A Nifty Fic With No Name That Kouri Wanted to Call "The Offspring" but Karasu Wouldn't Let Her
By Karasu Yurei and Kouri Arashi
Author’s notes: If you haven’t read Aftermath, go read it now. This is a direct sequel and will make no sense whatsoever if you haven’t read Aftermath. Trust us.
The main characters (Seimei and Hokuto Sumeragi-Sakurazuka (*wow* that’s a mouthful), Ame Arisugawa, and Omi Takamura) are *our* property. We made them up all on our own, except for a little name stealing ^_^;;; Steal them and we will hunt you down with pitchforks and it’ll be very messy. And trust me, we read enough fanfiction to find out about it.
Everyone and everything else belongs to CLAMP, Asuka Comics, other people, yadda yadda don’t sue us you all know the drill.
Anyway. We fudged most of the governmental stuff because we’re too lazy to research and it’s only a fanfic. It’s still a cool story. Humor us. Anyway, *you* don’t know how these government things work either. Some of the magic stuff is fudged too, but not anywhere near as badly.
Um, the whole time zone thing . . . yeah, we screwed it up. This is not really our fault. We tried to find out what the actual time difference was between Japan and England, but Tomo (Kouri’s computer) tried to fry its own brain and eat it for lunch when we tried to use the encyclopedia program. So the long and the short of it was that we guessed what the time difference would be, and we guessed wrong. At least we’re consistently wrong.
No lemons or limes. Dear Lord, we’ve had enough of citrus to last us a lifetime, or at least a fanfic. That was horrifying. This story is clean. Well, of sex. Not of violence.
So, um, read it. Yeah.
-- The management
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Part One
“Sei-chan!” Hokuto’s somewhat shrill voice resonated through the house. “Seiiiiii-chaaaaaaan?!”
“Nani?” her brother yelled back at her from his own bedroom.
She pushed open his door, walked in, and flopped on the bed. He was sitting at the head of it, still half under the blankets. “We’ve got a fax,” she informed him.
Seimei glanced up from the book he’d been reading to eye his overly exuberant sister. “So tell Dad.”
“It’s not for Dad.” Hokuto was bouncing up and down with the joy of her news.
He bounced with the movement of the bed, still reading. “So go tell Father.”
“It’s not for Father either.”
He finally looked at her. “So who’s it for?”
“It’s for us!” she cheered. “We finally got a job of our own!”
“Oh. That’s great. Dad and Father will be thrilled.”
Hokuto pouted. “They never let us have any fun. Everywhere we go, people guarding us, holding our hands, never letting us out of their sight . . .”
“Come on, Omi’s not that bad.”
“He doesn’t bother you.”
“That’s because I behave myself.” Seimei finally gave in to his curiosity. “What’s the job?”
“Some thingy in England. That’s why we got it. Dad can’t go, and neither can Father. They have to stay here and watch over the country.”
“Uh huh.” Seimei shut his book. “Maybe you’d better tell them anyway. They’ll need to know.”
“They’ll say we can’t go.”
“That’s their right. We are their children, you know.”
“Kinda.”
“What do you mean, kinda?”
“Well, nobody gave birth to us, right? So technically - ”
“Hokuto. Really. Just go tell them.”
Hokuto pouted. “They’re not up yet.”
“Well, it’s only eight. God forbid they sleep in to a decent hour.” He gave his sister a slight glare. “God forbid any of us do.”
“Come on, you’re at least still in your pajamas. Everyone is so lazy. Omi’s been up for hours.”
“That’s because he needs to be up at the same time as you to make sure you don’t go wandering off anywhere. You could give him a break and stay in bed.”
Hokuto continued to pout.
“Anyway, go wake them up. They won’t care. They’d be getting up soon anyway.”
“’KAY!” Hokuto danced out of the room. She knocked gently on her parents’ bedroom door. “Dad? Father? You up yet?”
There was a rather incoherent mumbling from inside. Finally Seishirou raised his voice. “Go back to bed, Hokuto-chan!”
“But I’ve got really important news!” Hokuto bounced some more, then pressed her ear to the door.
“She says it’s important.” Seishirou’s voice.
“Is the house burning down?” Subaru.
“I somewhat doubt it.”
“Then it isn’t important enough. I need my beauty sleep.”
“You’re beautiful enough. Wake up.”
Hokuto grinned. Her parents could be so damned cute sometimes. Then she quickly stepped away from the door as Seishirou opened it. Subaru was still in bed. The covers were pulled up over his head.
“What is it, Hokuto?” Seishirou asked in a resigned tone of voice.
“Look what we got!” Hokuto cheered, waving the fax in her father’s face.
“If you’d hold it still long enough, I would.”
“Oh.” Hokuto’s face fell, and she handed the fax to her father. She eyed Subaru, lying in bed. “What’s wrong with Dad?”
“He has an aversion to early morning hours,” Seishirou answered absently, scanning the fax. “When did this come?”
“About an hour ago!” Hokuto fixed him with a stern look. “You’re lucky I didn’t wake you up then!”
Seishirou looked at the clock. “You were up an hour ago?”
“Of course!”
Seishirou sighed. “Poor Omi.”
“Oh, he’s fine. He’s making breakfast.”
“I’m sure.” Seishirou read through the fax another time. “Subaru-kun, I think you’d better see this.”
“Is the world ending?”
“That was seventeen years ago, aisuru,” Seishirou remarked.
“Then it’s not important enough to get me out of bed.”
Seishirou looked at Hokuto. “Hold on a minute.” He handed her the fax, and closed the door firmly in her face.
Hokuto waited, pressing her ear against the door.
Before she could hear anything, however, Seimei tottered out of his room, still in his pajamas. His hair was everywhere and he looked considerably sleepy for someone who’d been reading in bed for a half hour. Omi was behind him, carrying two mugs of coffee. “Here, Seimei,” the older boy said, handing one to him.
“Don’t I get one?” Hokuto pouted.
“No,” they both said firmly.
“The last thing you need is caffeine,” Seimei added. “What were you doing listening in?”
“Nothing,” Hokuto said. “Father was having trouble getting Dad out of bed. I thought it would be funny . . .”
Omi rolled his eyes. “Hokuto, someday you’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble.” He shoved his blue-black hair out of his dark eyes.
“Sure, sure,” Hokuto said. She grinned at him. “If we go to England for a job, you get to come, right?”
“Of course,” Omi said, drinking his coffee.
“Wai wai!” Hokuto cheered. “It can be a trip for just the three of us! Our first real job!”
Seimei rubbed his eyes. “You’re way too enthusiastic.”
The bedroom door opened again and Subaru was standing there, yawning. He was wearing old pants and a T-shirt. Seishirou was behind him, fully dressed. Subaru’s hair, like his son’s, was everywhere. “So what’s this I hear about you two having a job?” he asked through his yawn.
Hokuto proudly shoved the fax under his nose.
He blinked a few times, then took it. Seishirou had already gone to the kitchen to make him some tea. Subaru was not at his best in the mornings.
“Here,” Seishirou said, handing him the tea.
“Arigatou,” Subaru replied absently, still reading. He finally put it down.
“See, I told you it was important,” Seishirou said.
“Don’t start.” Subaru looked at his two children seriously. “You two are prepared to accept this?”
“Sure!” Hokuto said.
“I don’t even know what it is yet,” Seimei said, shooting his sister a dirty look. “Someone failed to explain things properly. She waved the fax under my face and took off.”
“Same here,” Omi said. “And if they go, I go.”
“I need to sit down,” Subaru said. He walked into the kitchen and plopped down at the table. Everyone else followed suit.
“See, here’s what’s going on,” Hokuto began to babble. “Apparently big things are happening at the UN, and it’s got to do with some weird country that wants to be independent and is killing people off, except they don’t know how they’re doing it so they think it’s magic, and they want us to come ‘cause Dad and Father have to stay in Japan. Got that?”
Seimei blinked.
Omi sighed. “What?”
Hokuto took a deep breath. “I said - ”
“Hokuto-chan,” Seishirou said calmly. “Be quiet.”
Hokuto stuck her tongue out.
“Do you want to lose that?” Seishirou asked, eyebrows raised.
“Seishirou . . .” Subaru protested vaguely.
Hokuto pulled her tongue back into her mouth.
“Thank you,” Seishirou said. He turned to Seimei and Omi. “A small part of China has been trying to branch off into its own separate country. The UN has been against this because that part of China has specific natural resources that China needs, and if this area were to become a country, it would probably start charging China exorbitant amounts of money for them. The faction was extremely displeased about being denied independence, but rather than starting a civil war, they’ve started killing off members of the UN Council one by one until they get what they want. Rather an ingenious plan, if I do say so myself.”
Subaru elbowed him.
“Understood?” Seishirou asked.
Seimei nodded. “What’s this have to do with us?”
“The methods they’ve been using are untraceable. No breaking, no entering, no weapons, no fingerprints, nothing on surveillance cameras, and so forth. The Japanese ambassador believes that magic is involved, and he’s asked the two of you to come figure out what’s going on.”
“Just like the jobs I used to get,” Subaru said.
“And we can’t go because we’re needed in Japan, and they don’t know how long this might take,” Seishirou concluded.
“Okay,” Seimei said.
“Do you think you two can handle this?” Subaru asked.
“We can try,” Seimei said.
Hokuto whapped him on the back of the head. “Thanks, Mr. Optimistic,” she said, glaring. “Of course we can handle it.”
He whacked her back. “Don’t be overconfident, motormouth!”
Omi put his head in his hands and mumbled, “We’re all going to die.”
“I heard that!” Hokuto looked up from where she was pummeling her brother and glared at Omi. “Don’t pass judgment on us, you’ve only known us for . . . uh . . .”
“Five years,” Seimei supplied helpfully.
“Shut up! I was trying to make a point and you had to go and ruin it!”
Subaru looked at Seishirou. “You got me out of bed for this? This happens every day.”
Seishirou calmly drank his tea. “I wasn’t this much trouble as a child, and I know you weren’t at this age. Where do you think they got it?”
“Too much of neechan’s influence,” Subaru said.
“Undoubtedly. She certainly destroyed their fashion sense.”
“Their outfits are not as bad as the ones she made me wore.”
“That’s true. They at least stick to human attire.”
Hokuto turned from the argument, exasperated with her much-too-sensible brother. “Dad! Seimei’s making fun of me!”
“What did he say?” Subaru asked, taking a sip of his tea.
“That, uh, I talk too much and I get up too early and I’m too enthusiastic . . . stop laughing!”
Subaru hid his smile. “Hokuto-chan, he’s not making fun of you, he’s merely stating facts.”
“But!” Hokuto pouted.
“I’m going to go get dressed,” Seimei said. “’Mouto-chan, what are you wearing?”
Hokuto stood and presented herself, spinning in a neat pirouette.
Seimei carefully took note of what she was wearing, then headed for his room. He came back a few minutes later, dressed in the exact same thing.
“Do you have to wear the exact same thing every day?” Seishirou asked.
Subaru rested his head on his arms. “I have a headache.”
Omi looked between the twins. “I’m going to start calling you Twit One and Twit Two. And the numbers are interchangeable.”
Hokuto danced over and kissed Omi’s cheek. “We love you too, Omi-chan.”
Omi let out a long-suffering sigh.
Seishirou smirked at him. “It’s your own fault, Omi, you’re the one who volunteered to be their bodyguard. It was your own choice.”
“What kind of choice was it?” Omi asked. “I had to either pick somebody or kill myself. Really.”
“Come on, Omi-kun, you don’t hate me,” Seimei said.
“No, you’re easy to deal with. You don’t run off at the mouth and act recklessly at every available opportunity.”
“I don’t either,” Hokuto said. “Not at every available opportunity.”
“No, just most of them,” Seimei said.
“That is entirely unfair. I - ”
“Kids,” Seishirou said, “if you’re done beating each other verbally, maybe you should go pack. You should probably leave this evening.”
Hokuto brightened. “’KAY!” She bounced off into her room, dragging her brother with her.
Subaru turned anxiously to Seishirou. “Do you think they’ll be all right?”
“I plan to call every day to make sure. Besides, Omi will take care of them. Right, Omi?”
“That’s my job, is it not?” Omi got up to finish making breakfast.
Subaru perked up. “Breakfast?”
“You’ll have to wake up before you can eat,” Seishirou said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Subaru said. “I like it when he cooks.”
Seishirou raised an eyebrow. “Better than when I cook?”
“Don’t try to start a fight this early in the morning. Akira taught him how to cook. This makes a difference.”
“I’m wounded,” Seishirou said.
“You’re full of it.”
“Subaru-kun?”
“Nani?”
“Shut up.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“What should I briiiiiiing?” Hokuto agonized, digging through her closet. Seimei was sitting patiently on her bed, waiting for her to decide so he would know what to bring. The twins looked remarkably similar, as much as Subaru and his twin had been. Seimei was a little - and only a little - more masculine than his sister. They both had the Sumeragi green eyes, though they were somewhat smaller than Subaru’s had been. Their faces were narrow, like Seishirou’s, their hair short and dark. It was just long enough to be a girl’s haircut, and just short enough to be a guy’s. They enjoyed torturing people. It helped that Hokuto was rather flat-chested.
“Clothes?” Seimei suggested.
“I know that!!”
“Then what are you worried about?”
“It’s the UN!”
“Since when do you care?”
“You’re impossible,” she said. “You don’t understand anything.”
Seimei rolled his eyes and flopped backwards. “Wake me when you’re done so I can pack.”
She glared for a second, then continued to dig through her closet.
They heard the doorbell ring.
“Expecting anybody?” Seimei asked, not sitting up.
“No. Are you?”
“Nah. Probably for Dad or Father. Or maybe one of Omi’s friends.”
“Shouldn’t Omi be packing?” Hokuto asked.
“He’ll take about one eighth the time that you do, so I doubt he’s worried about it.”
“No, probably not.”
From out in the living room, they heard Subaru calling their names. “We have company!”
“Huh,” Hokuto said. She stood, checked in the mirror to make sure she was presentable, then scampered out into the living room, with Seimei close on her heels. “Oh, hi, Ame!”
“Hello, Seimei, Hokuto,” the younger girl said with a small smile.
Subaru nudged his children. “Be polite to your elders,” he muttered.
“Oops.” Hokuto made a quick bow in everyone else’s general direction. Seimei followed suit. “Ohayo, Sorata-san, Arashi-san.”
“Hey, kids,” Sorata said, ruffling their hair. “How’ve you been?”
Hokuto took a deep breath and prepared to run off at the mouth. Seimei interrupted her with a sharp jab in the ribs. “We’re fine.”
“Ame-chan, guess what!” Hokuto made up for the indignity of getting shut up by her brother by pouncing on her friend. “We’ve got a job all of our own! We’re going to - ”
“What’s this all about?” Sorata interrupted her as gently as possible, as everyone who knew Hokuto had learned to do. He directed the question to Subaru and Seishirou.
“They have a job,” Subaru explained. “Solving a magical murder mystery of sorts. We can’t do it because we need to stay here, and this is in England.”
“You’re turning your kids loose on the world?” Sorata asked. Then he frowned. “Uh oh.”
“What?” Subaru asked.
“Well, Arashi-chan and I were going on our second honeymoon in a couple days. We were going to ask if Ame could stay with you while we were gone. But if your kids are going to be gone . . .”
“She could go with them,” Arashi, ever-logical, suggested.
“Eh, won’t it be dangerous?” Sorata asked, frowning.
“Oh, they’ll have Omi with them,” Subaru said.
“The walking pin cushion,” Sorata supplied. “Oi, Omi, how’ve you been? I saw your dad yesterday while I was visiting Kamui!”
“I’m fine, other than sleep deprived since I have to get up at the same time as her,” Omi said, pointing at Hokuto.
Sorata laughed.
“Don’t laugh,” Subaru said firmly. “You don’t know what it’s like to be woken at an ungodly hour every day by shrieks and giggles. Your daughter is sensible like your wife.”
“It’s not our fault that you can’t haul yourself out of bed in the morning,” Seishirou said.
Subaru glared at him. “Seishirou - ”
“Anyway,” Sorata interrupted before a fight could break out. “Would it be too much trouble for Ame to go with them?”
“Oh, not really,” Seishirou said. “If nothing else, she’ll be a little extra protection.”
Sorata grinned and ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Yeah, the little firebug.”
Ame glanced up at her father. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Dad.”
“She has too much fun toasting stuff sometimes,” Sorata said, shaking his head.
Hokuto glomped onto her friend. “You get to come, Ame-chan!! Wai wai!!”
Ame couldn’t help but grin.
“First time out of the country, ne, Ame?” Seimei asked his friend. “It’s fun.”
“Arashi here was saying we could leave her at CLAMP,” Sorata said, “until I reminded her that it would be leaving her with Kamui as her sole guardian. And Kamui, though he’s a great guy, is not notably good with kids.”
“Sure he is!” Hokuto said. “He always buys me lots of stuff!”
“Exactly,” Arashi said. “We didn’t figure the doting uncle figure was the best person to leave her with. She’d be knee-deep in new things by the time we got home.”
Ame shrugged. “No problems here.”
“Yeah, you should leave us with Kamui sometime, Dad!” Hokuto tugged on Subaru’s sleeve.
He looked at her. “You have enough stuff.”
“No I don’t . . .”
“Oh, and we ran into Kakyou while we were there,” Sorata said. “He said if you wanted to see your sister he’d be home most of tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Subaru said. Meeting with his sister inside Kakyou’s Dreamscape had become a relatively common occurrence.
“Well, how about this,” Sorata said. “We’ll run home so Ame can pack some things, then drop her off here in a few hours. Okay?”
“Sure,” Subaru said.
“Thanks for, um, well, you’re not really taking care of her for us, but, you know what I mean.”
“Broadening her horizons,” Arashi chimed in.
“That’s it!” Sorata draped an arm around Arashi’s shoulder. “That’s why I keep you around!”
“I thought you keep me around because you love me.”
“Well, that too. Of course.”
The three of them bid their farewells and left. “This is so great!” Hokuto cheered, bouncing. “We get more company!”
Subaru looked at Seimei. “Make sure she at least helps you get the job done.”
“Oh, I will.” Seimei smiled. “Magical assassins are more her department than mine.”
“Like you haven’t ever done it!” Hokuto said, glaring at him.
Subaru sighed and leaned on Seishirou. “I can’t believe I raised a pair of assassins.”
“You only raised one,” Seishirou said. “The other one only dabbles.”
“Great, that’s real comforting,” Subaru said, and sighed. “Oh well, as you said, it needs to be done.”
“As does your job,” Seishirou said. “Which is why we had twins.”
“You’d better get back to packing,” Seimei said. “Omi-kun, do you have your stuff together?”
“I’ll do that now,” Omi said.
“Don’t forget your arsenal,” Seimei said dryly.
Omi just looked at him, then said, “I won’t, as long as you don’t forget your ofada.”
Seimei smirked. “Okay, I deserved that.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hokuto pressed her face against the plane window. “Coooooool,” she breathed.
“Hai, hai,” Seimei said, rolling his eyes.
Omi was sitting between them, keeping a close eye on the rest of the passengers.
Ame was across the aisle, muttering about how it was her first time on a plane and Hokuto had insisted on having the window seat. “You can have it on the way back, Ame-chan,” Hokuto reassured her, calling across the aisle.
“What if I want it on the way back?” Seimei asked, eyebrows raised.
“You’ll be a gentleman and let Ame have it, right?”
Seimei sighed.
“’Cause you’re certainly not a lady,” Hokuto said. “Though from your clothes and your preferences one might not guess - ”
“Hey!” Seimei reached across the seat and tried to smack his sister.
“Oh, stop it, both of you.” Omi pinned them both firmly to their seats. “I must’ve been some sort of masochist to pick the two of you.”
“You were only twelve, you didn’t know better,” Seimei said.
“Your dad didn’t even like Nokoru when they first met,” Hokuto reminded him.
“Yeah, that lasted a whole two days.”
“Well . . . never mind.” Hokuto began to bounce up and down in her seat.
Seimei sighed. “This is gonna be a long plane ride.”
Ame took him literally. “How long?”
“I dunno, about twelve hours. At least we didn’t get layovers.”
“Yeah, Dad’s good for something,” Hokuto said. “Or was it Father?”
“I don’t know. Dad gets stuff by being polite; Father by scaring people. It doesn’t really matter.”
“It could’ve been my father,” Omi chimed in.
“Yeah, your dad is equally scary,” Hokuto agreed.
“Thanks, Hokuto.” Omi sighed.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! My Father is scary! And my job is that I have to be scary too!”
Hokuto was somewhat disconcerted when her three companions burst out laughing.
“Hey!”
“You, scary?” Seimei asked. “Come on, sis.”
“Hey. I can shove my hand through someone’s chest. That’s scary.”
“Yeah, so can I,” Seimei said. “And Omi here can dice them, slice them, and serve them up as julienne fries, then Ame could cook them for us. What’s your point? None of us are scary.”
“I hate you all,” Hokuto pouted.
“You do not,” Seimei said.
“Hmph.”
Omi sighed. “This just keeps getting worse . . .”
“You never had to share a bedroom with her,” Seimei said.
“You have a point.”
“Well, I think they just got us one really big hotel room,” Hokuto chipped in.
“It should be a suite,” Seimei said. “That’s what Dad said. He told me I could share a room with Omi and you could share a room with Ame.” He turned to Ame. “We’re very sorry.”
“Are you sure Omi would be safe with you?” Hokuto cackled, leering at her brother.
Seimei glared icily. “I don’t have a habit of hitting on old friends or straight men.” He leaned over and hit her. This time Omi didn’t stop him. “Besides, it would be like dating my brother.”
“Would you two stop bickering?” Ame asked.
“You’re just sore about the window seat . . .”
“Shut up.”
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