X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ A Promise Kept ❯ Trip to the Diet ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: X/1999 does not belong to me, it belongs to CLAMP, and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.
AN: This is an Alternate Universe. Again, ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Non-canon pairing. If you can’t tell who it will be by now, I’ll hit you with a hammer this time. I’ll try to keep events mostly in line, but that wouldn’t be any fun if I did it exactly. Who’d want to read that?

Tap. Tap. Tap.
There were several happy grunts of appreciation from one person, stony silence from another… and repeated finger tapping from the last.
Taptaptap.
The pace was rapidly increasing as the lone happy member of their party ordered plate after plate of food…
“And some liver for Kamui- he’s a shrimp, and needs the iron!”
He couldn’t take it any more.
“Sorata- why did we have to come HERE?” Kamui finally exploded, jumping to his feet. The lady, who had been introduced as Arashi, took them all in with calm and disinterested eyes, placing meat on the grill.
“Well, I always promised myself I’d come to Bali Bali’s if I ever got a chance,” Sorata smiled, and shrugged. “Aren’t you hungry? I mean, its on me,” he pulled out his wallet, and showed it to the person he insisted on calling Neesan.
Kamui had enough. Growling to himself, his already frayed patience getting friction burns, he leapt to his feet to stomp to the door-
“About this ‘destiny’ of yours,” Sorata said calmly, interrupting his train of thought. Kamui stopped at the threshold, jaw clenched. “I don’t know much about it, but I DO know something about your mother’s Clan.”
The young man whirled, and again glared at the taller teen. Sorata returned it with a level gaze. Kamui wondered where THIS Sorata had come from. Still stomping… Kamui dumped himself in his chair.
“And- the food is ready!”
Thump
Kamui’s head hit the table.

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

The meal went quickly and quietly for the next several minutes- neither Arashi nor Kamui would admit that the food was good but the pace they ate at gave it away. Sorata beamed, happily watching the faces of his two companions…
“I am SUCH a lucky guy… good food, surrounded by two beauties,” his expression was blissful. Kamui choked- and abruptly was pounded on the back.
“Are you-” he wheezed for a few minutes. “Are you going to tell me ANYTHING?”
Sorata smiled. “Yup!” Then he paused. “The name of your mother’s clan is made up of two characters. Ma, for truth, and Kami- for god. The “Truth of God.” Have you heard of a very old shamanic talisman called a “scapegoat doll”?”
Kamui shook his head, and wondered when the monk would get around to telling him something worthwhile.
“They are very old magic spells which would suffer the misfortunes of their casters, in their place. Those of the Magami Clan are living scapegoat dolls- called ‘shadow sacrifices’. They become living targets of ill will- their powers are beyond reckoning. I’d wondered, who could possibly be qualified to be the mother of Kamui…”
Arashi was looking thoughtful. “If she carried the shadow of sacrifice then she was well qualified.”
Kamui wore an expression of someone who had swallowed barbed wire.
“Was that it- her sacrifice? To burn?” his voice rose in pitch. “To die?”
“I- I don’t know.” And here Sorata waffled. “If your mother died in a fire, then the person she was protecting had to have suffered burns as well.”
“The Magami Clan were traditionally very good at escaping the evils they faced,” Arashi frowned, confused as well. “I’ve not heard anything in the news about someone famous or important to the government suffering burns lately.”
Kamui shuddered- then blinked when he realized that Sorata was giving the girl they were with a very intense, evaluating look- and growled. Sorata’s attention quickly snapped back to him.
“When did your mother die?”
Kamui paused.”…two weeks ago…”
Sorata went pale. At least this time he’d recognized that… He immediately went to fill up Kamui’s plate. “You need to eat.”
The young man blinked, and hesitantly took a few bites. Sorata watched each one… and then turned to the girl.
“Once Kamui is done eating, maybe you can tell us who you’re with. There were maybe ten people at Kouya who know about the Magami clan. Barely a handful in the underworld, total. Are you one of the Sumeragi Clan?”
The girl blinked.
“Nah, the head of that clan is a guy… are you the one from Ise?”
The girl’s eyes bugged out.
“Bingo!”
Sorata was about to say something else… when Kamui poked him, mouth still full. Whatever Sorata was thinking was derailed.
There was a few moments- in which Kamui and Arashi watched Sorata inhale his food- and Sorata grinned, picking up the check.
“And now that we’ve properly feasted… why don’t you lead the way?”
Arashi tilted her head to the side. “Lead the way? Where?”
“The old stargazer told me LOTS of secrets,” he grinned mischievously. “The Diet Building is the center of Japan’s government- and one of the top five most messed up places in Japan. That’s where the answers are.” He turned to Kamui.
“That’s because there’s a dreaming princess in the basement!”
He patted Kamui on the back. “We can have her tell us the rest of the story.”

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

The Diet was dark, imposing, though never completely empty. Something was always going on even if it was janitors, or people to see the Dreaming Princess.
While Sorata was talking to the taxi driver, Kamui looked at the building- then turned to glare at Sorata when he started to flirt with the girl.
She was glaring at him. Kamui decided to glare at her. Sorata was the person HE glared at, dammit…
Sorata felt a chill go down his back.
“Kamui… I don’t think it was a good idea that you had two cups of coffee with dinner…”
Double glare.
Twitch.
Arashi didn’t say anything, just led them to an elevator, and down. Kamui became lost in thought, noticing Sorata absently scratching, and remembering what he’d said about his mother. Had his mother died for someone who worked here? What did it mean for his aunt?
“Mother…”
His fellow passengers left him alone- showing enough tact to realize he didn’t want to be disturbed. They were quiet as they progressed through seemingly endless, grandiose passages, places that never saw the sun and probably could withstand a nuclear strike. There was power- it flowed over his skin, touching and shrinking away. It was more than a bit unnerving… Arashi moved with confidence, like she had been there many times before- and Sorata was rubbernecking like a tourist.
But why wouldn’t the image of his mother leave him alone? Why did he keep dwelling on it?
There was a soft brush of a hand against his shoulder, and he jumped, finally noticing that they were at a set of sliding doors.
“Please, enter.”
Kamui didn’t flinch when they slid silently open, and his escorts went in before him, Arashi walking smoothly as a dancer, while Sorata had his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Before him was a… she looked like a girl. Tiny, twisted, eyes filmed with the white of blindness, her forehead scrawled with symbols. Hair, white as her robes, spilled over and through the runes writ around her, in a sacred circle.
“Welcome, Kamui. I’ve long wanted to meet you- and the visitor from Kouya by your side…”
He knew her.
Images-
Nightmares-
She- he couldn’t let-
She would NOT.
COULD NOT.
HURT.
KOTORI!
“You-“
His power exploded, burning and warping the polished wood beneath him- he was aware of nothing, save the person who had threatened those most precious to him.
Words. Someone was speaking to him, screaming in his ear. There was pressure around his chest, warmth at his back- inconsequential. But he knew the voice.
“KAMUI! You can’t go into battle mode in here!”
The idiot was yelling at him.
“CALM DOWN!”
Calm down? CALM DOWN?
“Sora- she-“ he turned to yell, not realizing that he had cut off his attack to turn and yell at his annoyance. Growl at him.
“I beg your forgiveness,” the dwarf-freak said, all but groveling. Kamui went rigid looking at her, and crossed his arms, moving away from Sorata, who rubbed his head, sighing.
The two clone-girls (which he would mentally dub as “tweedle dee and tweedle dumb” later) gasped. “Princess!”
“Please, you must listen. For the sake of the world, please!”
“What?” Kamui spat. “What should I listen to? Another of those sick fantasies of yours?”
There was a hiss of outrage from the Clones- and the dwarf snarled. No sound came from her lips, but her anger echoed like a thunderclap.
SILENCE!
“Is she always that snippy?” Kamui heard his annoyance ask. Kamui choked.
“No, usually she’s quite polite…”
Kamui turned to that stupid guy, listening to him talk to the girl-
“The Star from Kouya.” Kamui blinked. It was directed at Sorata- who pointed at himself blankly.
“The First Seal. Thank you for protecting Kamui and bringing him here.”
Apparently their female companion didn’t know that Sorata held such a distinction either, because she raised an eyebrow. Kamui wondered (rather hypocritically) if her face would crack if she did anything else.
“Ah, you’ll make me blush. You know, Old Man Stargazer rarely had nice things to say about anyone- but he really liked you. And now that I meet you,” and his face was lit with a goofy grin, “I like you too. You know, you really don’t look anything like your real age…”
If the situation was different, Kamui would have laughed at the gasps of outrage- and the stiff, surprised smile plastered on the albino.
Then Kamui jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Kamui- you followed me because you wanted some answers, right?” Sorata asked, gazing down at Kamui. The smaller teen blinked as his mind went blank with surprise.
“That’s why you stuck around at the steak house, ne? I mean, the food WAS good…” There was a soft burp from behind them; though Kamui kept staring at the annoying guy- who had turned into something else, something that startled him.
“Sorata, you-“ Was the older guy playing him? It was disturbing to be read so easily.
“Now’s the time to ask,” Sorata smiled reassuringly at him. Kamui scowled back. No way he was going to touch that freaky-
Then Sorata gently took his chin and tilted it up. “Never worry, Kamui.” His expression was intense, but his eyes were gentle. “If anything happens, I’d die to protect you. That is my destiny.”
“Your…” Kamui swallowed. Suddenly this guy was a lot less funny. Nodding, he turned to Hinoto, who was staring blankly into space… looking vaguely surprised about something.
Rubbing his chin where Sorata had touched him, he looked at the dwarf, who reached out one of her stubby hands.
“And now, Kamui, I will show you about the Earth, about the Future… and I will show you about yourself.”

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

Sorata yelped when Hinoto-hime and Kamui both slumped, performing an admirable “slide to get the homer” catch when he dropped.
“This sucks,” he muttered. He wasn’t a dreamseer, and if anything went wrong, all he could do was threaten and probably microwave the bodyguards- and Hinoto-hime, if necessary…
Kamui was pale. The poor guy was probably exhausted- he could only imagine the nightmares the plagued him. Carefully he unfastened Kamui’s collar, watching his breathing ease, and sighed in relief.
Too light. The boy was just too light. He needed to make sure he ate more. The Neechan behind him was looking at him curiously, and he smiled sheepishly.
“Your destiny-“ she started, opening her mouth then shutting. “It is to die for Kamui?”
“Um, well… about that…”
The babe was a distraction, but then Kamui let out a soft whimper, and Sorata’s attention was back on him, gently touching his face.
“You’ll be okay, right, buddy?”
He could feel the frown on the Neechan’s face. There was a flux of power going on-
“Please come back okay, Kamui.”

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

This was all a fucked up nightmare.
Kamui opened his eyes, whispering, confused. “Two… futures?”
He was warm. That was certainly odd. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he woke up, but it wasn’t to be warm. Or comfortable. Or to feel a steady heartbeat next to his ear.
“Two futures?” there was a gawk in the voice, and Kamui looked up to see a very concerned Mr. Annoying-Guy-who-reads-me-too-easily. Sorata.
A weird flutter went through his gut before he sat up and twisted away, and rapidly rebuttoned his uniform. Sorata looked hurt.
“You fell back as soon as you took the Princess’ hand. I didn’t want you to fall!” Kamui wondered if kicked puppies looked like that.
Getting up, Kamui whirled around, crossing his arms- and then blinked, remembering. Twisting on his heel, he looked over at the dwarf, who was staring at his back.
She bowed, distressed.
“Kamui- Kamui, please, save this earth. Lead the Dragons of Heaven- save Tokyo!”
Kamui growled. “That woman said I had two futures.” Behind him, there was a confused shifting between the Ice Princess and- and- that guy.
Silence. The freak was just sitting there. Oh HELL no. He wanted answers- needed them. The dream and the predictions it showed, the woman in the skimpy suit trying to molest him- to have the answers he desperately craved dangled right in front of him- and never telling him what he wanted to know.
His hands gripped her throat before anyone could stop him. His fingers dug into her fragile throat. His frustration purred, seeing her blind eyes look afraid.
Sorata was yelling in surprise in the background.
“Did you plan to keep lying?” he hissed, crouching in front of her. “You seem to know a lot about my mother.”
He almost missed the sudden rise of power- Arashi- and then the soft sound of flesh on flesh as apparently something was deflected- and more, someone whispered, “Wait”.

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

Sorata yelped, shocked when Kamui went ballistic- again- and once again vowed to watch the boy’s caffeine intake. He had seen the frustration the other boy had, and didn’t believe he was a killer. That was why he instinctively grabbed the Neechan’s arm when she began to call powers.
Maybe stupid- considering that Kamui had little compunction about maiming. Yet, still-
He could understand why Kamui was so messed up over his mother’s death. He tugged Neechan away, giving Kamui a moment to speak privately with Hinoto-hime.
Kamui was snarling, barking, and sounding rabid when he tried to get the information he wanted out of Hinoto-hime-
“Who killed my mother when I wasn’t there to protect her?”
Sorata’s back stiffened, and let his head fall. “He’s mad at himself,” he whispered to Neechan.
“Your mother was not killed!” she suddenly exclaimed, mind-voice trembling. Sorata peeked over his shoulder to see pole-axed expression on Kamui’s face, and winced. Poor bastard…
“What?” Kamui blurted softly, fingers dropping from Hinoto-hime’s neck.
“She took her own life.”
Sorata twitched, and walked over to Kamui, despite himself, and wanted to touch him. He looked like someone had kicked him in the lungs.
“It can’t be true…”

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

“Stop it!” Someone yelled- and Kamui saw the asshole who had attacked him earlier. Like he hadn’t enough to deal with. Kamui got up, and turned to face the little pipsqueak (so what if he was taller than him?)
“You’re still alive?” Kamui sneered, though his heart wasn’t really into it. He wanted to blow off some steam but what he really wanted was to find a deep dark hole to hide in while he tried to figure things out. Too much information- and his mother did not commit suicide, dammit…
“Stop trying to hurt Hinoto-hime!” he barked. Kamui didn’t know his name, didn’t care, and growled.
“I went too easily on you the last time,” Kamui growled back, calling a maelstrom. “This time- you won’t survive.”
“Stop!”
Sorata had grabbed his arm. “Calm down, Kamui!” The girl had run out between him and the wind-freak.
Kamui did what he did best- he lashed out. “I’ll kill you- I detest you all. Each and every one of you!”
The hand on his arm tensed, and Kamui looked over at Sorata in time to see something spasm across his face.
Another flutter went through his stomach, and he paused, in time for something new to literally drop on them.
“Inugami.”
Various cries of surprise and shock went through the room.
“A dog spirit- another of the Seven Seals is coming-“ Hinoto-know-it-all, of course.
The dog stared at them- Kamui in particular- seemingly wise and aloof. Kamui really had no idea how to treat this new development…
Okay, he just had a soft spot for dogs. He couldn’t just attack it.
Then the shoji screen doors slid open…
And in bounced someone who made Kamui on a caffeine rush look tame.
“Excuse me! My name is Yuzuriha Nekoi, from Mitsumine Shrine!” the newcomer chirped. “I’m fourteen years old!”
Kamui was dumbfounded as she bounded from person to person, shaking their hands. The Ice Princess and the Pipsqueak didn’t say anything, but Sorata looked like he was about to laugh, grinning back at her. This irritated Kamui to no end, and he crossed his arms, looking off into the distance when she approached him.
Suddenly he was assaulted with pocky.
“Here! Take it, people get cranky when they’re hungry you know!” How was he supposed to react to that?
“Its all right, Nekoi-san,” Sorata soothed, and Kamui bristled all over again. “Kamui’s just heard some things that have upset him quite a bit.”
Nekoi gasped, and turned to Kamui with stars in her eyes. “You’re THE Kamui?” Then she started sizing him up. “Second shortest in the class- do you get sat in the front all of the time?”
Kamui facefaulted.
There it was again. This weird feeling of ownership, belonging with these people- and it sucked. He didn’t want to make friends…
Then the world turned inside out- again.

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

The others had played with the flying, jagged rocks, cutting them to pieces- and watching their abilities had been interesting. Too bad he was too pissed to really appreciate it.
Kamui had been seething with that one, stupid comment.
“Where do you keep your sword when you aren’t using it?” Nekoi had asked, innocently enough. Sorata had immediately answered.
“I have no idea, we’re still platonic.”
The dumbass!
It was too much. Snarling, he threw his powers out, eyes glowing with anger, smashing through the illusion like it was spun sugar. It shattered, leaving behind little globs of light that fell like sakura petals.
“Sakurazukamori…”
The which? Never mind, he didn’t care.
“I’m out of here,” he threw over his shoulder, walking for the door.
“Kamui, wait! Please! Be a dragon of Heaven and save this world!”
He walked out the door, and paused.
Someone inside was talking about him.
“Princess, let him go. He’s just a kid. He’s got a lot of things he needs to work out- being told you’ve got the world on your shoulders would be pretty overwhelming, even for me, and I’m one of the seven seals!”
“But how can you-“
“He’ll be back once he’s worked things out. Kamui still has things… he wants to protect.”
That bit of dialogue sent another screwy feeling through his gut, and he strode out… too many thoughts chasing each other in his head.


To be continued.

A/N: Things will be taking a deliberate left turn fairly soon- the reason is because it has been so long since I started working on this, and because… well, the idea has had so much time to stew. Dunno what it will qualify as afterwards. To anyone who reads this, I hope you stick around. It will be fun, at least.
Notes on how people are referred to- in this story, how a person is referred to shows a lot about how the POV character thinks of someone. Kamui insults Sorata- and everyone else, mentally. He doesn’t start in on Yuzuriha because she’s fairly young and nice. It reveals a lot about his mental state. Same goes with Sorata- Arashi will always be Neechan from his POV. When Kamui starts calling Sorata “Sorata”, it means, subconsciously, he’s either not got a category to put him into, or he’s accepted someone.
And yes, the bias is very obvious here. Deal with it.

















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