Next chapter! Thanks for the reviews! If it wasn't for the fact that Fuuma was being uncooperative, the chapter would have been out a lot sooner! Also, I dropped the S/K notation since my inner musings have brought a decision about the ending details. This might be a little rough since I still need beta-readers, but enjoy this as a tribute to Subaru's B-day!

Spoilers up to volume 18 of X, as you know. Still going to have shounen-ai (male/male relationships) reference, so if that offends you, don't read it. Any flames will be used to light my candles and incense. ^o^

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns X and the characters therefrom, and I'm just borrowing them for angst purposes. This fic is just for entertainment and I am not making any profit, so don't sue - my Tokyo Babylon collection is worth more than the money I have...unless you managed to get my college to fork over the tuition money I paid for this semester.

Chapter 2 - Good News, Bad News

Glancing at the clock for the eighth time in ten minutes, Kamui wished that the class would just end. Sitting slouched with his chin propped up by his left arm, he looked back down at his textbook, hardly paying attention to the lecture. He felt that it was pointless. With the Final Day was so close in coming, he doubted that it would matter if he was caught up in his classes. Not to mention, it had already been established that math was not his strong point.

The teacher continued explaining a formula that was going completely over Kamui's head. He sighed softly thinking it would have been easier if he was still tutored in his subjects. Subaru... It had been well over a month since Subaru had disappeared. There was still no sign of the Dragon in Tokyo; the only answer Nokoru could provide is that in all likelihood Subaru was not currently in Tokyo. In response to Kamui's dismay at that answer, Suoh agreed to set up the CLAMP Campus network to scan the city for him should he return.

That still didn't tell Kamui where Subaru was...and that bothered him. Subaru had disappeared without a word, right after the battle at Rainbow Bridge. There had been no word, no letter telling them anything about where he was going. Sorata had once again called the Sumeragi household in Kyoto to speak with the previous head of the clan, and received only vague answers to his questions, the only definite answer found being that Subaru was not there.

The latter disturbed Kamui greatly. There was no reason that the Sumeragi clan wouldn't know the location of their 13th head at any given time. It made him wonder if more was going on than they were letting on and Kamui was getting tired of being left in the dark all of the time. Why did it always seem that he was the last to know everything, but he was the one that was supposed to decide the fate of the world? It seemed rather ironic to him.

The bell sounded and the teacher concluded, hinting that the material would be on the next exam and allowed the students to start packing their belongings. Abruptly roused from his thoughts, Kamui closed his book and stood, navigating his way through the desks and other teenagers. Making his way to the classroom door, Kamui was greeted by the over-genki face of Yuzuriha, little Inuki right at her heels barking happily.

"Kamui-san, hurry! Takamura-san and the others said Subaru-san is back in Tokyo!" Kamui stood frozen there for a moment, not quite believing he had heard Yuzuriha correctly. As his lecture-dulled mind processed her words, realization dawned on his face. He wordlessly pushed past her running towards the exit of the building. "Let's go!" she said, turning to Inuki and smiling, and the two of them followed closely on his heels.

"Any more information on where the next targeted kekkai might be, Suoh?" Nokoru inquired, looking over Suoh's shoulder at the computer's bright screen. There had been very little information coming from the CLAMP Campus network and it seemed that Kamui was becoming wary of Hinoto's visions. The good news was that the network had yielded a little good news as of late.

"Nothing so far, but..." Suoh started to say as the door to the room was slammed open against the wall violently and a breathless Kamui stood like a silhouette in the doorway.

"Kamui...," Nokoru said, standing straight and turning to face the boy as he came into the room, "I see you have heard the news."

"Rijichou, where is Subaru?" Kamui asked confusedly, looking at them both and then back to Nokoru, as if he had expected Subaru to be sitting there in the room waiting.

"Actually, we do not have that much information as of yet," Nokoru said, indicating several points on the screen where Suoh just set up a display map, "Because of lost kekkai battles, we've lost many of our information hubs within the network. We must find bypasses in order to search and pinpoint his location. The only thing we can definitely confirm is that he is back in the metropolis." At that point Yuzuriha arrived, followed by an anxious-looking Sorata.

"Sorry, I stopped by the hospital wing to tell Sorata. He insisted to come too," Yuzuriha said, both of them coming up to stand on either side of Kamui.

Kamui was disappointed by the news, but he knew he hadn't given Yuzuriha a chance to finish; he realized he had been hoping for too much. Subaru was one of several million people in the city right now, it would take time to find him with the destruction causing gaps in the network.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder, and he looked to his side to see Sorata smiling at him, though Kamui could tell it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Don't worry, we'll find him." Leave it to Sorata to be the encouraging voice even when faced with his own despair. Subaru wasn't the only Seal missing in action. Arashi had been gone for a little over a week and Kamui was sure that Sorata was not handling it well, even though he put on an air of normalcy.

Kamui smiled slightly at him and said, "Thanks, Sorata." Turning his attention back to the chairman of the campus, he addressed Nokoru, "Rijichou, is there any way to narrow down the possibilities to a list we could search by ourselves? With the final battle impending we'll need his help, so we need to find him." Of course, that wasn't the only reason that Kamui wanted to find Subaru. Not only as a support for their cause, Kamui relied on him because Subaru had been the only one that seemed to really understand and support him. Something perturbed Subaru enough to abandon the Ten no Ryuu, and if it was that serious, he wanted to return the favor.

"It would be easier to par down the list from where we know he is not. You might focus on places to which he has some relation; something might be yielded searching those locations." Nokoru stated, grabbing the finished printout that Suoh had generated from the database.

He handed it over to Kamui, who took it and scanned the list briefly. Looking up at Yuzuriha and Sorata he said, "It would be faster to split up and each take an area of Tokyo. Most of this list looks to be in the southeastern quadrant."

Splitting the remainder of the city, Yuzuriha took the northwestern areas, Sorata the southwestern and Kamui was left with the northeastern. Kamui nodded to Nokoru and Suoh, and turned towards the door intent on starting his search. Yuzuriha followed behind with Inuki padding silently by her side, as well as Sorata. However, the latter paused and glanced back over his shoulder at Nokoru questioningly.

"Sorata, we still have not found any information about Arashi's whereabouts. Please be patient." Nokoru replied to the unvoiced but obvious question burning in his eyes.

Sorata nodded and turned to catch up to the other two Seals, a look of sadness on his face.

Walking through what had once been a lively commercial district of Tokyo, Subaru took stock of the devastation that had been caused from the battle over the Shinjuku kekkai. The place he remembered from his teenage years was now filled with a desolate air, the streets choked with rubble and dust. His apartment was far enough from the kekkai boundaries that he had never truly seen the results of the battle. The air lacked the noisy clatter of life; it even lacked the supernatural clamor he had half expected to be assaulted with the minute he stepped into the area. Perhaps, the people who had died had no reason to haunt the remains of the former bright, up-beat urban area.

It had been several days since Subaru had had the dream of the sakura's "precious treasure". The tree's demands were growing steadily, and Subaru had refused to succumb to sleep in order to avoid its cajoling influence. Still despite his best efforts, he had still been subconsciously drawn back into the city, a place that held too many memories, some good and some bad. He would have rather left it far behind, but something drew him back. Perhaps it really had nothing to do with the sakura; it could have simply been his emotionally masochistic nature. I have decided on worse actions in the past because of that nature, he thought, so it is feasible.

Turning down a street that was less weathered by the downfall of high-rises, Subaru began to notice familiar features to the location. It was no coincidence that his feet had followed the same streets, despite being filled with debris, to that same building from so many years before. Facing the building that had once housed the Sakurazuka Animal Clinic, he had a brief flash of what the area had looked like nine long years ago. The street no longer thrived with the life of the city; rather it was a subdued and colorless parody of his memory. The building showed slight signs of damage from the battle's tremors, and its entrance was boarded up.

Not quite sure why he did it, he walked up to the board-covered entrance and pulled the boards loose. The boards were quite loose and came away from the building's walls easily; the movement disturbed dust from between the boards coating his dark clothing was powdered gray in places. Setting the boards aside, he concentrated on the lock, and stabbed at the lock mechanism with a single jolt of power. There was a click, and Subaru could swing the door partially open.

Stepping into the dim lobby area, he saw the place was much like it had been nine years before, save for the copious layer of dust and the occasional piece of furniture that had fallen over or blind that had fallen from the window in the earthquake tremors. Since the Sakurazuka clan owned the building, nothing else had taken its place. He walked from the lobby through to the main room of the clinic, his footfalls making an impression in the drifts of dust. Despite the hardships of the last decade, the rooms still held the aura of the trio; he could almost hear the phantom laughter of his sister at one of Seishirou's jokes, could almost see a memory shadow of the three of them sitting around the table eating lunch. McDonald's... Hokuto-chan's favorite, Subaru recalled, smiling softly despite himself. This place held so many positive memories, of times before he knew the pain of betrayal. Those memories dulled the pain, but the wounds ran deeply; nothing could ever stop the ache.

A slight glitter caught his eye. Stooping to pick up a small dust-covered, gold-gilt frame that had fallen from the desk, he turned it over and brushed the dust from its cracked glass surface. Looking at the image held within, his surprise was reflected back at him from the spider web-like fractured glass. He remembered the picture, but had never seen it in the clinic before.

Going over to the window, he pushed aside the broken blinds to unlatch the clasp on the lock. The window was slightly jammed and it took a moment for Subaru to push it open fully. A slight breeze blew in through the opening, stirring the edges of his trench coat. Lacking the dirty filter of the window's glass, light illuminated dust motes in the abandoned room. With the dimness lifted, the shadow of the past seemed to lift as well.

Sitting on the window ledge, Subaru once again glanced down at the picture within the frame. It was a photo Hokuto had taken of the two of them at Ueno Park beneath the sakura trees, on the day they had celebrated Seishirou's birthday. April 1st, Subaru recalled, remembering the entire day despite the fact it was almost a decade past.

Hokuto wasn't about to let Seishirou's "birthday" pass without celebrating, even though she didn't really believe his birthday was the day he put on the compatibility test. Even now, Subaru blushed slightly at the plans Hokuto had made for the day. Without a choice in the matter, Subaru had ended up wrapped up in ribbons and presented to Seishirou as a birthday present, Hokuto beaming proudly at her handy work. All in all, it had been one of her more embarrassing schemes. At least, in his case it had been.

Afterwards they went to Ueno Park for hanami (1), and ended up picnicking beneath the trees, picking the occasional blossom out of their food. It was a pleasant memory, even though Subaru had been the brunt of most of the embarrassing jokes that day. He often wondered if they had joked just to see him blush.

A scuffling of shoes against the dust-covered tile floor broke Subaru's reverie. Dropping the hand holding the framed photo to his lap, he gazed impassively up at "Kamui" as he melted from the shadows. Silence stretched out as he waited for "Kamui" to reveal the intentions of his visit, though his wariness was not visible. Surely he wasn't just coincidentally out for a leisurely walk in this area.

For a long moment neither figures' gaze wavered. Subaru was the first to finally give in and while narrowing his eyes in suspicion, asked monotonously, "Why are you here?"

Fuuma smirked, moving closer to the Sumeragi, but still maintaining a non-intimidating distance from the current Sakurazukamori. "Straight to the point...are we picking up some of the previous Sakurazukamori's personality traits?" When Subaru refused to even grant the quip a twitch of the eye, Fuuma continued, "The offer is still open. There is a spot for you on our side." Fuuma stated simply and waited for a response from the onmyouji. Subaru simply looked downward, shaking his head.

"I no longer have anything to do with the Promised Day. It doesn't concern me", he said, letting his gaze drift out to the street beyond the window. A silence fell that was so complete that, for a moment, Subaru believed that "Kamui" had left.

Following his gaze out the window, Fuuma sighed and smiled slightly. It was a smile unbecoming of the "Kamui" of the Dragons of Earth, almost regretful. A smile that went completely unnoticed by the Sumeragi. "That might be the case. Just because you inherited the role of Sakurazukamori doesn't mean that you have to follow in the footsteps of the previous". He laughed then, drawing Subaru's attention back to him. "As that silly girl said, 'The future is not yet decided". At least, for you, it isn't. The only ones with set futures are Kamui and myself."

Subaru looked at him in mild surprise, seeing a glimpse of sanity behind the calculating gaze. It appeared that Fuuma had not been completely displaced by the presence of Kamui's soeboshi (2). But in the span of a breath, the sanity was yet again veiled as his gaze sharpened and he chuckled. "It will all be decided on the Promised Day...and the world will change."

"Whatever happens will happen. I have no interest in the end of the world," Subaru stated and looked away from "Kamui", deeming their conversation ended. He closed his eyes as he heard "Kamui" stir and leave, his laughter filling the air.

After Subaru felt "Kamui's" presence disappear he opened his eyes and found the figures in the picture staring back at him, his younger self smiling wistfully and Seishirou smiling through his typical veterinarian's mask.

The end of the world no longer matters to me. . .but what is to become of my future, he thought, his remorseful expression reflected in the multiple facets of glass. He paused and looked closer at the backdrop, realizing that it was the Tree. That damn tree and everything it represents took the two most precious people in my life away. "No more..." Subaru whispered, tracing a gloved finger down a wide crack in the glass surface. "Even if it kills me...no more..."

Placing the photo upright on the table beneath the window, he rose from his resting place, a new determination glinting in his mismatched eyes. He looked in the direction of Ueno Park, knowing full well what he set out to do.