down in the path of their opposition.
“Move!” Seishirou commanded, and they scattered.
“Allow me!,” Karen cried, blowing a kiss at the weed, which suddenly burst into flames.
“Argh!” Kusanagi screamed at the pain, clutching his head.
“Move, Kusa-san, now!” Aoki grasped his arm, and leapt into the air, the wind he
summoned carrying them past the danger of the burning weed.
That was when Fuuma and the others decided to join the battle.
“Go, Inuki!” Yuzuriha summoned her spirit dog, who chased after the strange young man
with the long flowing cloth.
Arashi summoned her sword gravely and faced off against Sorata, who merely stared at
her, his hands clenched in his pockets. “Do you truly want to fight me?” he asked softly.
By way of answer, she leapt at him, her sword blazing.
“I’ll take the creepy guy, you go after the tank,” Yuuto told /Kamui/ softly, before racing
into the fray.
Seishirou smiled at the blond man, waved his hand and an inky blackness surrounded
Yuuto. “Welcome, to my illusion.”
“Wind only aids me,” Karen told Aoki, sending licks of flame at him and Kusanagi, who
still attempted to regain his strength after the shock of the plant’s pain.
Aoki regarded the girl sadly, as she stood, flame running from her fingers. He raised his
wind staff and began to command it. “What is fire,” he gasped, “without air?” He
summoned the air from around Karen, creating a spherical vacuum around the pyro-
kinetic, causing her to fall to her knees, clutching at her throat in shock.
/Kamui/ raised his sword, and easily sliced through the first wave of wires that came after
him. “Is that the best you can do?” he teased, leaping forward and sliced through the tank.
Satsuki gasped, rolling out of the shattered vehicle, holding on to her shattered arm.
“BEAST!” she cried. The tank shuddered and burst into flames, the best thing she could
do was disconnect from the main network, else she’d cause her precious baby some pain.
Seishirou suddenly blinked into being again, Yuuto unconscious at his feet. The foolish
boy was only unconscious because Satsuki had ordered it. “I’ll kill you later,” he told the
prone body, before turning to defend Satsuki. “Really,” he said to /Kamui/ “you have no
sense of style. Blood looks best on black. With those garments, it just appears to be tie-
dye.”
“Seishirou, get me out of here!” Satsuki growled, standing up.
“And leave the others?” he laughed, flinging a few chips at Fuuma/Kamui, who dodged
the birds at first, then was hit from behind as the birds swooped forward for another pass.
With the other hand, Seishirou wove an illusion that covered his and Satsuki’s escape.
Karen fell to the ground, her lungs had collapsed. Aoki ran to her side. “I’m sorry,” he
told the dead body. “So young.”
“Look out!” Kusanagi cried as Nataku lunged at Aoki, Inuki still attached to his leg. The
cloth caught Aoki’s leg, slicing it clean above the knee.
“No!” Yuzuriha screamed. “Inuki, strike!” The spirit dog released the artificial creature’s
leg, took a step backwards, and then plunged through Nataku, taking its heart with him.
/Kamui/ frowned at the chips at his feet, which were all that resulted from the birds he
had slashed. He grinned as he looked up for more opponents, seeing Sorata and Arashi.
She would strike and he would leap out of the way, never attacking, only dodging. He
grinned. “That one has a wish,” he snarled, running towards Arashi, then diving towards
her, his sword above his head ready to strike.
“No!” Sorata cried, leaping between the two. He felt the sword bite into his shoulder and
the world slowly went black.
Arashi rolled backwards with the force of Sorata landing on her, from the pain lancing up
her right arm, she surmised she had been hit as well. She decided to be still, in the hopes
that /Kamui/ would think her dead.
“Fuuma!” Yuzuriha screamed, watching her lover attack her best friend.
“All of you will only get in my way. All that matters is Kamui,” he growled as he pulled
his sword from Sorata’s body and then pounced upon Yuzuriha.
“No!” the girl screamed closing her eyes as she ducked. The last thing she saw before she
threw up her hands was the bright gold sheen of the holy sword and the bright, glowing
eyes of the being that was once Fuuma.
To be continued
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