X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ A Promise Kept ❯ A slight change ( Chapter 1 )

A Promise Kept

Disclaimer: X/1999 and X TV do not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

A/N: I thought I made it clear in the first draft that this was an AU. So, if you didn't get it before, this is an AU.

THIS IS AN AU.

It will incorporate elements of the manga and the anime. It is an alternate universe.

It will also have a non-canon pairing which is somewhat weird. Okay?

"Take good care of him, will you?" the tall youth asked Sorata.

Instead of the glib comment that would usually accompany such a question… Their eyes met, and Sorata froze. The words had been light, casual even if they were meant- but when Sorata stared into Fuuma's golden eyes, he couldn't breathe. The weight of destiny balanced on a point-

"Sure. Kamui's my friend. I'll take care of him; leave everything to me."

Fuuma's hand was on his shoulder as he spoke, gripping it like a vice. After Sorata's answer, the hand loosed. Their eyes were still locked, and Sorata could sense no power there other than a strong personality, but it was enough. Even as Fuuma relaxed, Sorata felt whatever burden the other man had been carrying drop heavily on to his shoulders.

What had he just agreed to? It hadn't fully dawned on him what Fuuma had asked, when he heard the tall guy ask Kamui a question, who refused to look at him, and then walk out the door.

Sorata finally could breathe again.

"You sure are familiar," Kamui turned to him, violet eyes narrowing. "Especially for someone I never met before today."

The monk looked him over in surprise, and automatically started to pat him down to check his wounds again. "Amazing! I could have sworn after that fight you'd had a few broken ribs, but when we found you, all you had were bruises! But, hey, that's no big deal when you're Kamui, right?"

Kamui, it should be noted, did not exactly like being almost groped by the stranger in front of him. It did, however, throw him off enough that he didn't immediately kill him-

Sorata was death-glared… and he blinked. The attempt to scare just made him look absolutely adorable.

"Who are you?" Kamui lunged at him- and Sorata caught his hand, static electricity lighting where he was trying to block Kamui's attack.

"Hold on- wait! I'm not stupid enough to want to fight Kamui!"

Kamui did not look mollified.

"I'm on your side. I'm a Shingon Monk. I was sent here from the Mt. Kouya monastery."

"You're saying you're on my side because you're a Buddhist monk?" Kamui exclaimed, sinking backwards, confused.

"Yeah, I know you don't expect to meet a monk as cute as me, but," Sorata got up, and headed to the kitchen to start making tea. "Like I said, I'm on your side. I was sent here from Mt Kouya. It's the head of the Shingon Sect, but with all the tourists we've had lately, it doesn't seem quite as holy as it used to be. I know that a lot of manga seems to portray us as being some kind of crazy magicians, but there are many people there who truly seek enlightenment. However, up there is the Stargazer," he turned around and winked at Kamui who looked like he wanted to implode. "He's a genuine diviner. He sent me here, told me that I was to find you and protect you with my life."

Kamui was not reassured as Sorata brought the tea out. "He's not that special, really, just an old grandpa," Sorata smiled fondly, first taking a sip from both cups. Kamui blinked, surprised, and took one.

"But anyways," Sorata shrugged. "He told me a lot of things. Like that you had left Tokyo when you were younger- and you had been recently separated by your only blood relative by death-"

Sorata has a great and wonderful talent. No, it's not his ability to use static electricity. It was his ability to stick both feet into his mouth in two seconds flat.

"It looks like YOU want to die-" Kamui hissed, emotional wounds reopening in the space of less time than it took for Sorata to stick his feet in his mouth. That was HIS great talent.

Sorata did what any sane human being would do when confronted with Kamui when his eyes glowed- he backed up to the door.

"Wait- wait- I've got something I need to tell you-"

"Get out!"

"Just listen-"

Kamui let loose a burst of power, which tossed Sorata into the wall.

Sorata yelped. "I'm sorry! I didn't know it was such a touchy subject!" Grabbing his shoes, he left the room apartment, wondering how much that little incident had shortened his life- probably not by much, considering he was supposed to die for the person he loved…

Scratching his head, he looked around, wondering what he was supposed to do now, and looked back at the door of the apartment he'd just left. Kamui was still in there- and he was hurting. Going back would be stupid, but… he could stick around. Sighing, he jumped to the roof, and settled down to watch.

He'd keep his promise- Sorata would look after Kamui.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kamui wasn't that hard to keep track of- he had a tendency to mope. That annoyed Sorata- a kid his age should be out, flirting with pretty girls… or in Kamui's case, Sorata wondered if pretty boys would be preferred. It didn't matter- he should be out having fun.

As it was, the only semi normal thing Kamui had done was go talk to the big guy from the other night- (Fuuma?) after drinking two cans of coffee. Even that turned strange, as Kamui and Fuuma both suddenly acted like someone had been smacking up upside the head with a board. It nearly made him jump down to check on them.

Then he felt it. Power was being used- nearby, and a LOT of it.

Squinting, Sorata could make out a strange- er, figure, wearing Chinese clothes, carrying a long, straight something.

Oh shit- it could only mean one thing, considering what the Old Stargazer had told him. Time to break out of hiding.

"Kamui!" he yelled, jumping out, and waving at the smaller boy. "Some weird guy came from the Togakushi shrine! He's got the Sword!"

THAT got Kamui's attention. He stopped following his pal on the bicycle (what was up with that? Sorata figured the guy had enough power to do pretty much whatever he wanted, why was he on a bike?) And headed off in the direction Sorata was pointing in.

"Kamui," Sorata called, hoping that Kamui would listen for once. "Lets split up and hit him from both sides!"

Well, it seemed to work, as Kamui jumped to the other side of the road, and Sorata peeled off to take the other flank.

The monk was too slow; Kamui wound up tangled in the weird whatsit's scarves; which Kamui burned up with almost no effort. This is the point where Sorata learned something extremely important: Kamui and caffeine do not mix. He was blowing up random neon signs.

"That's it- I'm getting him to switch to decaf."

There wasn't much else Sorata could do then- before he could get to either of them, the Chinese looking dude (dudette?) dropped on to a bullet train and sped off.

"Dear god," Sorata said, as he dropped down next to Kamui, feeling shaken. "Its happening- it's happening just like the Old Stargazer predicted," he whispered- and suddenly Kamui was at his throat, grabbing hold of his jacket lapels and pulling the monk down.

"You mean you KNEW about this and you didn't-"

"I tried to!" Sorata's usually laconic temper flared. "But you had to worry about your sore toes more than listening! You pushed me away- YOU SCREWED UP!" He had watched Kamui all day and now he was doing this? Talk about…

If Sorata hadn't been staring directly at Kamui as he let his collar go, he never would have seen the expression flash across his usually stoic face. Plenty of anger, self-recrimination, doubt, confusion, and fear fled over his face in succession, before settling back into his usual badass glare. Insight lit Sorata's mind- and understood that Kamui had no idea what was going on. (It was his second epiphany of the week, and he had a personal limit of three per month.) Kamui knew he had power- but he had no idea who to trust. He knew something about the Divine Sword- but didn't seem to know what the Sword was for.

Oh hell, no wonder he went ape shit on anyone who came close.

Poor kid…

Sorata had known about his fate since he was small. Sure, it wasn't the best thing in the world to grow up with, but at least he had the time to understand and accept it.

Kamui refused to look at him when he next spoke.

"I need… to find the closest hospital. The only way the master of the Togakushi shrine would have given the Sword up is if he was dead or badly injured… Either way, Kotori and Fuuma will be there."

Sorata had his third epiphany- Kamui trusted him with a potentially damaging piece of information- that he cared about those two people. Good thing he had no intention of ever harming them, or Kamui.

"I don't know the area," Sorata said softly, putting a hand on Kamui's shoulder. "You'll have to lead the way."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On the way there, they stopped at a vending machine- and Kamui got another can of coffee. Sorata watched him imbibe the brown liquid was a sort of morbid fascination.

"You do that a lot?"

His answer was the typical death glare.

"Ooooh-kay."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sorata trailed along behind Kamui, not so much interested in the old priest's condition than watching the interplay between Kotori, Fuuma, and Kamui. It was obvious that this was where Kamui's heart lay- especially with the cute girl. It was a relief to see him care about SOMETHING at least… even if the circumstances sucked like this.

"I'm sure he'll get better- no sweat," Sorata said, even as Kamui seemed to wilt, looking at the old priest. He didn't seem willing to speak… so Sorata filled the silence with mindless chatter.

"But… come to us if you need anything?" he finally added in a sickly voice, before steering Kamui out. He looked paler than usual.

There wasn't much else they could do, save leave. Only family was allowed into the ICU where Monou-san was- they'd snuck in and had to leave quickly.

Kamui had sat down in the halls, and Sorata stood in the hall… attempting to casually keep a lookout.

They were there for a long time.

To be continued.