Tokyo Babylon Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ Subaru, Seishirou and the Hokkaido Getaway ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Xandra (xandrabelle@hotmail.com) and Midorino Mizu (midorinomizu@yahoo.com) present Subaru, Seishirou and the Hokkaido Getaway

Disclaimer: Subaru, Seishirou and Hokuto are all the property of CLAMP, which was a sad fate for them, because they suffered a lot. But we don't own them and we're not profiting from them, so please, direct all praise to CLAMP for creating such wonderful characters.

Summary: Sumeragi Subaru's work takes him to the far northern island of Hokkaido. Naturally, Hokuto and Seishirou insist on accompanying him. The resulting high jinks are typical of any Tokyo Babylon story.

Chapter 3

The three arrived at the hotel after a quiet drive from Sapporo to Mt. Asahi. Hokuto-chan hadn't been at her best in the morning for the past several weeks, so she kept her chatter to a minimum, and instead spent the trip gazing out the window, nervously keeping an eye on the edge of the road falling sharply away down the side. Neither Subaru nor Seishirou seemed to notice as they conversed quietly in the front seat.

The scenery spanning the narrow road leading them to the resort was breathtaking. Lush tall pines swaying in the gentle breeze pressed close as they drove up the road, slowly winding up the sides of the mountain until suddenly there was no further for them to go and the resort and its nearby village stretched out before them in every direction. Gazing up, Subaru gawked at the intense spread of white powder snow that blanketed the peak before them, broken only by the lines of skylifts slanting upwards.

The trio unloaded from the car and made their way inside the open doors of the hotel. The fresh mountain air seemed to revitalize the elder Sumeragi twin and she was back in form, which meant immediately embarking on her favorite pastime-- making her little brother blush and stammer.

The resort manager himself quickly hurried out to meet the three travelers. "Ah, Sumeragi-sama," he said, bowing deeply after they introduced themselves. "I am both honored and grateful that you have come to Hokkaido on my behalf. I trust the trip was uneventful?"

Subaru bowed back before nodding. "It was, thank you. And thank you for providing accommodations for me and my companions."

"It was nothing. It is an honor to have the Sumeragi clan head here." The middle-aged man paused, and tried not to look too conspicuously at the trio. "I must confess, however, that your grandmother only stipulated two rooms. Will it be all right for us to place you in a two-room suite?" He was tactfully referring to the fact that Seishirou was quite obviously not related to them.

Subaru turned bright red when he heard his sister's distinctive snickers behind him. "Quite," he squeaked. He was sure he could trust Seishirou-san, even with his life. It was however, a difficult situation to explain to a stranger. "If you could show us to the rooms, please? I'd like to get started with the investigation as soon as possible." And maybe, he thought, he could rush Hokuto into their suite before she saw fit to embarrass him further.

No such luck.

"Now, Sei-chan," caroled Hokuto when she entered the suite and noted the opposing doors leading from the sitting room. "I will be sharing a room with Subaru. We wouldn't want to you to compromise Subaru's virtue in a fit of passion, now would we?"

"Hokuto-chan! I would never dream of doing such a thing." Seishirou sounded shocked, and Subaru hoped that maybe that would be the end of it. The next words out of Hokuto's mouth proved it was a false hope.

"I'm determined to wait until the wedding night," Seishirou said, entirely matter-of-factly.

The Sumeragi visibly winced and peeked up at their host, whose face was schooled into polite calmness-- if one ignored the rather wild look he had in his eyes.

"I will meet you downstairs in an hour, Ebisawa-san, if that's acceptable," Subaru gritted out with as much dignity as he could muster.

The manager started and gulped as if remembering to breathe. "C-Certainly, Sumeragi-sama. I'll be waiting at the front desk."

The young Sumeragi heaved a sigh of relief when the man departed, shutting the door behind himself. He paused for a moment, taking in the lavish furnishings in the sitting room. It was certainly something befitting a Sumeragi clan leader, not that he had ever particularly cared about the material trappings, of course. They could have squashed him into a tiny broom closet and he wouldn't have protested. Hokuto was always telling him he should be more aware of his consequence but somehow he never thought much of it, until confronted by the treatment other people gave him.

Hokuto popped out of one door, apparently having explored it to her heart's content. "It looks like nothing but the best for Japan's best onmyouji," she declared, echoing his thoughts. She strode over to a set of large full-length doors opening out to a balcony. Flinging open the doors, she stepped out, ignoring the freezing draft she was letting into the room.

"Come on out here, Subaru," she called. "The view is fantastic!"

Subaru followed her instruction and joined her outside. She was right. It was a picture perfect postcard before him. He took in a deep breath of the clear fresh mountain air, drinking in the sight of the craggy peak and the white slopes, reflecting the slanting afternoon sun in glistening splendor. So lost was he in the beauty of the scene, that he barely noticed when Seishirou came up beside him.

"What do you think of when you see the mountain, Subaru-kun?" The warmth of Seishirou's breath brushing near his ear startled him back to reality.

"I think it's powerful and glorious. People are so small when compared to it," Subaru said, turning to gaze at his friend. He wanted to see Seishirou's reaction to the magnificence of the mountain. Would he be as affected as Subaru was? The young teenager was disappointed to observe nothing more than bland interest in his expression. "Don't you find it beautiful, Seishirou-san?"

"Oh, of course, Subaru-kun." Seishirou said, a faint smile gracing his lips as he bowed his head down to look at Subaru. After a moment gazing deeply into Subaru's eyes, he straightened back up and paused to consider the scenery again. "It's very beautiful, but so unchanging. It doesn't grow.

"I think that things that grow and change as they age are far more impressive and far more beautiful, don't you?" he elaborated.

That velvet tone of this voice implied something Subaru didn't quite understand, but the sheer suggestiveness of it made Subaru redden as he lifted his eyes to meet Seishirou's amber ones now returned to gaze steadily upon him. "S-Seishirou-san?"

They both heard a familiar click from behind them and whirled as one to Hokuto, who was holding her camera again. "Another picture for the album!" she cheered.

"Hokuto-chan," groaned Subaru.

"But never mind that, Subaru. You'll have time to admire the view later tonight. You have to help me unpack now, before you meet Ebisawa-san again!"

Seishirou watched with a small smile as Hokuto yanked her twin away. He continued to fix his eyes in their direction until the door closed behind them; then he turned around to regard the wintry scenery again.

He'd felt no spiritual presence here, so he was inclined to believe that Subaru's grandmother was correct in her assumptions. He wasn't surprised; the Twelfth Head had always been an intelligent woman.

Just not talented enough to save her grandson from him.

In any case, Seishirou mused, he might have to…involve himself, professionally, in this particular situation. Someone was skewing the natural balance of magic in this area.

Such action practically required the intervention of the Sakurazukamori.

***

No matter what Subaru did, clients always looked at him strangely when he first met with them. It had to do with his age, he supposed. One did not expect a powerful onmyouji to look as young as he did. He didn't once consider that his striking features were also responsible for much of the attention that he got.

"So Ebisawa-san, tell me a bit more about what sort of bad things have been happening around here? And why do you think it's supernatural?" he asked. It was always good to let the client tell his story. Even if a lot of what they said was extraneous, he preferred to work with as much information as possible.

The young Sumeragi settled back in his chair in Ebisawa-san's office to listen. Hokuto had opted to investigate the souvenir shops, so Subaru was left with Seishirou, who calmly introduced himself as Subaru's assistant. Subaru had blushed at that, knowing that if his grandmother knew, she would give him a severe talking to about involving civilians with his work. Fortunately, their host didn't comment, in fact seeming more assured at the presence of an older man, and bowed politely before beginning his tale.

"It took many years to build this resort. My corporation funded it with the awareness that there was support from the local people. When this place was finished, many people began to visit. We managed to hire many of the local people for our staff and this area's economy began to boom.

"I had thought that everything was going smoothly, until the strange incidents began to happen," Ebisawa said, his voice growing strained. He paused and lifted a cup of tea to his lips, as if wishing to put off telling Subaru about such unpleasant things.

Subaru waited politely for him to continue, his gloved hands folded in his lap, his face a study of mild encouragement. He'd cultivated infinite patience for such matters.

"It started out small. Little things began to go wrong. This is normal for a resort of this size and we have a good number of staff dedicated to servicing the machines to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Guests do not like being inconvenienced," he said stating the obvious. He shook his head as if any malfunction was a slight upon his abilities before continuing.

"But it was strange. My mechanics would report that machines they replaced with brand new parts were breaking down almost immediately before their eyes. And stranger still, the parts wouldn't… stick. They said they were flying right off their hinges. However, most of us running the place just thought it was wild stories from a few slackers and didn't think it was anything to worry about.

"After a while, it began to become more serious. People began to report more injuries. None of the guests were hurt, which was a good thing, but it was always the staff and the local people. They would sprain their ankles, complaining of being pushed when no one was there. Stuff like that…" he broke off, once more shaking his head. Subaru was growing concerned for the state of Ebisawa-san's neck muscles. He was going to give himself an injury if he kept that up.

After sighing resignedly, he resumed his story. "Then it got really bad."

Once more he paused. The two onmyouji waited for Ebisawa to continue, but when he merely stared into his tea for several long minutes, Seishirou tried gently prompting him.

"How did it get worse, Ebisawa-san?"

The manager glanced up into the veterinarian's sincere amber eyes before flicking his gaze over to the concerned face of the Sumeragi Head. He took a deep breath.

"One of our attractions is that we are not simply a ski resort, we also have guides that take groups of tourists up Asahi. Deguchi Maiko is one of our best. She's grown up here, and spent her childhood climbing the mountain.

"Last week, she fell."

"Fell?" Subaru's voice was stricken.

"Yes. The police say that she must have lost her footing, but I find that unlikely. I spoke to her. She said she wasn't on a particularly dangerous part of the mountain, and the weather had been dry for weeks; there was no way someone of her experience would have slipped. And," he said, lowering his head, "she had been complaining for weeks to me about hearing something behind her.

"I think she was pushed, but there was no one behind her, all of our guests were already off the mountain."

"Were there any other incidents?"

The manager nodded reluctantly. "It was the incident in the ballroom that made us sure that it was all supernatural in cause."

At Subaru's earnest nod, he continued. "There was going to be a wedding. The day before, several of the staff were inside the ballroom, making final preparations and decorating it. That's when it happened. Everyone there swore that something had caused the chandelier to fall. Several staff members were injured by the falling glass."

Ebisawa Junichiro looked up at Subaru and pleaded. "Please help me, Sumeragi-sama. I don't want anyone else to be hurt."

Subaru gave the manager a reassuring smile. "Of course I'll help, Ebisawa-san. No one else should be hurt by this."

The interview was obviously over. Subaru got up and pulled his coat around him. It was one of Hokuto-chan's creations and he was grateful for how warm she had managed to make it.

Seishirou smiled at him, following him out of the room. "So Subaru-kun, let's investigate."

To which, the Sumeragi nodded his silent assent. He was going to get to the bottom of all this.

Notes:

We never said the plot was going to unfold all at once, did we?

We'll have more, please do keep reading if you enjoyed this story so far.

Xandra's fics can be found at Butterfly Dreams (http://www.midnightrevolution.org/xandra)

And Mizu's fics can be found at shadow-truths

(http://www.emphatic-meow.com/fiction.html)