Part Twelve
Seishirou got to the Government Building about ten minutes after Subaru had left. He stood there, glaring at nothing. Great, now where is he going?
He heard a thud and walked around the corner to see Fuuma slumped against a wall. He wished for the thousandth time that day to be corporeal again; it would be an ideal time to kick Fuuma really hard in the head. However, Fuuma seemed to be having enough trouble. His nose looked broken, and his hair was matted with blood. He was clutching at a wound in his shoulder.
Seishirou watched him dispassionately, as he had watched so many dying people. “You got what you deserved,” he said, ignoring the fact that Fuuma couldn’t hear him. “I only wish I had been the one to do it.”
He watched as Fuuma closed his eyes. A few minutes later, Kanoe came hurrying up. After making some worried noises, she hailed a taxi.
Seishirou watched her. Hey, a promise was a promise. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t hear him.
“Sausage Lady,” he said gravely, “you need to wear a bra.”
Then he turned and walked away. Where the hell had Subaru gotten off to, anyway? It wasn’t like the Sumeragi to go wandering off, especially not while Seishirou and Kamui were both in the hospital.
Johnny. He had to take Johnny home. Seishirou set off in a new direction.
He reached Johnny’s house about an hour and a half later. Then he walked through the front door, glad that he didn’t have to open it. He looked around the living room and decided that Subaru wasn’t there. It was only a two-room apartment, after all. And if Johnny had just been reunited with Liam . . . Seishirou decided he didn’t even want to go near the bedroom.
He turned and left the apartment, frustrated. Subaru was never this difficult to track down normally. Then again, normally, all he had to do was use the link they had. It didn’t work that way now that he was dead.
And damn it, he had to stop thinking like that. He wasn’t dead, not technically. Just . . . not alive. That was all.
He decided to go back to the apartment and get some rest.
After all, it wasn’t as if he had a time limit.
****
“Kamui?” Subaru stuck his head into the younger boy’s room, then stopped as he saw that Kamui was sound asleep. He paused, then backed out of the room. He had promised Kamui that he’d stop in when he was back, but he didn’t want to disturb his rest. Subaru looked around for the ever-present Kansai monk, but Sorata was nowhere to be seen. He sighed in frustration, looking for someone to leave a message with.
“Subaru-san!”
Subaru twitched and turned at the normally cheerful voice turned sober. “Segawa-kun,” he said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Shirou-kun wasn’t in class today, so I asked around to see if anyone knew where he was. I heard that he got hurt when the Rainbow Bridge collapsed, so I came to see him,” Keichii explained.
“Oh,” Subaru said. “He’s asleep.”
“Is he okay?” Keichii asked anxiously.
“Yes, he’s fine,” Subaru said. “He just . . . he did get hurt, but he’ll be okay. You can go in and see him, if you like, but please don’t wake him. And if you could, when he wakes up, could you tell him that I’m in Seishirou’s room if he needs me?”
Keichii’s eyes widened. “Seishirou was injured too?”
Subaru blinked. “How do you know Seishirou?”
“Shirou-kun mentioned him a couple times,” Keichii explained. “Mostly just as a friend of yours. Is it serious?”
Subaru nodded. “Yes,” he said after a pause. “He’s very badly injured.” No need to explain everything to Keichii.
“I’m sorry.” Keichii looked down. “I lost both my parents to earthquakes, so, I sort of understand how you feel.”
Subaru put a hand on his shoulder. “You really like Kamui, don’t you.”
He meant as a friend, and was rather surprised when Keichii blushed.
Subaru tried to think of something to say, but all he could come up with was, Don’t get too attached. He’s the Kamui. He may not even live through the month. He could hardly say that to Keichii, however, and after a moment managed, “I’m glad. Kamui needs . . . a good friend like you.”
“I don’t know what it is about him,” Keichii said thoughtfully, the serious expression looking out of place on his normally cheerful features. “He’s just so . . . fragile-looking. He makes me want to protect him.”
-- I try to protect you as much as I can -
Subaru smiled. “I’m glad. Kamui needs protecting.”
“Why?” Keichii asked.
Subaru paused, then shook his head. “It’s not my place to tell you. He may, though . . . if you promise to believe him.”
Keichii nodded. “I’ll ask him.”
“I have to go,” Subaru said. “Tell Kamui I said hello.”
Keichii nodded again. “I will.”
****
Seishirou wasn’t sure if ghosts could sleep, but somewhere in the night he drifted into a state of non-being. When he woke up, it was the next morning. He decided to go back to the hospital and see if Subaru had returned there during the night.
He had. Seishirou watched the Sumeragi lean over his unconscious body, playing with his hair.
“Well,” Seishirou announced to nobody, “I’m here. I found my life. Now what?”
He wasn’t expecting a blaze of colors or a trumpet fanfare, but even so he was disappointed when absolutely nothing happened.
He sat in the chair next to Subaru, frustrated. He was right here, and he couldn’t touch the Sumeragi, couldn’t make himself heard, couldn’t offer any sort of comfort at all. And more than that, he couldn’t figure out how to get back into his body.
-- It’s not that hard -
Seishirou sighed and wrapped his arms around the space Subaru occupied.
“Seishirou-san,” Subaru murmured, and Seishirou pulled back, startled. He realized quickly that Subaru wasn’t speaking to him, per se, but to his unconscious body. “I’m sorry . . . Johnny asked me to stay . . .”
Seishirou waited to see what Subaru was going to say.
“And I . . . I think I have to. It wouldn’t be fair to him . . . it would be selfish if I left him. I miss you . . . but I think you may have to wait even longer for me.” He rested his head against the mattress and began to cry. “I just want to be with you again,” he choked out. “Seishirou, please don’t be dead . . . please let this all be a lie . . . I love you, please don’t leave me . . .”
Seishirou’s heart throbbed painfully in his chest. “Subaru-kun, I’m right here,” he murmured. “Can’t you see me . . .?” He hoped that, since Subaru was a medium, he might be able to. But Subaru looked a little too distraught to be doing any spells right now.
And there was nothing Seishirou could do.
God, just to hold him one more time . . . I would give anything just to comfort him right now . . . Seishirou wanted to scream. How do I get back? I know there’s a way!
Subaru lifted his head from the blankets. “But . . . you’re not coming back, are you? It must be nice . . . over there.” He reached out and removed the respirator from Seishirou’s face.
Wait a second! What are you doing?! Seishirou grabbed frantically at Subaru’s wrists, but his hands went right through them.
Subaru leaned down and kissed him. “Ai shiteru, Seishirou-san,” he whispered. “Sayonara.”
Subaru-kun, don’t! SUBARU!
Pain welled up in Seishirou’s heart and spread outward, making his whole body flinch.
“I won’t leave you, Subaru-kun,” he whispered.
And all he saw was white.
****
Subaru leaned his head against Seishirou’s chest and listened as Seishirou took a last struggling breath. He closed his eyes, feeling completely empty inside. His head rose and fell with Seishirou’s chest again.
Again . . .?
Subaru flew upwards and stared down in shock.
Seishirou was . . . breathing.
Subaru’s hands began to tremble violently. “Seishirou . . . san?”
Another breath.
“SEISHIROU-SAN!” The scream tore out of him, nearly ripping him apart as it welled out from his lungs.
The door opened and Touma came in. “What on earth . . .?”
“He’s breathing!” Subaru cried. “Touma-san, I took the respirator off and he kept breathing!”
Touma’s first thought was that Subaru had to be hallucinating; after all, he hadn’t slept in three days. The machine would have beeped if Seishirou had started breathing on his own, after all. But no, Seishirou’s chest kept rising and falling. Touma realized that Seishirou must have only started trying to breathe after the respirator had been removed.
“Seishirou . . .” Subaru shook the older man gently. “Seishirou!”
Touma leaned out into the hallway and called to a nurse. “Get Kamui-san, please. I think Subaru will need him.”
Subaru stared downwards as Seishirou’s eyes flickered open. The only noise he could make was a strangled whimper.
“Subaru . . . kun . . .” Seishirou’s voice was infinitely soft and tired, as if each word was being dragged up from the bottom of his lungs.
“Shh, don’t try to talk.” Tears scattered from Subaru’s eyes, raining down on Seishirou’s face.
Seishirou ignored him. “I . . . found my way . . . back to you . . .”
With that, his eyes closed and his whole body went limp. His breathing remained steady, but it had a rasping, unhealthy note to it.
Kamui half-ran in, expecting the worst. He was startled when Subaru pulled him into a gigantic hug. “Kamui, he’s going to be okay, he’s going to be okay . . .”
“He is?” Kamui looked at the doctor for confirmation.
Touma was checking Seishirou over. “He’s got a nasty case of pnuemonia, probably from breathing all that water in. But it’s not worse than that. Now that he’s woken up, he should be back on his feet in a week or so.”
Kamui began to laugh. “Didn’t I tell you to wait another day?” he asked Subaru.
“He’s going to be okay,” was all Subaru said. He sounded dazed.
Touma walked over. “You, Subaru-san, need to get some rest. There’s another bed in here for a reason, you know. I put Seishirou in a double room without a roommate because I knew you’d never agree to leave him. So get some sleep.”
Subaru nodded, sagging against Kamui.
Satisfied, Touma turned and left the room.
“Kamui, he’s going to be okay . . .” Subaru kept saying this, as if he were chanting. “He’s going to be okay.”
“Sleep, Subaru,” Kamui whispered.
Subaru looked at him for a second, then nodded twice. Halfway through the second nod, he fell asleep. Kamui managed to get him up onto the bed and pulled the blankets over him. Then he tucked Subaru in and left the room. He had a few phone calls to make.
****
“Subaru! Subaru-chan, will you wake up?!”
Subaru’s eyes flickered open. “Neesan . . .”
“Well, it’s about time,” Hokuto said, sounding extremely put out. “You’ve been sleeping like the dead, no pun intended of course.”
Subaru sat up, pushing his hair out of his face. “How are you here?” He glanced around then and realized that he was not in his hospital room. In fact, they seemed to be about as far from his hospital room as possible; they were at the ocean. “And where exactly is ‘here’?”
“It’s all my doing,” an amused voice said.
Subaru looked over to see Kakyou draped over his sister’s shoulder and his surroundings clicked; he was in one of Kakyou’s Dreamscapes. “Oh,” he said faintly.
“It’s okay, we don’t blame you for taking so long to wake up,” Hokuto said. “Though you’re not technically awake, I suppose, but that’s not the point!”
Subaru’s head ached. “What is the point?”
Hokuto gave him a glare. “The point is that after the rough week you had, I thought you might like some comforting.”
“Oh,” Subaru said again.
Hokuto gave him a hug. “There, see, since we’re in a Dreamscape, we can touch each other.”
Subaru buried his face in his sister’s shoulder, letting her hold him.
“Besides, I had an idea!” Hokuto let go of Subaru and began to dance around, playing tag with the ocean. “I think I may know how to get you and Sei-chan through this!”
“Well, stop teasing and tell me!” Subaru protested.
“We already talked it over with Sei-chan, and he thinks it’s a good idea, but he wanted to know what you thought before he agreed.” Hokuto plopped next to Subaru. “Kakyou and I decided that we should take a family vacation!”
Subaru blinked at her.
Kakyou took mercy on the onmyouji. “What Hokuto is attempting to say,” he said gently, giving Hokuto an amused glance as she looked indignant, “is that we think Seishirou should do something similar to what I did after shooting myself.”
Subaru kept blinking.
“Only more so,” Kakyou continued. “With a combination of Hokuto’s magic and mine, plus with Seishirou’s cooperation, we can entirely remove Seishirou’s soul from his body for a while.”
The light dawned. Subaru still blinked.
“His body would go back into a coma, but he wouldn’t need to be on life support,” Kakyou explained. “He would be able to leave a minimal amount of energy behind to keep himself alive and work on the healing process. He is sick, after all. Anyway, Hokuto and I would take him somewhere that Fuuma wouldn’t be able to reach him.”
Subaru slowly began to nod.
“Of course,” Kakyou finished, “this would mean you would be unable to have his company for about three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” Subaru repeated, feeling stupid.
“The Promised Day,” Kakyou said. “It’s in three weeks.”
“That’s so close,” Subaru said wonderingly.
“’Kyou-chan and I would bring Sei-chan back a day or two before it happened,” Hokuto said. “And we’ll keep an eye on him, we promise. We’ll keep an eye on you, too!”
“So really it’s up to you,” Kakyou said. “After what the two of you just went through, no one would blame you if you said no. We understand that you need Seishirou with you right now.”
Subaru half-smiled. “Yes, I do,” he said. “But . . . this gives us a better chance to get through this than anything I’ve thought of. I can’t turn your offer down. Just . . . give us a day or two?”
Hokuto nodded, an unusually serious expression on her face. “You and Sei-chan can talk it over when you’re both awake,” she said. “We wouldn’t deprive you two of a reunion, after all.” Her eyes went wide suddenly. “Oh! And get Johnny the hell out of dodge.”
Subaru blinked again. “Excuse me?”
“Buy Johnny, and Liam too, plane tickets for somewhere else. America. Tell them to go home for a visit or something. Fuuma is going to be out for Johnny’s blood.”
“I would think Fuuma will be out for my blood more than Johnny’s,” Subaru said dryly.
“Oh, that too,” Hokuto said. “But you can defend yourself, and against Fuuma, Johnny can’t. Getting rid of Johnny would be both easy and satisfying, as far as Fuuma’s concerned. But he won’t want to mess with you again so soon.”
“Good point,” Subaru said.
“Besides,” Kakyou said softly, “I can see the future, remember?”
Subaru looked into Kakyou’s eyes for a second, then shivered. “Don’t worry. I’ll get Johnny on a plane.”
“That was awesome, by the way, watching you beat Fuuma into the ground like that,” Hokuto said brightly, changing the subject.
Subaru laughed a little. “I lost my temper.”
“Noooo kidding,” Hokuto said. “Anyway, you should be resting. Talk it over with Sei-chan when you wake up, ‘kay?”
Subaru nodded and hugged his sister again. “Thank you, Hokuto-chan. You too, Kakyou.”
“Be strong, Subaru-chan,” Hokuto murmured into his ear.
Subaru closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.
****
Johnny was somewhat confused the next day upon walking into Seishirou’s hospital room and finding the exact opposite of what he had expected. Subaru was sound asleep in one of the beds in the room. Seishirou’s eyes were open. The older man looked terrible; pale with dark circles under his eyes, hair limp and disarrayed. He sounded awful, too; every breath was a wheezing struggle. “Hi,” Seishirou said.
“Hi,” Johnny said, not seeming surprised in the slightest. “So what happened?”
“I made a miraculous recovery,” Seishirou replied.
“Okay, that was the reader’s digest version,” Johnny said. “Now how about the long version? I think everyone forgets I’ve been quietly collecting dust out of the loop since you disappeared.”
“Did Subaru explain what happened on Rainbow Bridge to you?”
“In a very vague way. There was a fight and you were dead.” Johnny plopped into the chair next to Seishirou’s bed.
“That pretty much sums it up,” Seishirou said. “Fortunately, Hokuto managed to keep my soul from going over to the other side, and after wandering around Tokyo for a while, I managed to get back into my body.” His hands itched for a cigarette. “It’s very painful; I don’t recommend trying it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Johnny said. “Your boyfriend really knows how to throw a punch, though.”
Seishirou raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What did I miss?”
“That he marched into Fuuma’s hideout, rescued me, kicked Fuuma’s ass good and hard, then tried to stab him.”
“Oh,” Seishirou said, sounding surprised. “Hardly Subaru-kun’s style.”
“He was a bit upset,” Johnny said, understating the case remarkably.
“If that was a ‘bit’ upset, I’d hate to see him ‘very’ upset,” Seishirou said dryly.
“You and me both,” Johnny said.
Seishirou rolled his eyes. “Does that answer all your questions?”
“For now. So how are you feeling?”
“Like I drowned in freezing cold water and most of it’s still wandering around in my lungs,” Seishirou said. “Which is, for the most part, fairly accurate.”
“Okay then,” Johnny said. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”
Seishirou raised an eyebrow. “For my sake or for Subaru’s?”
“Eh. Both.”
“I’m flattered, Johnny, thank you.” Seishirou grinned. “I knew if I kept trying, someday I’d win you over.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Don’t push your luck, Sei-san. You knew nothing of the sort.”
Seishirou laughed, which quickly turned into a coughing fit. After he caught his breath, he lay back for a second. “I know, but I always hoped.”
“Hope is a valuable thing,” Johnny said, nodding wisely.
Seishirou looked at him for a second, trying to figure out whether or not the younger man was joking. “Yeah,” he finally said. “It is.”
“So how’s Sleeping Beauty?” Johnny asked, nodding towards Subaru.
“The doctor said he’d be okay. He passed out about thirty seconds after I woke up the first time. He’s suffering from some pretty bad magical backlash; his fever is pretty high. I don’t know what he did to get it.”
“The backlash or the fever?” Johnny asked.
“The fever is a result of the backlash,” Seishirou explained. “I don’t know what caused the backlash.”
“He tossed Fuuma around pretty good. And I think he did that thing where he looks in your head. There must be a better term for it than that.”
“Going Within,” Seishirou replied. Then he realized what Johnny had just said. “He went Within Fuuma?”
“That was right after I told him to curb stomp the guy,” Johnny said, nodding.
Seishirou felt a headache coming on. “I’ll have to lecture him about it later. He’s going to feel pretty sick for a couple days.”
“Just as long as he takes care of himself, or someone else takes care of him,” Johnny said.
Seishirou nodded gravely. “I’ll see to it.”
“I’m sure. Figured you would.”
Seishirou yawned. “You can wait for him to wake up if you want, but I’m going to go back to sleep.”
****