Written 5/16/99
Please, comments and (light) criticism welcome...
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The Dancers
A Tokyo Babylon/X fanfic by Snapdragon
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Disclaimer: Clamp Characters and Co. belong to...well, Clamp. And those other
people that happen to own them too. Don't sue me. It might break my last
mental straw, and I might have a breakdown. And it would be all your fault!
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Author's note: Yea...it's a "darkfic"...but "it's not an end, it's the means
to an end"...and luckily for you, it's a one-shot!! WHOOHOO!! *cheers and
clapping sounds are heard*
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The Dancers
"Don't fear, even though you're at a loss. I'm numb, a shell of empty
thoughts. But you glow, you stretch and pull me out. Does that trouble you?
Does that trouble you? Love me, Hate me, Make me live again I need you around.
Heal me hurt me make me live again I want you around.. So long, I never had
experienced this bliss, so how could I resist? And I'm fine, a little light-
headed. Does that worry you? I didn't mean to worry you.. Now, retreating
from the light I love it when we fight, it makes me think at least you still
care... Give up, you're not going anywhere moonlight illuminates your stare
and it's great, captivating you... Does that trouble you? I didn't mean to
trouble you.." -Better than Ezra
And the dancers danced.
Twisting and turning, ducking and dropping, all in a dizzying display
of power. Then one snapped, the building cracking underneath the impact.
"kuso..."
Subaru's eyes widened as he watched Fuuma's blood seep into the
cracks of the structure. He pulled himself up from the cement block he had
been thrown down upon, wincing at the pain shooting up his arm.
Kamui turned toward him and let the shinken fall. "It's over," he
muttered in muted astonishment and fell to the ground.
"Kamui!" Subaru yelled and tried to run over to him, but his shattered
legs folded underneath him, though, producing a half-strangled cry of pain.
His eyes glazed over and closed, as his breaths became shallow.
Seishirou watched, half-disinterested, from the rooftop of a nearby
building, which, almost miraculously, had survived. Rather ironic that it was
a church. Even more ironic was the fact that he was perched upon it.
His feet made a slight tapping sound on the cracked cement of the
rooftop where the fallen dragons lay as he landed. A sigh almost escaped his
lips as he felt for any trace of life from either Fuuma or Kamui. None. None
at all. Which was unusual-usually it took several minutes for a persons life-
force to completely leak out of their body.
The muscles in his back twitched as he heard a slight gurgling sound
from Subaru. Instinct. Turning, he saw Subaru as he had envisioned him these
so many years...with a ragged hole cut in his midsection, legs bent at
unnatural angles, an already pale face drained of all color for loss of blood.
But this was different. *His* prey was laying there, dying, through no action
of his own. It was as if another player had stepped onto his proverbial chess
board and ruined his game.
Anger, unnatural for him, flared up in the corner of his mind. Fuuma
had given his word that he would not hurt the fragile onmyouji. That was
*his* pleasure. His onmyouji, his game, his pleasure.
And here Subaru lay dying. Seishirou bent down beside him and lifted
and lifted one of his eyelids. The pupil contracted, startled.
//So you had just given up//, he thought, //you are conscious.//
Subaru's open eye stared at him, half-expecting, half anticipation. He
*wanted* to end it all, it seemed.
"Subaru-kun," Seishirou whispered in his ear, "are you at peace?" His
white, dead eye stared at Subaru's.
The translucent green seemed to quiver for a moment as Subaru let out
a small breath. "Y-you didn't win." His voice trailed off.
"Iie. But you lost, Subaru-kun." Seishirou replied with a slight
chuckle, concealing his true disappointment. "Are you at peace, Subaru-kun?"
"Iie." Subaru breathed. He opened his other eye and stared upward.
Seishirou stood up, ready to just finish him off right there-reclaim
him as his own. "Such a waste, Subaru-kun," he chuckled. "Your sister would
be ashamed of you."
Subaru stiffened, but said nothing in response. His deep green eyes
wavered and shut.
//Subaru-kun! Don't listen to him! Of course I'm not ashamed!//
Subaru reopened his eyes, catching a brief flash of an identical pair
staring into them. "Hokuto-chan..." he exhaled, as Seishirou's hand raised for
the final blow.
"Hokuto-chan, I'm so sorry" his lip trembled.
//Subaru!! Stop being so sorry for everything!!//
Subaru stared up at the sun...an orb turned red by the gathering smoke
...and closed his eyes for the last time.
A new red stain spread along his shikifuku as Seishirou withdrew his
hand, as the new searing pain reached his brain, as his breaths caught in his
throat and stopped, as his heart beat twice and stopped also, as his mind
dulled...as everything went black.
//Subaru...//
The voice whispered in his ear.
//Just let it go...//
(
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geocities.com/tokyo)