X: Sides
by K.Huntsman
Clans of two Dragons... one gold and black, one silver and blue. These were Their crests, and the protections They gave to the Mortals who caught Their Notice. The humans, of course, believed these images of Dragons to be Their true forms, and who was to say that they were wrong in that?
Eventually Their protections were disregarded, as They did not influence the daily world in the favor of Their Chosen, and in the end, They were forgotten. Still, Those of the Light and Those of the Dark remained aware of Their Chosen clans through the centuries, through the generations.
There were many reasons They had Chosen so discriminately, you see, and the Future was one of them.
Between Their two Families there was an old feud, whose origins are lost to mortal knowledge, that caused a rift. One of the Families wished to re-create the Human World, to start anew in homage to the forces of Chaos and Entropy. The other wished the Human World to remain as it was, in tribute to the forces of Order and Stasis.
Of each of Their Chosen clans, there was born one Mortal, in the time of Reckoning, who would gain the full Power of a Dragon, and battle to determine which of the Families would have Their wish Fulfilled.
This is their story.
X: Sides
Part 1
by Kristin HuntsmanA silken hand ran over Kamui's throat, and he looked into eyes as old as eternity. :You are one of us,: the creature whispered lovingly in his mind. :You are a Dragon, child of Man. Blessed of our Family, you are the Champion and the Chooser. Beware of the Chosen, the Warlord....:
Kamui woke with a gasp. "A Dragon..." he whispered. He always dreamt of dragons. Sometimes they made him happy, sometimes they terrified him. Sometimes they loved him, in ways that made him blush, and sometimes...
... sometimes they killed him.
Kamui got up, out of bed, and left the bedroom behind him, walking to a larger room, one full of comfy chairs and overstuffed pillows, with large windows that looked out on trees and grass and the open sky. Nokoru Imonoyama, whose house this was, could be nothing but lavish in his decorating expenses. And it was all somehow eminently comfortable and familiar.
At least, during the day, this room would have seemed warm and personal. But at night Kamui kept seeing Dragons and enemies in every shadow. At least Kotori was safe....
He sank down into one of the large chairs, letting the moonlight wash over him like a cool bath, with a quiet sigh of despair.
One of the shadows moved, and he twisted to face it, instantly ready to fight.
"Sumeragi..." he said, relieved and surprised at the same time, watching as one of the other Dragons of Heaven took a seat across from him.
The onmyouji said nothing, just faced him patiently.
Kamui waited, violet eyes matching the green ones looking into them.
"... I know that sound in your voice," Subaru Sumeragi said eventually. "What did you dream, Kamui?"
"Dragons again," Kamui said, to one of the very few people he trusted now. Sorata, Sumeragi, and Kotori... that was it. Not Fuuma... not now.
Sumeragi ran a hand through his dusty black hair. "Dragons again. Since we have all now come together, not a single one of us has dreamt of anything else. And you and he and I, at least, have all been seeing them for years...."
Kamui didn't have to ask who Sumeragi meant by "he." He already knew. Seishirou Sakurazuka. Sakurazukamori. Sumeragi's oldest enemy, the one who had killed his sister, the one who had betrayed his friendship and affections... the same thing Fuuma had done to Kamui.
Sakurazukamori... another Dragon of Heaven.
"So what does it mean?" Sorata Arisugawa asked from the door. He moved to take another chair near them.
Sumeragi closed his eyes and took a soft breath, seeming to be considering. "In my family, there are legends of a Dragon choosing us as the clan it wished to protect. It's said that that's where we gained our powers and knowledge, as well as our surname."
"'Sumeragi'?" Sorata asked. "How do you get that out of 'ryuu'? It's nowhere near the same kanji!"
"The Dragon who gave blessing to my family was the Emperor of the Heavenly Dragons," Sumeragi answered. "It is said he was the eldest of seven siblings, who ruled over fully one-half of all creatures."
"Seven?" Kamui asked.
"Yes," Sumeragi agreed, with a slight nod. "Besides the Emperor, there were also the Guardian, the Mage, the Priest, the Champion, the Lady, and the Healer. They were sworn to protect the Princess, who was not of either of the two Dragon Clans, but was rather a human woman, holy and sacred beyond belief."
"That almost sounds like us," Sorata whispered. Kamui felt a shiver run down his spine.
"What do you mean?" Kamui asked, a little disturbed by the expression on Sorata's face. Was the Kansai-jin actually in awe of something?
"At Kouya-san, where I was raised, we had a similar legend... and I was told that I had been taken there to be trained because I had the blood of a Dragon God in me," Sorata replied. "I never believed it... but if you're descended from a Dragon, too, Sumeragi...."
"The legend doesn't say 'descended,' just 'protected,'" Sumeragi replied, seeming to consider it seriously.
"No wonder that Dragon in my dreams said I'm one of them..." Kamui thought out loud. "If you're right about this, that is," he added.
"They are," another voice added. Kamui looked up and saw Nokoru Imonoyama stepping into the room. "All seven of you are members of clans that long, long ago won the protection of Dragons."
"How do you know?" Sorata asked.
"Simple. I have the resources to find out things," Imonoyama replied, stopping just short of them. "I can tell you more, if you like."
"Please," Sumeragi invited, gesturing for the blond man to sit down.
"This starts several years ago," Imonoyama warned. "One of your number, Seiichirou Aoki, attended CLAMP Campus from kindergarten all the way through university. I chanced to meet him one day while I was in junior high and he was in the high school. My family has always had a bit of psychic ability; I have more than most. I saw Aoki-san as a Dragon that day, and promptly became interested."
"And...?" Sorata inquired.
"I see the same Dragons in you and the others," Imonoyama said. "You may not individually know it, but you are each descended directly-- through blood--from one of the seven Heavenly Dragons. Sumeragi-san comes from the line of the Emperor Dragon, obviously, and you, Arisugawa-san, from the line of the Priest Dragon. Aoki-san is from the Mage line, Nataku-san from the Healer, Nekoi-san from the Lady, and Sakurazuka-san from the Guardian. And you, Shirou-san, come from the line of the Champion, who, though not their ruler, was by far the most powerful of all the Heavenly Dragons."
"How can Nataku be descended from a Dragon?!" Sorata demanded. "Nataku's genetically engineered and doesn't have a mother or father!"
"I was puzzled by that as well," Imonoyama confessed, "until I happened across the theory that Nataku-san is the reincarnation of someone else... a little girl, last of the line of the Healer, who died just a few hours before Nataku-san was first created."
"Who wrote this theory?" Sorata asked.
"The chief engineer of the project that created Nataku-san, president of the company that masked the project... and grandfather of Kazuki, the girl who died because her body was too weak to survive. In addition... Nataku was genetically based on Kazuki."
Kamui let out a soft breath that he didn't know that he had been holding.
"How appropriate... the Cherry Blossom Grave Guardian descended from the Guardian Dragon," Sumeragi said abruptly, bitterly, and stood, walking over to the window, his back to the three of them. "The Gods have an interesting sense of humor."
Kamui could see the pain in the lines of Sumeragi's body, the tense need to hit something, to break it. Is that what I'll become...? he wondered.
As if hearing his thoughts, Sumeragi turned, his green eyes meeting Kamui's. :No,: he thought telepathically. :My course of self-destruction is different than yours, Kamui. I've had more time to perfect my hatred than you will. Your confrontation isn't going to take seven years to happen.: Then he walked towards the door and left the room.
Kamui watched after him with a sense of sorrow and a pain that was as great as his own.
Seiichirou turned in his sleep, dreams that weren't dreams disturbing him as he met an enemy who was an old friend.
Yuzuriha whimpered, nightmares of dark Dragons destroying the light scaring her and making her cry. Inuki gently nuzzled her sleeping form.
Nataku woke abruptly, looking around the room and wondering where it was, trying not to go back to the disturbing dreams of Kazuki's death.
Seishirou smiled, watching Subaru-kun bloody his hands against a stone wall in frustration.
Subaru lashed out at the unmoving stone with his bare fists, hitting and hitting and hitting again, each blow just shy of the force that would break his hands, until his red blood painted the wall and the skin was abraded on every inch of his hands. He paused, panting for breath, feeling the pain overwhelm the fury inside of him.
With a choked sob, he fell to his knees. Damn him. Damn Sakurazukamori. Damn you, Seishirou-san....
"Now, now, Subaru-kun, I wouldn't say such things if I were you," an all-too-familiar voice mocked softly. "Nor would I think them. You and I both know the consequences of hasty words."
"What would you know of such things," Subaru replied venemously, watching a shadow detach itself from the others around it and walk towards him.
"Little, perhaps, or perhaps more than you can know, my darling," murmured Sakurazukamori, kneeling down before him, taking Subaru's hands in his own. He gently kissed the back of each hand and a blue-green star glowed softly, a wave of healing spreading and restoring Subaru's hands to an undamaged state.
"I hate you," Subaru hissed, wanting more than ever to kill Seishirou for that liberty, for the pretense of still seeming familiar.
"I hate you, too, for what you did to me," Seishirou replied softly, with a smile. "Why do you think I hurt you so much, Subaru-kun?"
Subaru lashed out at Seishirou instinctively, with as much force as he could muster, and wasn't surprised when Seishirou caught his hand in mid-strike. "We will play these games forever, won't we, beloved?" Seishirou murmured, just before touching his lips to Subaru's in a kiss.
Subaru bit him and jerked his captured hands away.
"I'll endure this mockery because I have to," he said, getting to his feet, watching Seishirou genially wipe the blood off of his lips. "The minute you and I no longer need to be allied for the sake of this world, however, I will kill you."
"Kill me now, Subaru-kun," Seishirou invited. "I won't make a move against you, I promise. Why not just do it now?"
"Kamui still needs you on his side," Subaru answered. "And that is the sole reason we are both now still alive."
"If you couldn't kill me before, and you can't kill me now, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said quietly, "what makes you think you'll be able to do it later?"
"I hate you," Subaru whispered once more before leaving.
Elsewhere, a DreamGazer wished against the future happening, not wanting to oppose his old friend.
Shiyuu Kusanagi looked out of a window, thinking about the young girl with the inugami that he had met a few days before... dreading what the touch of Dragon's Blood he had felt in her meant.
Karen Kasumi looked up for a second from the customer she was entertaining and wondered when it would begin.
Yuuto Kigai smiled, watching Satsuki practice her deadly art of toying with the world through her computers.
Arashi Kishuu meditated patiently, waiting for the future to occur, unable to keep her thoughts from her encounter with the Dragon of Heaven who she had met, and was destined for.
Satsuki Yatouji almost laughed aloud, contemplating the destruction about to come... no more humans to bother her.
Fuuma Monou wished for the night to extend longer, to be able to live in the darkness forever, hiding, waiting to strike until Kamui was in range.
Hinoto dreamt of Dragons that destroyed her, and wept.
Kanoe dreamt of Dragons destroying her sister and herself, and wept.
Kotori dreamed of a glowing light growing inside of her, until she was that light, and all that she touched was purified and made good.
The rest of the world, too, dreamt disturbed dreams, knowing in the deepest part of their souls that the Dragon Gods had come to battle.
X: Sides
Part 2
by Kristin Huntsman
Sorata smiled and closed his eyes, daydreaming of Arashi Kishuu.
The beautiful Dragon of Earth who had captured his heart and mind had not seemed entirely immune to him. Sorata wondered what she was like when she wasn't fighting him with that sword in her hand. She was a student, the same as him; her school uniform had been hard not to notice. Ah, such a beautiful, graceful miss, that one....
Was she a good student? She looked to be the serious type.... What was her family like? What were her hobbies?
Dancer, his inner voice whispered to him. Yes, he could see that. She would be a dancer, lithe and agile and full of skill, twisting delicately with the breeze.
Smiling sillily, Sorata closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of his match, who was his enemy and his destiny.
Arashi blinked and woke out of her meditations as a familiar sense brushed at her ears and mind.
Him.
After so long, it was him.
Her lover... and her enemy.
Arashi blinked. Where had THAT come from?
"Arashi-san," someone said calmly. "Are you finished with your meditations?"
"Yes, Yuuto-san," Arashi replied, easily rolling to her feet as her adoptive brother stepped further into her room. "Was there some reason you wished to see me?"
"Just wondering how you were," Yuuto replied as he idly watched Arashi shrug out of her outer kimono. The blue silk pooled around her feet as she walked to her closet, dark hair spilling over her shoulders. "Wondering what your opinions were of the Dragon of Heaven you encountered... the 'Visitor from Kouya,' correct?"
"He had a Kansai accent, yes," Arashi agreed, keeping her voice carefully neutral as she stepped behind a screen to change. "He said his name was Sorata Arisugawa, and that he came from Kouya-san."
"Ah, this Dragon of Heaven was raised by the Stargazer, then," Yuuto commented as Arashi slipped on a blouse. "How did he strike you as?"
"Carefree and playful," Arashi replied, paying close attention to her buttons. "He seemed rather light-hearted about the entire thing." She stepped out from behind the screen, noticing that she was avoiding meeting her brother's gaze. Really, that was ridiculous... there was no reason that thoughts of one of the Dragons of Heaven should cause her pulse to be skipping this way, to be tumbling her thoughts and emotions over and over in her mind. No reason at all. "And you, Yuuto-san?"
"'Sakurazukamori?'" her brother asked. "He is very skilled with his powers... I found his Illusion very difficult to avoid."
"A worthy opponent, then," Arashi observed, completing her toilet and turning again to face Yuuto. "Any other observations?"
"He fought with great skill... but dispassionately," Yuuto said with a slight frown, as if it troubled him.
"He is said to be that way," Arashi reminded him. "Sakurazukamori is an emotionless assassin, if you believe the rumors, remember?"
"That's so," Yuuto replied, brightening. "Well, sister, shall we go visit Satsuki-chan and see what she has been up to?"
"Yes, my brother," Arashi replied, taking his hand as he led her from the room with the full court grace of the gentleman he was...
... and had once been, if she was to trust her delusions.
Nataku hesitated, then finally squinched its eyes shut and stabbed the chopsticks into the piece of fish with a wince.
"What are you so squeamish about?" Sorata Arisugawa asked it.
Nataku sighed and put down the chopsticks. "I can't do this," it confessed with a sigh. "That fish was alive once."
"So just eat the vegetables," Sorata advised. "That's all that Sumeragi eats, after all...."
Subaru Sumeragi looked up at the mention of his name, then quietly resumed eating without a word.
"I believe Subaru-kun gave up eating meat entirely because it was easier just to forego it altogether, given his dedication to 'purity' in his work..." Seishirou Sakurazuka observed, smiling across the table at Sumeragi.
"I will not speak of purity with you," Sumeragi hissed quietly. Nataku nearly flinched from the hatred in his voice.
"It is kind of sad, if you think about it..." Yuzuriha Nekoi said, looking at her meal. "Nataku-san is right; that fish had just as much right to live as we do."
"That is why we give thanks to its spirit for nourishing us, and pray for it to move on to another life, hopefully to an incarnation more advanced," Seiichirou Aoki said easily, his brown eyes gentle and considerate behind his glasses.
"I still can't eat it," Nataku decided, pushing the plate away.
One of the servants quickly took the plate from the table and replaced it with a bowl of the same mixture of steamed vegetables that Sumeragi was eating. "Thank you," Nataku murmured, with a smile. This it could eat.
"So now that all seven of us are gathered together, what are we supposed to do?" Yuzuriha asked. "Do you know, Kamui-san?"
Kamui shook his head. "I don't," he replied. "I think the only ones who know all of what is going on are Hinoto and Imonoyama."
"How is Kotori-chan?" Sorata asked as Nataku watched, quietly eating.
"She's still sleeping," Kamui murmured. "I don't know...."
At that moment, the object of their conversation walked into the dining room, garbed in a peach-colored gown, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Oh, I overslept," she murmured. "I'm sorry that I'm late for breakfast...."
"No, no, it's all right, we just started," Sorata reassured her with a smile and a wave. "There's a free chair over there, next to Kamui...."
Kotori smiled prettily at Sorata, then breathtakingly at Kamui as he stood and pulled out the chair for her. "Thank you, Kamui-chan!"
One of the servants set out the same breakfast that everyone else was eating before Kotori, and she smiled at the maid with a murmured "Thank you." The maid smiled back, and melted invisibly into the background.
"Oh, this is good!" Kotori exclaimed as she began to eat. "I must ask for the recipe for this, so I can make it for Oniichan--" She cut herself short, and quietly bowed down her head. "I'm sorry... I forgot," she mumured quietly. "For a few minutes I thought it was just a dream. How silly of me to forget such a thing...."
"It's all right, Kotori-chan," Kamui comforted her, holding her gently around the shoulders. "Cry if you feel like it. It's all right."
Satsuki sighed in a familiar frustration as she once again failed to crack the computer system of the Imonoyama family and CLAMP Campus. It kept changing configurations on her, just faster than she could decode them. She'd almost have sworn that the system was playing with her.
Truly annoyed, Satsuki diverted herself with Chrono Trigger until her computers warned her she had company.
"Kanoe," she said in greeting as she disengaged.
"Still no luck, Satsuki?" Kanoe asked.
"Any system with THAT good of a security program HAS to have something in it that I want to see," Satsuki complained, letting her annoyance show through to this... human.
She, the Scribe, had no need of such weak, short-sighted creatures as these annoying, brief mortals. Let them all die. She didn't care.
"Calm your thoughts, Satsuki-chan," another cautioned her. "The lady Kanoe is our most gracious hostess on this occasion." Satsuki watched as the Knight entered the hall, accompanied by his amour, the Dancer. Yuuto bent low to kiss Kanoe's hand in greeting, and Satsuki felt herself become angry at her former lover.
Damn him for not remembering. Damn him for casting eyes once again at the virginial Dancer, who would have nothing to do with his silken charms.
In this form, she was too unattractive to his cultured eyes... eyes that strayed to such lush creatures as the human Kanoe, such lithe forms as that of the Dancer, Arashi Kishuu... another Dragon who had not yet Awoken.
Nokoru frowned, looking at the Shinken. It hung in mid-air of its own accord, and pulsed in waves of white energy that corresponded to the beats of a living heart. Kamui Shirou's heart.
"What have I entered into?" he wondered quietly. "All seven of the Dragons of Heaven gathered here on CLAMP Campus, waiting for Destiny to fulfill itself. I'm either really stupid or really brilliant... I'm not sure which."
"Given your track record, the latter is more likely, Kaichou," Akira said from his side.
"Akira... you do realize what will happen to the school if the Dragons Change and lose control of it, right?" Nokoru asked, looking at his innocent friend. "Or what will happen if the Dragons of Earth attack while they're here?"
"The school will get flattened and anyone here at the time will most likely be killed," Akira said quietly. "Therefore, we must hope that that will not happen."
"Kaichou, there are two of the Dragons here to see you," Suoh said softly, entering the room silently. "Seiichirou Aoki and Yuzuriha Nekoi."
"Bring them in here, please, Suoh," Nokoru said. "I think that if you and Akira are not going to be busy for a little while, you might want to stay as well."
"Yes, Kaichou," Suoh said softly, leaving to go to the outer offices to get the two Dragons.
"You're melancholy, Kaichou," Akira observed. "Is something wrong?"
"I just really hope that I'm doing the right thing, Akira," Nokoru whispered. "I want the Dragons of Heaven to win. I don't want to see this world destroyed."
Akira hesitated, then put his hand on Nokoru's shoulder. "There's always the gateway... Luce," he said, using Nokoru's secret name. "If the future is verboten, then at least our memories will always remain."
"Maybe so, Hope," he replied. "But our lives are here now, in this incarnation, guiding the Dragons. This world is too precious to be destroyed...."
The door opened again, and Luce instantly became Nokoru again, Hope also returning to his mortal guise and self, Akira.
"Imonoyama-san," the girl said brightly, bowing. "It's nice to see you again!"
"Thank you for sheltering us in your home," her companion added, also bowing formally.
"Nekoi-san, Aoki-san, I thank you for letting me be of assistance," Nokoru replied, bowing in return. "I do not believe you have had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of my companions. May I introduce to you Akira Ijyuin, the Treasurer of CLAMP Campus, and Suoh Takamura, the Secretary of CLAMP Campus?"
"Pleased to meet you," the two Dragons murmured in the same breath, bowing politely. Suoh and Akira returned the courtesy.
"Is that the Shinken?" Nekoi asked, stepping closer to the center of the room. "Wow. I didn't get to look at it closely the other day... I didn't think it was that... that...."
"Big, Yuzuriha-chan?" Aoki suggested with a slight smile.
"Pretty!"
"May I assume you've come to discuss 'business?'" Nokoru asked.
"Actually, yes," Aoki replied. "Arisugawa-san happened to mention this morning that you said something last night about Dragons...."
"Ah, the fact that the seven Dragons of Heaven are descended from the seven Heavenly Dragon Gods?" Nokoru asked.
"Yes." Aoki seemed troubled. "The thought occured to me, as I am not entirely unfamiliar with the legends of the Dragon Gods... are the seven Dragons of Earth the descendants of the Earthly Dragon Gods?"
"Unfortunately... yes," Nokoru replied. "And in all of you, it appears the tragedies of the legends will repeated."
"... What do you mean, Imonoyama-san?" Nekoi asked cautiously, her eyes shifting from the Shinken to him.
Nokoru took a soft breath and released it. He hoped they were ready for this particular bit of knowledge.
"You are..." he said quietly, "the reincarnations of your ancestors, the Dragon Gods."
Minor Explanations....
1) I wrote this before seeing Sohryuden, though not before reading Windlily-dono's Interlude and Dragon Dreams stories.
2) This is an alternate reality, so legends have been retroactively changed.
3) Parts of the personal histories of some characters have obviously been changed. Though not those of Kamui, Fuuma, Kotori, Sorata, and Subaru. Yes, this means everyone else is fair game, though I won't say by how much.
4) Thanks to Rika and Liz for translating various of the X Character File CDs; they helped me vastly to get going on this again.
X: Sides
Part 3
by Kristin Huntsman
Nataku made its way to the library of Imonoyama-san's home. Knowing of nothing better to do during otherwise empty "awake" hours, it selected a book to read. It pondered, as it sat down, the strangeness of this life. It had spent the first 443 days of its conscious existance in the laboratories below the Sunshine 60 building, slowly learning about the outside world through books and pictures and words. Then, on the 444th day, a Tuesday, a strange person, not one of the scientists, had somehow entered the labs and stolen Nataku out of them.
Once they were outside of the building, the masked person had led Nataku to a waiting car, and they had driven off.
The person, a man, had explained to Nataku that its presence was required at the place he was taking it to. He had removed the mask and explained that his name was Akira Ijyuin and that he had stolen Nataku as a favor for a friend, who was offering hospitality and shelter to all seven of the Dragons of Heaven.
Since then, from the 444th day of its existance to now, the 448th day of its existance, Nataku had lived in this house, beginning to experience for the first time the things it had only learned objectively about before.
With each passing day, it became more sure that humans were the strangest creatures imaginable.
Karen Kasumi stretched luxuriantly out on her bed and considered just lying there all day. She was certainly in no hurry to go anywhere or do anything....
"Wake up."
The controlled voice was familiar. Karen smiled sweetly and said back, without opening her eyes, "Good morning, Satsuki-chan. In a bad mood?"
The covers were torn away ruthlessly and Karen mewled as the warmth trapped in them deserted her. "Get up," Satsuki said, and Karen could feel the cold brown eyes assessing her naked body. "We're Dragon-hunting today."
"Wouldn't you rather hunt Kigai-san?" Karen asked sweetly, posing provocatively on the blue silk sheets. "I'm sure if you let him see you like this, he'd come to his senses...."
Satsuki snorted. "The fastest way to a man's heart isn't through his groin, Kyuuteishoufu. It's through his chest."
"It seems to work well enough for the others, Daishonin-sama," Karen replied to the elder Dragon as she slid off the king-sized bed and wandered over to her dresser. She opened a drawer and considered which underthings to wear today. She ended up deciding on a theme of green... green bra, panties, and garter belt, underneath a darker green dress. Green set off her hair nicely, and she was a natural redhead at both ends. "Well, where do you propose we start, Oneesama?" Karen asked, teasing a bit. It was rather amusing, she thought, that they had been born out of order in this lifetime so that she, formerly the youngest, was now seven years older than Satsuki, formerly the eldest.
"CLAMP Campus," Satsuki replied without hesitation. "We know they're hiding there... thanks to the Warlord."
"They may have moved on," Karen pointed out. "We have no way of knowing for certain that they remained in a place so obvious."
"They did," Satsuki replied, perfectly confident. "He has always had the strongest ties to his reflection, and you know it. And if Bushin says Yuusha is there, Yuusha is there. And so are the others."
Akira paused as something brushed at his senses. "Takamura-sempai?" he asked.
"I felt it too, Ijyuin," his sempai replied. "Shall we tell Kaichou, or deal with it ourselves?"
"Tell Kaichou," Akira voted instantly. "He's the only one of us proven to have been able to keep a dragon in check."
"The dragon Luce faced as Saint George was a bit different..." Suoh hedged as they headed towards Nokoru's office.
Akira just smiled and shrugged, not letting his real worry show. If the Earthly Dragons struck just yet, it would be disastrous. Only one, maybe two, of the Heavenly Dragons had Awoken and Remembered yet. They couldn't fight quite properly without their memories....
"Kaichou?" he asked as he opened the door before them. Nokoru's blue eyes steadily acknowledged him, as did the eyes of Yuzuriha Nekoi... the Lady Dragon, Shukujo... and Seiichirou Aoki... the Mage Dragon, Mahoutsukai. Akira only needed to say one word, and he did. "Trouble."
"I see," Nokoru said, standing up. "Situation?"
"Two Dragons at the gate," Takamura-sempai, Faith, said as they both entered the room fully. The door softly shut behind them.
"Which Dragons?"
Akira shook his head, indicating that he didn't know, and Suoh did the same.
Nokoru paused for a moment, looking thoughtful, then simply picked up the remote control that rested on the table before him and pointed it at a wall. A drapery rolled up to show a television screen. "Main gate," he softly said, and the screen flickered on, showing a picture of two women standing behind a locked gate. "Enhance." The picture zoomed in, defining the features of the two women. Seiichirou Aoki gasped.
"It can't be her!" he said, half-standing from where he was sitting.
"You know one of them, Aoki-san?" Yuzuriha Nekoi questioned.
"Yes, the redhead... her name is Karen Kasumi. She works at Soapland Flower. I went there once on assignment to find out some information for a rather eccentric manga-ka...."
"Kaichou?" Akira asked, watching his friend.
Nokoru smiled. "Well, shall we go meet our guests?" he asked. "Suoh, Akira?"
"Not again..." Akira heard Suoh mutter.
"Aoki-san, Nekoi-san," Nokoru continued, seeming not to have heard Suoh's comment, "I hate to interrupt our discussion like this, but it appears a slight emergency has come up. I would prefer not to get the school involved as a battleground if I can help it, so I hope you won't feel too upset if I ask that you went back to the house? It's shielded to the best of our capabilities from psychic senses, so the Dragons of Earth shouldn't be able to find any of you there."
"Of course," Seiichirou Aoki agreed. "I hope we can continue this discussion another time, Imonoyama-san?"
"Oh, definitely," Nokoru agreed with a smile before turning and going out the door. Akira and Suoh followed him out of instinct, the three of them breaking into a run the minute the door closed behind them. "I am not letting them get at these Dragons!" Nokoru said decisively.
"Kaichou... what are you planning?" Takamura-sempai inquired.
"Three Angels against two Dragons... we should be able to hold them," Nokoru said, "if we're lucky." He looked at Suoh first, then Akira. "Don't you think it's time you should stop calling me 'kaichou'? We're long out of school."
Akira smiled. "No," he replied. "'Kaichou' is who you are!"
Nokoru smiled, shook his head, and kept on running.
Subaru looked up from the antique book on onmyoujutsu he had found in the library two nights before. Something was tugging at his inner senses, so he set the book down as he stood. He belatedly remembered that he should have marked his page, as the ward whose copy he had been examining had an interesting variation of the normal in it. But never mind that, something wasn't right....
There. To the north. Someone... something... human, inhuman... opposing. A mirror, almost, darkened... but not a mirror either. A person, unique, and not quite human. What was it? This inhumanity was not like Sakurazukamori's, and not like Nataku's, for they were still both flesh and mortal to him when he felt them, but this... this was something entirely different. Different than anything but in his dreams....
Dragon.
Dragon's flesh, Dragon's blood. Dragon calling him. Calling a challenge.
Challenge. Come and get me. Get me before I get you. I'm coming. Watch out, or watch yourself die. I'm coming.
Challenge. Throwing down the glove.
Dragon.
Subaru blinked. A Dragon of Earth? That couldn't be right... they too were mortal. This was something else entirely....
Dragon's power....
Satsuki frowned as she looked at the gate. Easy to destroy. But not so easy were the three figures she saw behind it. So they were here, too, were they? Damn them for being interfering fools.
"Well, Daishonin-sama, it appears we are well-met," the one she recognized easily as Luce, the light-bearer, commented. He bowed politely. "Kyuuteishoufu-sama," he said, greeting her sibling as well. Kyuuteishoufu giggled a little bit and smiled at the Angel and his two companions. She always had been weak where that damned charmer came in.
"The Dragons, Luce," she demanded, getting right to the point, "where are they?"
He shrugged a bit. "Safe," he infuriatingly replied. "Why do you ask, Daishonin-sama?"
"Where?"
His blue eyes grew serious for a moment. "Somewhere guarded from you and yours, my lady Scribe, until they Awaken and can face you on equal terms."
"I could destroy you for this."
"The more Angels you try to destroy, the more slip through your fingers," Luce replied lightly. "We are three; you are two. How do you think you will fare?"
"Oh, let's just leave, Oneesama," the Courtesan Dragon said from Satsuki's side. "He's right. Besides, we'll get our chance yet."
It galled Satsuki to accept that her sister was right.
Nokoru couldn't help smiling at Kyuuteishoufu as she blew him a kiss before turning to leave. He liked her, and would like to know her better... if only they hadn't been caught in such circumstances. Ah well. Time enough for that in a few centuries. "Akira, Suoh," he said, turning back to his two best friends, "shall we go and see how the Dragons are doing?"
"The paperwork," Suoh objected automatically.
Nokoru put on his most pleading, winsome expression. "But isn't saving this world more important than the paperwork, Suoh?"
Suoh wavered for a minute. "... Maybe," he ended up conceding. "But you have to promise me that you'll get it all done before the end of the week."
"I'll spend all day tomorrow doing paperwork!" Nokoru promised. "I'll get it all done!"
Akira giggled. "Some things will never change, no matter what the century," he said.
Nokoru looked at him and smiled. "It's better dodging the paperwork here than it was in Hell," was all he said.
Subaru sighed in relief as the odd sense of something faded away into the distance. He didn't know what it had been, but he knew instinctively it was nothing he could face. There were some things that were too big for a single onmyouji like him to take on.
Seiichirou sat on a bench in the gardens right outside the house. Something was happening. Something in his mind, and he didn't quite trust what it was. It was as if his conversation with Imonoyama-san had created a crack in an earthern dam, and the pressure of the water behind it was causing the dam to slowly break....
Not Imonoyama-san. Luce.
Luce?
Angel. With wings and all.
Angel?
Dragon.
What about it?
I/you/we are a Dragon.
I knew that.
Not that Dragon. Other Dragon. Heavenly Dragon. Mahoutsukai.
... Mahoutsukai?
The Mage Dragon.
The dam broke, and memories flooded Seiichirou's mind.
Author's Ramblings
I think I inserted an extra part here... Aoki-san was supposed to Awaken in the beginning of this part, not the end. Thanks to Kakyou/Eagle for deciding a path of names and finding most of them, and thanks to Liz for correcting the list.