X/1999 fanfiction. My standard disclaimers apply.

Tarot – The Lovers, Inverted

by Lady Aria (writersblock@edsamail.com.ph)

"The Lovers – The obvious symbolism has to do with love, passion, the tension between flesh and spirit, and in addition, the responsibility for making choices. On a more mystical level, the Lovers denote inspiration, impulse, psychic gifts, and creativity. They illustrate duality unified, the male and female completing each other. In divination the Lovers suggest courtship or a sound relationship, or marriage. Inverted, they represent bad romantic choices, sexual difficulties, infidelity, ill-fated or unrequited love."

– "Vision and Prophesies," Mysteries of the Unknown

I should be dead.

I remember dying – the delicate hand of Subaru Sumeragi punching a hole through my chest as tears streamed down from his green and white mismatched eyes. He was never as beautiful as he had been that day. It was a sight that I'd wanted to take with me to the grave.

That and the sound of his sobs.

I should be dead, yet I find that I am not. My eyes adjusted to the dim light, making sense of the blurry forms before me….

My eyes.

I try to raise my hand, but I couldn't. Strange…. I'm not bound – physically nor by magical means – and yet…. It doesn't matter. What struck me as odd is the fact that my eyes are once again a working pair, and for the first time in nine years, I can see in depth again.

As soon as I got my bearings, I felt the familiar hum of power and realized where I was.

Ueno.

Maboroshi.

"I know you can hear me."

A slender, black-haired man stepped out of nowhere before me. It seemed like such a long time since we last saw each other. His left hand was hidden beneath a shroud of shadow, but I knew from the way he held it that it would be dripping with the blood of his latest victim. Already I could feel the power coursing through him. I had to wonder how many he had to kill to become this strong.

"I missed you…." Subaru was now directly in front of me, the back of his hand stroking my face, my sigil, an indelible mark on his flawless skin. "You don't know how long I've waited… longed for…."

But I do, Subaru-kun. That's why I ended it the way I did – to draw out the beauty of your anguish.

I would have wanted to tell him that, to mock him even, had I been able to do so, but like a man paralyzed by the poison of a black mamba, I was fully conscious of my surroundings, yet unable to act. My body my own prison….

Or my special seat at an interesting opera.

Subaru pushed me backwards and I made contact with the Tree. His lips were like fire on mine as impatient hands tugged at my clothes. He threw them behind him and I saw that they were stained with blood.

They were the same clothes that I was wearing when I died.

I realized, to my amusement, that he was planning to have his way with my dead body.

As soon as I was rid of the last of my clothes, the Tree wound slender branches heavy with blossoms around my body to keep me upright. Apparently, Subaru had been preparing for this for a long time.

His lips moved from mine, down to my neck. Feverish hands snaked around my waist as he pressed himself close. I could smell the soap and water on his skin, the blood of his latest victim mixing with his own scent – an aphrodisiac unlike anything I've ever known. Had I been able to, I would've moaned in encouragement as his lips abandoned my neck and closed over a nipple. The left one, just inches away from the gaping hole where my heart should've been.

"I know you can feel everything I'm doing," Subaru moaned into my chest, "please don't hate me for this…."

Why should I hate you now, Subaru-kun? After all the years of amusement you've given me?

He kissed his way down my body until, kneeling, he took me in his mouth. Oddly enough, the dead flesh responded to his ministrations, waking. I can see that you foresaw this potential problem, Subaru-kun. Well done.

I wanted to laugh out loud as I felt my passion's crest and ebb. I never thought you'd ever be this desperate.

"Ai shiteiru, Seishirou-san."

His lips once again closed over mine and I felt one of his fingers slip inside me, followed soon by another, as he stretched me wide, preparing for the one thing that I wouldn't have given him willingly while I'd been alive…. But in life, I had entertained thoughts of taking him in much the same way as he was doing now.

"Ai shiteiru…."

His words were barely a whisper against my lips as he eased himself inside, going deeper, until we were joined in macabre union. I could feel the roughness of his clothes on my skin, the Tree digging into my back as he pressed against me even more. Sweat began to form on his brow as he fixed his gaze upon my face, our bodies moving in the most intimate dance of lovers. His lips once again closed over mine as the dance became more violent, his lips desperately kissing mine….

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt.

But only this once.

The shock on Subaru's face was priceless as I used what little power was left within me to return his kiss, the dance reaching it's finale, leaving him breathless from exertion as well as shock.

"Seishirou-san…."

I spread my lips in a mocking smile as I gave him the amused look that he hated so much.

"Baka."

The bonds of power broke as the illusion shattered, freeing me from the Tree's thrall. As I left the mortal plane for the second time, I bring with me another memory of my favorite plaything.

Him kneeling before the Sakura, beaten, whispering as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Damn you, Seishirou-san…."

***** The End *****

original © October 2001 by Lady Aria