Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Then came an angel ❯ Sakurazukamori ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

By: Sapadu

Just so everyone knows exactly WHAT my view of X is in this story, here it is: both Kakyou AND Shougo Asagi (because, since Kakyou is the dreamseer, like Hinoto, I'd guess he doesn't really count as an actual Dragon) are here, Fuuma is a DoE at this point, but Kotori is just missing, not dead (trapped in that separate world Kanoe put her in), and Tooru Shiro and Kotori Monou are the bearers of the sacred swords, so Kamui already has his, but Fuuma doesn't have his shinken, but the DoHs are all staying at CLAMP academy and there's Keiichi and the CLAMP campus detectives and Yuzuriha thinks that Kusanagi is a special person who can see Inuki (None of this "Only people playing a direct part in the apocalyptic battle can see him... you've got to be one of the Dragons of Earth" crap)... like I said, it IS messed up and I'm debating on whether I should have Shougo be dead when we see the DoE's at first... Well, onwards.

"But, really, Inuki! Sumeragi-san's been so moody and quiet lately. And it doesn't have anything to do with the End of the World, so I wonder what it could be. I know, I shouldn't be prying, but he's just so unhappy, I want to make him feel better." Yuzuriha said, idly playing with the strap of her bookbag as she waited on the corner for Kusanagi.

A few people gave her stares as they passed by, wondering why she was talking to nobody. Inuki was mostly ignoring Yuzuriha's chatter, his ears and nose twitching for any sign of Kusanagi.

A group of four friends walked past and stopped to wait for the traffic light when a girl with bright blue eyes and VERY full brown hair turned to look at Inuki.

"Hey, cute dog. What's his name?" Yuzuriha jumped and blinked at the older girl.

"Inuki. D'ya want to pet him? He's very friendly." Yuzuriha asked, blinking again. The older girl smiled and held out a hand for Inuki to sniff while her friends stared at her.

"Um.... Tea? Dere's nobody dere..." said the boy with blond hair and brown eyes, tapping Tea on the shoulder.

"Yug, she's finally cracked." said the other boy, whose brown hair was in a spike on his head. The third boy, who looked only about ten years old with spiky black hair and blond bangs, could only blink and stare. Yuzuriha was used enough to people having reactions like this.

"Oh, grow up, you guys." Tea said, stroking Inuki's head and scratching behind his ears.

"Is Tea really your name?" Yuzuriha asked, blinking at the girl. Tea looked up and nodded. After telling her own name, Yuzuriha asked, "How do you spell 'Tea'?"

"T-E-A." Tea stood up, still running a hand over Inuki's head. Yuzuriha burst into a fit of giggles.

"Sounds like 'tea'." She commented, making Tea sigh.

"Yeah. Before we became friends, these two jerks here kept calling me names like 'teapot' or 'coffee'." She said, gesturing at Joey and Tristen with her thumb. Yuzuriha giggled again.

"They were probably just too shy to admit they had crushes on you." said the inugami mistress, making both Joey and Tristen go red. Yugi had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Oh, if you could see how they act around girls THESE days." Tea remarked, chuckling, "Hey, do you go to the Domino Arcade a lot? That's where we're headed right now." Tea asked, switching the subject.

"Domino Arcade? Never heard of it." Yuzuriha replied, blinking. Tristen came to his senses long enough to scuttle over towards Yuzuriha.

"Well, if you're not doing anything, why don't you come along right now?" He asked, taking Yuzuriha's hand, hearts in his eyes, while Tea, Yugi, and Joey sweatdropped. Yuzuriha blinked, oblivious to their reactions.

"No thank you. I'm waiting for someone." She said, and, while Tristen facefaulted, Kusanagi came up behind her.

"Hey there, Missy! Am I late?" Yuzuriha spun around and gave Kusanagi a big hug around the waist, while Tristen had his second heart-attack.

"Well, we'll see you later then Yuzuriha! Stop by the Arcade sometime!" Tea called over her shoulder as she walked across the intersection with her friends, dragging Tristen by his ear, while Yuzuriha and Kusanagi went off on their date.

"She's... dating... an... older... guy..." Tristen muttered when they got around the corner.

"Oh, suck it up! You're just mad that you didn't get her phone number." Tea teased, smacking Tristen on the shoulder.

"Dis from da goil 'at was talkin' to a dog dat wa'n't even dere!" Joey burst out. Tea glared at him.

"Not to put TOO fine a point on it, Tea, but... the... um... dog... you were petting... there wasn't anything there... so... don't take it personally if we gave you any strange looks, okay?" Yugi added, hesitantly. Yu-gi-oh, whom had been sitting inside the Millennium Puzzle and watching the whole affair, silently agreed with Tea. There most certainly HAD been a dog there... a wolf, to be frank... so why didn't Yugi or the other two boys see it? Unless... the ancient Pharoh gasped to himself: An inugami! He'd heard legends about dog spirits who were only visible to a select few, guardians of their masters, and each inugami master or mistress had a special bond that kept their lives connected to their dog spirits...

But why could Tea see it and none of the others could?

******************

"So, Lady Sumeragi, we understand that this might be a little impertinent, but is there perhaps a member of the Sumeragi clan who is not here in Kyoto? The soul of this particular Sumeragi could have bonded to the one who has passed on and that would explain why you can't send the soul on." Samanthasipped at her tea while Watari explained the mechanics of the situation.

Lady Sumeragi sat back on her heels and thought very carefully.

"Well... there IS one member of the Sumeragi clan, but... he's told us that he knows the soul hasn't bonded to him." She said, slowly. Samantha set down her teacup.

"Would you mind telling us who this Sumeragi is? We could use a hand with this case, and who better to ask than one of the Sumeragis, themselves?" The lilac eyed girl asked. Lady Sumeragi blinked at her, but relented.

"His name is Sumeragi Subaru. You'll find him in Tokyo. As a matter of fact, the missing soul is the soul of his twin sister, Hokuto." Lady Sumeragi picked up her cup of tea and sipped. Samantha's ears perked up at the mention of Tokyo.

"Tokyo? Isn't that where the Sakurazukamori is staying?" Samantha asked, being an idiot enough to think it would make a lovely topic of conversation. Lady Sumeragi's hands twitched so violently that her tea spilled all over her kimono.

"How do you know about the Sakurazukamori?" She demanded. Samantha, either ignoring or not noticing Lady Sumeragi's panic, explained, calmly,

"I bumped into him yesterday while I was shopping. However, I promised not to tell anyone if he wouldn't tell anyone I was a shinigami. It's kind of a respect thing: You don't blow someone's cover if they don't reveal yours." Sammy answered. Lady Sumeragi looked ready to have a heart attack. When Watari asked what was wrong, she replied, in a very soft voice,

"The Sakurazukamori is the murderer of Sumeragi Hokuto."

******************

"Nice going, Samantha. If you'd kept your mouth shut, maybe we'd have an easier time of finding this Sumeragi Subaru guy. No thanks to you, he's got wards up so our tracker spirits can't find him.... DON'T YOU GO SMIRKING AT ME!" Konoe shouted over the din of Tokyo station. Samantha had a rather cocky smile on her face.

"Ka-chooooooooooou! Be reasonable: Don't you know anything about the Sakurazukamori? The people he kills, he feeds them to the Sakurazuka; the tree he guards. We don't need to look for Sumeragi Subaru; we need to look for the Sakurazuka! Wherever it is, it will have the soul of Sumeragi Hokuto, as well as many others who have died and not shown up in the Meifu." Sammy said, grinning. Konoe scowled, but could say nothing to that.

They split up and while Konoe went one way, Samantha went the other. Darkness began to fall and after meeting up at Tokyo Station a few times, Samantha found a lead. She could smell it: the same scent of blood and sakura that had surrounded the Sakurazukamori, coupled with great psychic power, the sounds of a thousand souls screaming out for release and freedom, weeping in pain and powerlessness... That was the Sakurazuka. She would bet her second life on it.

Following the smell and noise, Sammy found a gigantic sakura tree in the middle of Ueno Park, all its flowers in an unnatural full bloom. This was it! Above all the tortured cries of the souls trapped inside, Samantha could hear the voice of a young boy.

:Sapadu-san. Welcome.: Oh, peachy. The Tree KNEW she was there. Oh well; at least it was being respectful.

"And good evening to you too, Sakurazuka-sama." She replied.

:Please, call me Tree-san. I like that name better.: The Tree asked. Samantha blinked. She'd met a Sakurazuka before, but it had been rather nasty and suspicious of her. She supposed that each individual Sakurazuka had it's own personality and mannerisms.

"Alright then, Tree-san. I hate to be rude, but I'm here looking for the soul of Sumeragi Hokuto. The Lady Sumeragi told me that your guardian murdered her, no offense of course, but since the soul of Hokuto hasn't shown up in the Meifu for judgment, I think you can understand the panic we're under." Sammy continued, waiting for the Tree's response with baited breath.

"Might I ask why the shinigami have never inquired when a soul did not appear in the world of the dead because of the Tree, before, yet you are just now investigating a missing soul?" asked a voice behind Samantha. She turned and saw Seishirou leaning against a second tree.

"The Sakurazuka always sends the souls onto the world of the dead when it is finished feeding off of their spiritual energy. It may be a pain for us to deal with, but the soul of a Sakurazuka victim will turn up in no worse shape than any other. The problem with this case is that Sumeragi Hokuto's name was not in the Kiseki. It was not her time to die." Samantha replied, curtly. The Tree swore quite violently.

:IS THAT SO? SEISHIROU?: It demanded of its guardian. Seishirou's eyes shifted, though Samantha couldn't see it because of his dark glasses. What she could tell was that Seishirou's scent was beginning to smell of nervousness. He had known and now he was cornered. The Sakurazukamori made no reply.

"Well, then, Tree-san, would you kindly release Sumeragi-san's soul?" Sammy asked, brightly. The Tree made a noise that boded a very dark future for Seishirou, but did indeed let Hokuto's soul go.

"And, now, SEI-CHAN... I would like to have a little word with you about murdering those who aren't on the register..." Samantha continued, mockingly rolling around the name in her mouth.

There was a soft thud and Samantha's head whipped around to see Tohru staring at the scene in shock, a bag of groceries at her feet.

"S-S-Sapadu-chan..." She stammered, her hands shaking, hoping to god she hadn't heard that correctly. Samantha could only stare back at her classmate until she noticed Seishirou moving forward at a rapid speed, his hand poised to kill. Tohru screamed, her feet frozen to the ground as the black clothed man came at her.

And then, Tohru vanished.

Seishirou stopped a few feet short of where the girl had been standing, then turned around to see Samantha with her hands up, as though she had just set up a barrier field.

***************

Meanwhile, Konoe had found Sumeragi Subaru on CLAMP Campus with the other seals, and was undergoing a very thorough interrogation. Subaru stopped, however, when he saw a Kekkai being set up, and rushed off to help whatever Dragon of Heaven was over there. Konoe, being frustrated and stubborn with finding the Sumeragi head, rushed after him.

*****************

"Honda-san, are you alright?" Yuki rushed over to where Tohru sat on her knees, shaking in terror. In fact, she was so terrified, she forgot about the Souma curse and flung herself into Yuki's arms, clinging to him for a moment before

POOF!

And Tohru found herself squeezing a tiny gray mouse and Yuki's shirt.

"Hey, what the hell happened here?" Kyo came running up, privately infuriated at the sight of Tohru hugging Yuki.

"Honda-san screamed and when I came to see what was the matter, she panicked and latched onto the first thing in sight." Yuki explained calmly, refraining from adding 'baka neko'.

"I KNOW that! I meant what was she screaming at?" Kyo fumed. Tohru could only stammer.

***************

"Sei-chan... I'm warning you: if you kill one more person not listed in the Kiseki, I will kick your ass so hard, you will forget which country you live in. Got that?" Samantha concluded. Seishirou was about to reply when a second presence entered the kekkai.

"Figured that if one of my Dragons was causing trouble, I might as well come and help them out." Said a deep, cocky voice from somewhere on top of the Sakurazuka, "Though I never expected to see dear ol' Seishirou getting a lecture from a fourteen year old about not killing people."

"I'm actually twenty-seven, Fuuma, and that's only in THIS incarnation." Samantha corrected. Fuuma, not caring HOW Samantha knew his name, jumped from the Tree to the ground.

"Fuuma? No, I am Kamui." He corrected. Samantha blew air out of the side of her mouth, causing her bangs to puff out.

"Kamui is your TITLE, but your NAME is Monou Fuuma. Don't start with me: You will not win." Sammy said, sternly. Fuuma laughed.

******************

"Good grief. What is he all up-tight about, ANYWAY?" Konoe muttered to himself as he sped along the streets after Subaru. The Sumeragi Head was completely ignoring the fact that he had a tailgater in favor of paying attention to where the kekkai was.

He reached it in less than ten minutes and in the center was Ueno Park. Standing on one of the buildings, Subaru could see Seishirou, but the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth was there, too, fighting with a girl who looked no older than fourteen who was wearing a long black dress with a red vest. Come to think of it, the girl actually seemed to be winning against 'Kamui'. Strange...

Konoe caught up with Subaru and stood on the building next to him.

"Good grief! Samantha, what the hell are you doing?" He bellowed down to the girl, who looked up, her violet eyes wide, before waving cheerfully.

"Ohayo, Kachou!" She said, completely ignoring the fact that it was ANYTHING but morning.

"We're supposed to be looking for a lost soul, not fighting!" Konoe fumed, earning stares from everyone in the field. Sammy pouted and pointed at Fuuma.

"He started it!" She insisted. Fuuma had gotten tired of waiting for their discussion to end and aimed a blast of energy at Samantha, who, being ever on her guard, blocked it with a quick 'Reverse', sending the spell right back at Fuuma.

Subaru, Seishirou, and Konoe could only watch as Samantha practically sidestepped each and every one of Fuuma's attacks, finally rushing at him and delivering a 'Magic Pressure' spell point blank in his diaphragm, sending the Dark Kamui flying into a tree. (And leaving QUITE an impression.)

"Grand." Subaru muttered, while Seishirou, in spite of himself, HAD to applaud. The Tree found it incredibly amusing and was laughing as hard as it could.

Samantha walked over to Fuuma's crumpled figure and tipped his chin up with the toe of her shoe before hissing something at him. She then turned back to the three who were sitting atop a roof and leaped up next to Konoe.

"So, Sei-chan, remember what I said to you, and he's your charge now. Take him home, put him to bed and make sure he eats something. As for you, Sumeragi-san, we'll be seeing you soon, I imagine. Hai, Kachou! Let's go!" All of this was rambled off in less than a second, before Sammy folded up her kekkai and bounced off into the Meifu.

Konoe stared after her, before following. Subaru and Seishirou could only stare at each other for a long time, no words to be said, no words at all. Subaru turned on his heel and walked off, leaving Seishirou alone with a laughing Tree.

********************

"Good day! Good morning! Hello!" Kamui practically dropped his books at the sound of that bright, cheery voice. Well, three guesses who it was...

"So, Shirou-kun, how're ya doing today? Did you have a good sleep last night? Were you sick? You haven't been in school for a few days, so I was starting to get really worried about you! Oh, and there's some make-up work for you, too: I left it in my desk, but don't worry, I can help you out with it later on. I don't have a lot going on today, so if you wanted to do something, that's okay with me! So, how've you been?" Keiichi Segawa popped up in front of Kamui, a big smile on his face like the first day of spring, while Kamui's knees shook and he tried not to run away.

"Um..........." Kamui stammered while Keiichi continued to smile that big, almost frightening smile, "S-Segawa-kun...."

"Hai-i?!" Keiichi responded.

"Could you please not... talk so fast?" Kamui muttered, hesitantly. Keiichi blinked at him.

"Oh! Was I talking too fast? I usually don't notice: people always understand what I'm saying, so no one ever asks me to slow down! Half the time, I don't realize when I am speaking quickly so..." Keiichi started to ramble again. Kamui sighed, knowing that if nobody ever told Keiichi he was speaking too fast, it was because they didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"You're doing it again." Kamui said, making Keiichi stop in mid ramble.

"Oops! Sorry!"

Neither boy knew that there was a girl in a black dress sitting above them, watching their every move.

"Well, that makes three." She said, before disappearing.

So... any comments?

Lotsa cliffhangers: Why can Tea see Inuki and the boys can't? Will Tohru tell the Sohmas about what she heard? What's the Tree up to? What did Sammy say to Fuuma? And lastly, what's that woman doing to Kamui (or Keiichi, possibly?)