Dedication: Yufa (whose name I finally spelled right), Zenari Gale (who still loves me even when I'm being my morbid freaky self), Nanay (because she is my beloved mother who honed my talents), Inday (because she's a Golden Pen receiver in Journalism), Sephartiri, Maya

And to myself…

Just Because

How could you believe in yourself when there was destiny?

Why do you say we control the movement of the earth?

Was freedom ours to keep or was it all a lie?

Why believe in yourself when there was kismet?

Swords clashed and the air smelled sickly sweet of rain and fresh blood. And in between the curtain that is the shower of heavenly tears, there were two fighters doing stunts and making a show of their tricks as if this were some play acted upon a stage.

The bigger of the two moved with so much ease as he swings his sword here then there to defend or to cut and to make his enemy bleed. As he went about with his turn of slashing, his face suggested child's play and laughed at his so-called-competitor's blunders.

Each cut that etched itself on the smaller of the two evoked a sneer of pleasure from the boy that is to destroy the earth.

He and the boy, they both share the title of a spirit of some kind under the name 'Dragon'. A gift, a curse they received from fate with a consolation price attached of whether or not the earth shall be saved from the impending doom that it has let itself come upon or let it perish in destruction as the barriers that has been weakened by time crumble down.

'Kamui' that was the name given to the one who shall choose between the annihilation of this wasted planet otherwise let it live and give humanity another chance to redeem itself and stop the magical wall- in other words, the kekkai- from falling.

However, something happened that twisted fate into another direction. Because of this sudden addition, there are two 'Kamuis'; one under the title of Dragon of the Earth the other under the title of Heaven.

And this is where everything in the life of Kamui Shirou started to spin out of control. From the moment he moved out of his hometown to move somewhere else with his mother, to the fire that killed her, to finding out he was this being called 'Kamui'; everything went spinning in another direction.

He was to come back to Tokyo to retrieve the sword that was with the father of his best friend and to leave everything and let things be.

But nothing was ever that simple.

Gemini; his twin star, his best friend, the boy who was more than a brother to him; one of the people whom he wanted to protect, was to be his enemy in this battle between the earth and man

And his name was Fuuma Monou, the Dragon of the Earth. The person destined to bring Kamui to his grave.

The same person whom Kamui wants to bring back; he will go to hell and back just to save him, and only to save him.

If he let Kotori down, he will not let Fuuma go the same way.

Even if the complicated design of the future has been weaved into a picture of him dying under the wrath of Fuuma- no, of 'Kamui', he will beat destiny against even if the price was his life.

And along with him is the heavy weight of humanity on his already beaten shoulders.

The rain was pouring hard.

Every meeting was a battle.

The dragon that has awoken inside Fuuma has made him stronger than he was before and emotionless. Yet the dragon that was supposedly to take Kamui has remained in its slumber within his soul. This left the petite boy weak, both in body and in mind. His body cannot stand the unending blows it receives every meeting and his heart and mind cannot stand all this wounds.

It pained Kamui to be in this situation, how can Fuuma be like this? How can he not feel a thing? Why was HE chosen to juggle the welfare of the earth and have his best friend out to cut him to pieces?

It almost destroyed the last thread of sanity left in Kamui.

And now, as ever, he was feeling fragile. Like some kind of porcelain doll that wasn't given the proper attention that it truly deserves.

"Fuuma…"

There was blood everywhere. There was some on his already drenched clothes.

Fuuma or better known as 'Kamui', smirking all the while, could easily take the leader of the Dragons of the Heaven anytime he likes. Besides, it was already written in the hands of fate that Seals will face bitter defeat under the claws of the Harbingers.

And if Kamui dies now, where will he get his source of entertainment? The Sakurazukamouri happily kept his prey alive for the last nine years, what's a good few days to hear his own pet shriek for bloody hell?

Kamui has been repeating his old name over and over again in a delicate voice that has been cracking way before this meeting. It made him feel all the more superior especially now when he had the boy's left hand pinned on to a tree with his sword keeping him still. Kamui couldn't help but feel waves, maybe even tsunamis of pain, running through his aching body. The pain intensified as the sword dug deeper into his palm and into the bark of the tree.

Kamui let out a scream.

"Does it hurt…?" cooed the Dark 'Kamui', not only was Kamui pinned by the destined sword he was held up by the body all clad in black pressed closed to him.

He shuddered and that was not because of the cold rain that has been soaking him to the bone.

Dark Kamui's fingers ran along the petite form of the Seals' leader, sliding down contours of his trembling body. He smiled like a bastard as he heard the result of his 'study' was rewarded with a string of moans (pleasure or pain? Was hard to tell, not really that it mattered anyway, answer was too obvious) escaped his victim's lips.

Kamui lifted his other hand, the one not held by a sword; weakly to try and stop the digits from going anywhere forbidden which was a futile struggle to begin with.

"Fuuma… stop… it…"

Fuuma grinned.

Kamui gasped.

Then the boy let go in wicked glee, while the smaller youth clenched his teeth in frustration and in pain. He was angry at his own weakness. But even then, getting angry was hard to because of the sore muscles screaming for release from the aching pain. He was too tired to get angry at himself or at Fuuma. The lids of his eyes wanted to drop to close. He was hanging on by the hand that was trapped with the bigger boy's sword.

Kamui always thought he could somehow get used to the pain, get immune to the unending tortures that was brought to him each and everyday. And that he would somehow be strong enough to smile and laugh like everyone else. He would deluded himself into pretending that he could hold on to a mask where he can twist his lips up even if there was no happiness to underneath the surface but an empty broken doll, beaten again and again until he was tattered and was to the point that he can never be fixed again.

Look at Subaru; he was still living and fighting the demons that run down his path. Kamui once mused that he may end up like the Sumeragi Head, that he would somehow come to the point where smiling was the hardest task as compared to taking down huge buildings and killing people here and there.

But he wasn't all right. Kamui knew.

He never really pretended but didn't bother discussing about the pain that he kept inside.

Was this what it felt like?

To have someone you loved so dear, to have someone you always believe in for most of your life turn against you in the matter of seconds?

To have him forget all the things that you went through go down the drain as if they never happened at all?

He wanted to believe he could get use to this pain, this pain that he felt throughout his frail form and most especially the deep cut that was in his heart.

Just like Subaru

But he knew…. he couldn't bear it. Each blow was a fresh cut and that cut would sink in deeper until it reaches his heart and a piece would fall like a leaf and disappear into the shadows of where was once light spreading about.

Just like Subaru's

He felt movement- was he really that far off from reality and consciousness? - and the sword was removed with one swift movement. Of course, a groan of pain never failed to escape Kamui's lips as it released him from his position. The boy expected to crumple down like a stained piece of cloth that was displeasing to the eye. He expected gravity to takes it course. Take him to the ground and hear his sore body slam on the grass.

But he didn't feel the grass on his face or body.

"Whoopsy-daisy, Kamui" Fuuma caught his exhausted body with one arm, securing him so that he might not fall. Even in his almost death like state, it amazed Kamui at how great the change in Fuuma was. While he had an arm on him, trying to not let him fall, the other was latched to the sword that Kamui wanted to take away from his father.

"We don't want our precious Dragon of the Heaven to fall and hurt himself, now, right?" mock worry ran over his voice as he hissed this in Kamui's ear.

And even in this death like state, it disgusted Kamui at how perverted this entity residing in Fuuma could be. He wanted to hit him or something just to show that… he should not be underestimated, at least to save what's left of his slowly diminishing pride.

But all he could manage was another call for Fuuma's name. He was starting to sound like a broken record, a really busted one.

"How… why… Fuuma…?"

These were the questions that repeated themselves in moments like these, sometimes in dreams other times when he get lost in thoughts that he doesn't realize he was already uttering them, letting them roll out of his tongue.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Dark Kamui said, in this dangerously low tone that the real Kamui didn't like at all "Not Fuuma, not anymore…"

Kamui loss too much blood and his head was spinning into this deep sea of darkness, there were feathers everywhere and the blood, so much blood...

Maybe somewhere between the bloods, the feathers, beyond the visions of apocalyptic doom; he knew he was being kissed. And deep within Kamui, he knew this really was the last straw.

He was hurt.

He was wet.

And his ego was already disappearing like his sanity. He wanted to fight back, but he couldn't. There was no struggle for dominance, especially since the latter wasn't really paying attention to the moment he was stuck in- with a stuck tasting him and eating his mouth. He was dead tired, in a literal sense.

Kamui let Fuuma do this to him since he knew he couldn't do anything to make it stop. His eyes were dazed as the tears started to fall, he actually couldn't tell if they were tears the rain was making it too confusing.

Now, he had the ethereal feeling his soul was leaving his body to take refuge in the cold rain. Maybe it was death ready to take him away. He wished it ended that way, he lost so much blood. He should be dead by now.

And as this thought came to his head, pictures of life before the 'war' ran in fast motion in his head.

He wanted to take a look at each picture, to study them and to remember how it was like before this. Before everything went so bizarre and unreal

Before he left Tokyo

Before he left Fuuma and Kotori

He wanted to think.

He couldn't think anymore.

He fainted before he could.

"The future… it's still undecided isn't it?"

A/N: Opening poem was by me, I have the draft somewhere, but I can't find it. Ciao.

Cookies anyone?