Onmyoujitsu Chapter One: And That Was Enough, a x/1999 fanfic

Onmyoujitsu

Arrhythmic: Haha, my first attempt at long KamuiSubaru fiction. This one is definitely going to be running for quite some time... though updates will probably be a bit sporadic due to kinks in plotline, schedules, etc etc. Hope you'll enjoy it, though!

Chapter One: And That Was Enough

Subaru Sumeragi.

Kamui leaned his head against his desk, staring at the two words he had written on the foolscap pad in front of him as images of the onmyouji fluttered through his mind. Subaru reaching out to him. Subaru holding Kamui to him after the mind dive. Subaru, the first person he saw on his return to consciousness. Subaru, one eye bleeding relentlessly. Subaru, depressed and half-dead after the death of Seishirou Sakurazukamori.

Subaru, Subaru, Subaru.

He knew full well that he ought to be working on the tomorrow-due history paper, but somehow that simple name kept floating through his mind. Subaru had been there for Kamui for so much, but now... he was on the trail of an odd series of events connected with onmyouji and more spel over Subaru's soul.

Sighing, Kamui bent his head to his history work. He would know soon, so in the meantime there was no point in moping.

It came as something of a surprise to Kamui that Subaru charged into the house at three-thirty, interrupting Kamui while he was fixing a cup of tea.

"But I thought you told me it was likely you had to leave?" Kamui asked, puzzled, setting a second cup down in front of Subaru.

"I do," came the flat reply.

"Oh," Kamui answered, the little spark of hope going out. "I guess you're home early to pack-"

"-And to ask if you'd like to come with me. I'm going back to the Sumeragi estates," Subaru cut into Kamui's words firmly, hiding his smile as he watched Kamui's face run the hundred-metre-sprint from disappointment to joy to a vaguely blur look, like a lost, confused little puppy. "But- but will I be welcome at the Sumeragi estates?"

"That's why I wanted to ask you," Subaru said seriously. Walking around the table to kneel beside Kamui's chair, making sure there was eye contact between the younger boy and himself. "I can't say that all of the Sumeragi clan will welcome you with open arms, and onmyoujitsu is not as simple as it would seem. It'll be much safer if you stay in Tokyo- I'll be back in a week to so."

"Subaru?" the gentle, sweet tone threw the older man off guard, and Kamui sought Subaru's gaze. "Do you want me to go?"

The onmyouji's face was oddly startled- Does he really think his wishes don't count? Kamui wondered- and then Subaru nodded reluctantly. "I do want you with me, Kamui."

The violet-eyed boy bestowed a beautiful smile on Subaru. "Then let's go."

"Yes, Kamui and I will be leaving town," Subaru spoke into the phone while Kamui frantically flung clothing and various articles into a suitcase. "Yes, I do know that he will be missing school- kindly email me the syllabus and I'll go over the basics with him... if you check you'll find that I am registered as his legal guardian. Subaru Sumeragi. Yes. Yes, thank you, ma'am." He set the phone down, smiling at the boy. "Your teacher is... incredibly vocal."

"She's alright. I think she just doesn't like the idea of me leaving school for the next few weeks with an unknown entity. She's the sort who doesn't trust the people who don't attend parent-teacher meetings," Kamui said, bouncing up and down on the suitcase before latching it shut.

Subaru walked over, arms latching around the smaller boy's waist as Kamui leaned back into him, against his chest. "I don't think I make a very good parent. Can you imagine me meeting that shrew of a teacher and explaining 1999 and the Promised Day to her? Or, on a smaller scale, can I even explain the relationship the two of us share? I don't think she'd take kindly to- to you and I."

Kamui's breath caught in his throat for half a second. What do the two of us share, Subaru?

It wasn't until the onmyouji looked at him curiously that he realized he had spoken the words aloud.

Kamui's breath caught in his throat for half a second. What do the two of us share, Subaru?

It wasn't until the onmyouji looked at him curiously that he realized he had spoken the words aloud.

Subaru stared at Kamui, wondering. What do Kamui and I share? "Everything," he eventually whispered, gazing back at the younger boy.

Kamui's smile was sweet-sad, and when he spoke his tone was quiet, almost dreamy. "You saved me so many times, Subaru. When I woke up, after your dive into my mind... you were hovering above me and you looked so relieved and so beautiful and all I could say was 'thank you'... The time you lost your eye... when you held me and bled and whispered that it wasn't my fault... when you shielded me during the Promised Day and received this," Kamui whispered, tracing a line across Subaru's shirt, following the knotted scar that lay across Subaru's chest down to his abdomen.

"If we share everything, Subaru, what does it mean?" the youth asked, pushing himself away and tilting his head upwards to meet the other man's eyes.

What does it mean? "It means you're a part of me," Subaru answered, watching Kamui carefully, trying to see rejection or disdain in those amethyst pools. He saw nothing beyond a vague kindling of hope and a certain... something. Wistfully he remembered Sorata's perceptiveness and wished for it- maybe it would help him read the enigmatic boy. Hopefully Sorata and his Nee-chan were happily married somewhere else, wherever that was.

"In what way?" Kamui asked, eyeing the onmyouji like he expected the green-eyed man to deal him a blow- one arm already wrapped protectively across himself, fingers closing convulsively over the elbow. Subaru's heart tore at what he saw in Kamui's eyes. The boy had learnt to protect himself almost by reflex. Protect himself from the ones he held dear: a lesson learnt from Fuuma Monou. A lesson well learnt.

"A.... a part of my heart, Kamui."

"What does that mean, Subaru?" Kamui questioned gently.

"Damnit, do you really want to force it out of me? I love you, Kamui. Satisfied?" Subaru shot back, only realizing belatedly how childish the last bit sounded.

A soft, almost-giggle met Subaru's sheepish smile, and suddenly Subaru's arms were full of Kamui. "Don't be pouty, Subaru," Kamui replied, cuddling closer. "I love you too, if that counts for anything."

Subaru laughed quietly, nuzzling into Kamui's soft hair and taking deep breaths that ruffled the blue-black locks and filled him with the sensation of honeysuckle. "Kamui, I have to warn you. The Sumeragi will not be happy with this: I am thirteenth head and they want me to bear them sons to continue the bloodline. It'll be dangerous for you if you go there- few will be willing to accept this. Certainly not the numerous girls hoping to marry me, for one thing... not to mention the Sakurazuka problem..."

Kamui leaned upwards and kissed him lightly. "Do you love me, Subaru?"

"Yes..."

"Then it'll be alright."

Sometimes the violet-eyed youth's ability to cut away everything else and get to the heart of a question surprised him. Kamui saw with a clarity born of pain and purity and the Promised Day's past, saw with a clarity that Subaru would never have.

"Subaru?" Kamui leaned back against the seat of the car, their luggage piled into the backseat. "What exactly is this Sumeragi-Sakurazuka Clan feud about?"

Subaru looked back at him, then said, "The Sakurazuka have always been assassins as well as dark onmyouji- those who use their abilities for killing. Most are mercenary, but the best of their kind is the Sakurazukamori- guardian of the cherry blossom grave. Bodies must be fed to the Sakura, and the souls are locked away within it."

As he mentioned this, Subaru looked poignantly haunted, and Kamui placed a hand on his thigh, trying his best to project warmth and reassurance. The need to kill for the Tree hurt Subaru- never cold-blooded and never raised to the task of providing for the Sakura, but rather, thrust into a fate that was never intended for him.

"The Sakurazuka were actually around before the Sumeragi- we are an offshoot of their Clan, set up in opposition. Ironically, the line began and ended with a person called Seishirou," and here Subaru's lips quirked upward in a bitter smile. "The then-Seishirou broke off from the Sakurazuka after he was forced to kill someone he loved, and formed the Sumeragi in remembrance of his sweetheart and in opposition to the Sakurazuka. That's why the Seishirou we knew was the twenty-ninth Sakurazukamori while I am only the thirteenth Sumeragi head. Their Clan is older.

"You know that the line is merged again with me, as both Sumeragi head and Sakurazukamori. So what am I to do now? The Sumeragi will not accept me nor will the Sakurazuka, because I embody two polar opposites. I am an antithesis to both Sumeragi and Sakurazuka... But I will only... acknowledge... my duty as the Sakurazukamori, to the Sakura. Not to the Sakurazuka Clan, so now that the members of the Sumeragi are dying I have been called in to look at the situation..." Subaru finished, wearing a resignedly bitter smile.

"Is there no way you could give up one of them?" Kamui asked, knowing the pain that Subaru had felt at these two duties, pulling him in opposite, painful directions.

"I will be able to renounce my Sumeragi heritage in favour of a relative or other, but that will usually tear the Clan into factions... and that cannot happen now, not in the backlash of the Promised Day. And the Sakurazukamori... one becomes the Sakurazukamori when one kills the ex-Sakurazukamori. And I will have no one kill me except you... never kill me, Kamui. Being the Sakurazukamori is a burden I don't want you to have."

"I don't want to kill you, Subaru. I don't want anyone to kill you. Live for me. There is no point in wishing to die at someone's hand. Just live, live even if things seem black and hopeless. Promise me, Subaru?" Kamui held out one pinky finger. "Promise me you'll live even if I go."

Subaru looked at him for a moment, then let loose a laugh that held no humour in it. "All those I love have cheated me of death. Hokuto, Seishirou... now you, Kamui. I'll promise... if you do the same for me, Kamui." The amethyst pools stayed steadfast and truthful as Kamui nodded in silent assent, and their linked fingers sealed the promise, as binding as the last curse Hokuto had set on Seishirou at her death.

"Now, let me concentrate on the road, or else we'll both die together!" Kamui laughed slightly, and the tension in the air lessened.

"Eh, Subaru, why are we taking a boat?"

"The Sumeragi estates are on an island off the Japanese coast," Subaru explained, smiling down at the younger boy. "It's preferable, because onmyoujitsu is something the general population does not deal too well with. Privacy is needed."

"Ah," Kamui replied, looking at the boat that awaited them in the harbour. "Do they know I'm coming?"

As they continued to walk, two figures in black trench coats came into view. "If they don't, they'll get to know now," Subaru replied, holding up a hand in greeting to the two waiting for them. "Kagane! Akani! It's been a while. How is everyone?"

"Not bad," the first one replied, flashing a quick grin at Subaru. "You may be Clan Head, but Lady Sumeragi's one fearsome old lady. No worries on that front."

"I should have known- Grandmother hasn't changed at all, has she?" Subaru laughed.

The second one- Akani?- pointed at Kamui, and the younger boy stiffened. However, he continued walking at a gesture from Subaru, beckoning him forward. "Subaru. You know traditionally no one not of Sumeragi blood is allowed."

"He is my guest, Akani," Subaru stated evenly, but he moved closer to Kamui even as the violet-eyed boy drew closer to him, eyeing him with a certain defiance. It was very easy to forget that Kamui Shiro was not your usual sixteen-year-old. "Would you deny me?"

"Akani, you know that's only tradition. If the boy- what's your name, by the way?" Kagane interspersed, turning to the amethyst-eyed boy.

"Kamui Shiro."

"If Shiro-san is here as a guest of our Clan Head, I don't see a reason to deny him. Don't be a grouch," Kagane teased.

Akani frowned, but eventually relented, stepping aside. Subaru nodded to them both as he passed them by, and they fell into step behind Kamui. The short walk to the boat was silent, and Kamui took the opportunity to observe Subaru in his role of Clan Head. Somehow the other man seemed different, seemed to be more in control, more silent, more commanding.

Kamui would not easily forget the expression on his face when he had sternly questioned, "Would you deny me?" It had been not so much of a question as a threat, and he wondered whether Kagane (who reminded him of no one so much as Keichii) had purposely stepped in to diffuse the tension between the two.

The two left their bags in the cabin- "Don't unpack, Kamui, we're not going to be here longer than six hours," Subaru informed the boy, then went up to the deck, Kamui in a button-down shirt and jeans, Subaru in white shirt and pants.

The taller man leaned against the rails, gazing out at the sea, one brown eye contrasted against one green. Subaru sighed, closing them both for half a moment. How would he get the Clan to accept him, with that painful reminder of who he was- the Sakurazukamori- staring them in the face everytime he spoke with them?

Kamui, on the other hand, was lying flat on the deck, contrasting the rocking motion of the ship to the seemingly constant blue of the cloudless sky. Blue, blue, some more blue. Not even a differentiation in terms of the shade. Blue, blue, some more blue. He joined Subaru at the rail, staring down at the waves rushing past. One place to the other. Years ago his mother had told him to return to Tokyo, because his destiny was waiting. Did another destiny await him in the Sumeragi estates?

Subaru's hand crept over his, trapping his slim fingers between the rough calluses of his own.

And in that instant, with the wind ruffling his hair and teasing the both of them, Kamui knew he loved Subaru no matter who he was. Sumeragi Clan Head or Sakurazukamori, Subaru would be Subaru. And that was enough.

Arrhythmic: I think you've all heard this time and time again, but R&R! Reviews are a writer's lifeblood! By the way, there's a C2 comm set up for SubaruKamui, showcasing the better SK fiction in the X section. Run by yours truly! If you want to join as staff, drop me an email at arrhythmic (at) !