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A New World	By : Meirav Category: +S to Z > X/1999 Views: 2658 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own X/1999, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Disclaimer: I don�t own X/1999, I didn�t come up
with any of their brilliant characters, they�re the geniuses not me!

The character of Alex,
Jacob, Venus, Charlie, David and Dimitri are all mine. The Noters are half
reality. The rest belong to all the book/movie/TV stuff they came from. If you
can spot where they�re from then good for you! Oh and the lyrics of the song
are translated from Hebrew and belong to Yehudit Ravirtz.

Warning: character death. Don�t blame me, blame the monster that killed
him�.*hides under the desk*

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

Part 13 - Kazuki�s Dress

The wedding had been a wonderful event.

As Yutu took charge of the ceremony he had spread a wonderful
comfortable atmosphere which soothed the participants so that nothing but joy
could be felt around. The weather was warm and pleasant, the food was good if
not a bit scarce and the daisy decorations were marvelous.

The happy couple roamed amongst the audience chatting and laughing
merrily, adding to the slight cacophony in a gathering of a large crowd. All
around them, whatever face they looked upon, the guests saw only smiling and
happy faces. The joy was so thick in the air it was almost stifling, yet
wonderfully refreshing in the usual stress and terror filled city.

Only one participant didn�t feel that way. He felt like a hole is
punched through his chest over and over again.

But no one was like him, all celebrated with the newly weds, so he moved
to the shadows, away from the celebrators and the happiness that choked and
sickened him in his dark state.

For the actual ceremony Yutu had the two weds swear their love to each
other while holding hands looking deeply into each other�s eyes.

The he called all lovers to gather around them. Couples rushed to the
altar itself, they held hands in a circle around the newly weds creating a brilliant
light from the altar. The stronger they loved each other the stronger the light
that beamed from them under Yutu�s newly gained powers.

In the darkness, in a corner shadowed so that no one can see him, Alex
stood smoking a cigarette and glaring at the altar.

Kamui and Fuma held hands, looking so lovingly at each other. They were
glowing with their love, just like everyone else.

Green eyes burned in the darkness, their edges starting to turn turquoise.
Something was cooking in his mind.

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

Morning. A sleepy yet always energetic Yutu
made his way to the infirmary offices with a sleepy, but used to nine to five jobs starting way earlier,
Seiichiro.

Morning. And the north Noter base�s first
patrol rode through the streets of their section of the city. Ferret was on
that patrol.

The moment she noticed her lover she jumped off of the moving cart and
ran towards him.

Out of no where arms grabbed Yutu, bringing with them the whole weight
of the light body connected to them. Love looked into the face that placed
itself inches from his and kissed it�s lips.

Seiichiro, who noticed that he wasn�t accompanied as before looked back
at the scene and sighed.

Why was it that didn�t he like this young girl jumping Yutu all the
time?

It wasn�t the fact that often he was locked out of his own room because
the couple needed privacy? No.

It wasn�t the way the room smelt afterwards either.

It wasn�t the fact that Yutu always went uber-genki
after each meeting like that, may it be night or day,
and would babble endlessly until Seiichiro begged for mercy (inwardly).

It wasn�t the fact that Yutu, as young as he looked, was some good years
older then this girl.

It wasn�t the fact that both deserted their duties when around each
other.

It wasn�t even the fact that they reminded him of how he and his wife
used to be when they were young lovers.

Then what was it then?

�I have to get to work� kiss �I really do� kiss �I�ll see you later
today� kiss

�Promise?� kiss, kiss, kiss, long passionate kiss

�After that kiss? Of course! I�ll
be running back for more!� charming smile. Another
kiss.

Seiichiro could have thrown up his meal. He turned around, folding his
arms on his chest and sighed.

�What are you moping about?� Yutu finally joined him.

They began moving towards the office again.

�Nothing�

�Ah but you were angry about something, what was it?�

�That is enough of that Kigai -san�

�Call me Yutu�

�I will think about it�

�Yutu-kun?�

�that is highly unlikely�

�Yutu-san?!�

�We�ll be late if you keep walking this slowly Kigai-san�

Yutu sighed, what an ice queen. He saw straight through Seiichiro�s defensive behavior. After all he was
Love and he could see these things.

He smiled to himself thinking that if he ever breaks up with Ferret then
he�ll have someone to fall on to, maybe even literally.

�Well I�ll still call you Seiichiro!�

�Aoki-san for you�

�Aww, what next?
You�ll insist on me calling you senpai?!�

�Well I am older and more experienced then you are��

�Experienced in what departments?� hint hint.

Seiichiro turned his head away so Yutu won�t see him blush. He hated the
blond, hated him with all his might. He did!

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

Morning. Kamui and Fuma dressed, trying to
stall things as much as they could; they both feared what the day will bring to
them. They�ve never done anything like that before.

As Justice they had to bring up a court to deal with the criminals of
this dimension. That led to several things in need of arranging.

There was a prison in this dimension but its definition was that it kept
people who were too dangerous from running around society.

It was more of an asylum then a prison. That had to be changed, another
mission for Fuma and Kamui.

But first they had to speak to Lion, the commander of all Noters. He
would assist them with guards for the court, building the court, wardens in the
prison and so on.

The boys never saw him before the wedding and even then they mostly shied
away and tried to avoid their duty.

They exited the house with a deep feeling of awkwardness, dragging their
feet and taking little breaks to look at things to stall their arrival.

Above the entrance to the big square headquarters hung
a huge lantern. At the front of it was a metal plate shaped in the lion
figure which appeared on most of the Noters� items. This lion was made of black
iron, its side view mouth open in a constant roar.

A tall Noter opened the door they knocked on and smiled brightly at
them.

He was dressed in a fashion Justice learnt which meant he was an
officer: the half red and half blue shirt. The black pants, a white belt, one
sleeve of their shirt white, same as the rest with only two differences: On the
edge of the white sleeve was a half red half blue band and on his shirt�s front
was a golden metal pin in the shape of two rectangles with a branch of olive
carved on each. This was the difference between the normal Noters and the officers
or NCOs(1), these metal ranks on the front of their
shirts.

�Hello Justice, welcome to our headquarters.� He said in a cheerful voice sending warmth
over the slightly difficult to analyze accent �I�m Owl, please, come on in.
Lion will be with you in a moment, he is just in the middle of a field meeting�
they were led inside the poorly furnished waiting room.

Fuma looked around, everyplace in this dimension seemed like a second
hand shop, everything already used and thrown, then picked up again with small
yet visible fixes and stitches.

Kamui was used to it, he knew this place too. He was here once, with
Alex, but he wanted to think of this time as something new.

When he was here back then he only accompanied Alex and didn�t actually
speak to anyone.

Not that he could, Alex could speak the Noter�s
language leaving Kamui a tad oblivious to most of the conversation between Lion
and him. What he did note was the slightly fathering look in Lion�s face when
speaking to Alex. It was after Alex had killed Mouse, one of Lion�s officers,
and still Lion was full of compassion towards the man.

A small group of Noters happly walked out of
Lion�s room chatting, putting their white helmets back on as they saw strangers
in the room. They lingered on a bit to stare at the two boys, by now they could
see them as Justice and not just a couple of strangers,
it was a tad odd for them.

Owl went into the room and after a while came back to gesture for Kamui
and Fuma to enter.

Behind a large desk with many scattered and half piled papers and
several objects sat a middle aged man who looked at them with sharp all seeing,
soul searching eyes. He placed his helmet back on his head, smiled at them and
gestured for them to sit at the table.

Behind Lion stood the Iceman, looking half suspiciously at them. His
eyes and features were so frozen, like he didn�t let a single emotion out of
him, like he was chiseled out of the icebergs Yuzuriha and Kusanagi found him
between. He scanned the two boys with cold eyes and looked down at his
commander again.

Kamui remembered Ice�s devotion to Lion, how whenever the other man was
in danger Ice was ready to sacrifice his own life.

He remembered Ice�s story as Alex told it to him.

In his dimension Ice was once a northern god until the time monotheistic
religions began wiping out paganism religions one after the other.

Defeated and aimless Ice traveled the world looking for a group to be
part of, a place to belong to. He met a rabbi who was a good shoulder to cry on
and an ear to pour unhappy emotions to.

Ever since then Ice, who was the kind of creature Alex was, followed
these people generation by generation.

He remembered Ice was more powerful in a sense then Alex. In a fight
they had once he received a blow from Alex�s sword, which is strong enough to
kill its carrier, but lived on.

Why Ice never thought of killing Alex, Kamui never knew. There was
something that Alex�s very presence caused in Ice, a guilt that stopped him
whenever he wanted to act. It had something to do with Ice�s powers unused in
the time when Alex and his likings in Ice�s dimension suffered in the camps.

�My, you look awfully young for this job, how old are you boys?� the
soft fatherly tone coming from Lion melted something down in Kamui and Fuma. All
of a sudden they found themselves comfortable and well listened to in the man�s
presence.

Fuma thought of his father�.who is dead�of his family�.but now he�s far
away from it, he�s Justice now.

At least he�ll get to work with father figures like Lion.

Justice lay out their plan, asking for any advice or help from Lion�s
little army.

The Noter lit a cigarette and offered one to the two boys before him �I
know I�m not supposed to offer you these but you�re big boys now as I see�

They both shook their heads.

�Smart boys� Iceman spoke for the first time since this meeting�s
beginning. He was looking at Lion like a chaperon looks at the girl who went
too far on her date.

�Are you implying that I am not smart?� that was in amusement.

�No�.it�s just that you�ve finally recovered
from your injury and you�re back to habits that won�t do your health any good� it
was obvious that Lion had Iceman wrapped around his finger.

Lion was hurt during one of the dragon attacks in the Dragon
Valley. He went there to see what
help he and the little force he brought with him could bring to the Noters in
the valley.

Kamui remembered Lion being in the infirmary just before he left back to
his dimension. He was glad to see the man healthy again. He told Lion about it�

�Ah yes, that time�.your Alex had helped us a lot there, he seems to
have some sort of an understanding with the dragons somehow� Lion was missing
what Fuma�s presence with Kamui meant �How is he by
the way? I haven�t seen him in the wedding, but I then I did have to leave
before the start of the ceremony, perhaps I missed him� tactlessly
missing the meaning.

Fuma felt like saying something but he realized he wasn�t the one to
speak now.

Kamui bent his head a little �We broke up� he straightened his gaze at
Lion again.

The Noter never saw such intensity in the purple eyes. He always saw
Kamui as a pretty boy who was next on Alex�s aim and nothing more. He looked
too young to have that �I dare you to say something about that� look in his
eyes.

Finally he shrugged the subject away ��..Now, about the court�.�.

his instincts said otherwise, they said
something bad was bound to happen.

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

Kazuki was skip-hopping her way from the psychologist. She was taking a
different path this time, just to make things interesting in her daily routine.

She enjoyed skipping with her new dress. The skirt would flare up
wonderfully then gracefully fall back down. Kazuki found herself spinning on the
spot a lot just to make the skirt into a complete circle around her. It was
beautiful.

It was a mistake to take the different path that day, or at all. She
was, unknowingly, walking by the houses where the people who wore the fabrics
she now wore lived.

She passed by one house and the little flowers on her dress�s shirt
began glowing strangely.

She passed by another and the fabric of her skirt�s apron began glowing
the same.

She didn�t notice either of the two effects.

Next she will pass by the house where her whole dress will be glowing.

She was still oblivious.

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

Kusanagi and Subaru were on patrol at the time. There was a huge awkward
silence between them, not a word exchanged for the last five hours.

What could they talk about?! They were more then worlds apart.

After a while they both drifted into day dreaming, seeing that the
other�s company won�t provide their minds with anything to break the boredom
with.

Subaru thought of last night and how he wrapped his arms sleepily around
Seishiro in their shared afterglow. The older onmyouji was already asleep, his
head resting at the crook of his neck as he lay on top of Subaru.

How just before he fell asleep he got a mental picture of him sleeping
already and Hokuto pulling the blanket a little more over them to tuck them in
better. She then smiled at them, said goodnight and faded away as she walked
towards the door.

Subaru hoped it was like that, he knew not what Hokuto�s
true feeling towards this reunion were so he could only dream. Maybe Alex would
know, after all he did know about her spell.

Seishiro won�t tell him, he avoided the subject with amazing
persistency.

Seishiro was actually terrified of losing Subaru if anything as touchy
as Hokuto�s death will arise. He swore not to
initiate a conversation about it, at all costs.

Kusanagi was also thinking about the evening before that day.

He, the little miss and her vampire friend were playing in the back
yard.

It started as a silly game; they covered his eyes with a cloth and asked
him to spot where they were by their voices.

They ended up running all around him in the yard, shrilling and squealing
with joy.

Once he had wondered towards a voice that sounded like his little miss�s
but ended up accidentally cupping one of Victoria�s
breasts (his arms were reaching forward to avoid banging into anything).

He removed the cloth quickly, remembering that surely Yuzuriha wasn�t
that big, and met a blood red educating stare.

It was laughed off as Kusanagi blushed and mumbled endless apologies.

Then he gave Yuzuriha a piggyback ride making it into a rodeo constantly
�trying� to shake her off and drop her backwards.

She was screaming and laughing and crying with happiness.

Kusanagi could see two figures glaring at them in the lower floor
window.

It was Karen and Arashi who watched them.

At first Karen was glaring, unhappy with Kusanagi�s
behavior with Yuzuriha (not that he actually did anything wrong) and
Arashi had to calm her down. Then Arashi was glaring at Victoria
playing with Yuzuriha and Karen had to calm her down.

But Kusanagi didn�t know that. All he knew is that he had a good time
with his little miss yesterday.

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

Ferret and her two mates rode their patrol cart towards the corner Kazuki
neared. They were chatting as usual, the base gossip, the news, the past, their
country�s politics and the likes.

They were in the middle of a hot political debate when they heard a low growl.

Kazuki arrived at the third and final house, she stopped there. Her body
did not move another step though her steps weren�t even on her mind at all.

Slowly she found that hopping, walking, swinging her arms, moving at
all, was difficult. She was becoming numb. It wasn�t really a feeling of
numbness, it was like her soul was drifting higher and higher detaching itself
from her body. She looked down at herself and saw the glowing dress.

She wanted to scream but not a sound came out of her mouth, she was too
far from her body to operate it anymore.

Instead she saw her body glowing with an aura that made everything
around it look like heat waves. Her body was twitching, clutching its fists and
screaming, its face twitching with anger.

Shrew, Ferret, and Lizard heard the inhuman scream and gave off a warning
signal.

Each Noter had a whistler which they blew each time they ran into danger
to call on the medics in the infirmary who waited for such cases and for
whoever was on the Rescue Team patrol.

Unluckily for them the whistler�s shrill only drew the danger towards
them.

The two girls and one boy saw a three headed monster from some sort of an
aura with a body of a young man in a dress inside it. The body itself didn�t
appear to have any sort of reaction to the thing that glowed out of it.

The spirit monster charged at the three who opened fire towards the body
inside the aura and failed to hit.

With immense power the monster tore a piece of stone from the nearby
house and hauled it at the three in the cart.

Ferret received a direct hit to the head as she, after grabbing her
companions and pushing them downwards, was the last to be still up. Her helmet,
merely decorative, was no help for her.

As they walked the winding streets Subaru sensed the spirit�s activity
at it�s beginning. He stopped on the spot, making
Kusanagi look back at him.

�Is something the matter Sumeragi-san?�

�There�s a spirit raging somewhere�.over there!� he pointed towards the
corner where Kazuki was quickly losing control over her body.

�Let�s go!� Kusanagi took off followed by Subaru.

Kusanagi was a better athlete then the somewhat scrawny and hardly
trained Subaru so when he ran past the corner to where a Noter with her two
friends was blowing her whistler he was first to be exposed to the spirit
monster that once was Kazuki.

Reaching into his white coat�s inner pocket and drawing his ofuda Subaru
also arrived at the scene, in time to watch the Noter he saw with Yutu a lot die.

Kusanagi was gathering energy around his fist and slammed it at the
ground opening a great gap in the earth.

The monster was sent flying in the air and landed behind Kusanagi, her
back to Subaru who began preparing his attack.

The monster grabbed a piece of metal fence and howled the sharpened
object at Kusanagi who was preparing another blow.

As Kusanagi bent down to pound the ground once more the long shard
pierced him from shoulder to lower back. He called out in pain and collapsed to
the ground, his fist losing its power.

A few good blocks away from there Seishiro and Anthony, the other
veterinarian, were helping a man and his wife catch their chickens for a little
checkup.

The couple�s little girl noted some of the chickens were limping, a
thing caused by an infection in little wounds on their feet as Anthony
diagnosed. Now they were gathering all the other chickens to see if any others
needed treating.

A feeling Seishiro grew to know for almost ten years now hit the onmyouji
once again. He rose to his feet dropping the chicken he was holding from his
lap.

Without a though of what he was doing and why he was doing it he sped
off towards where his Subaru-kun was fighting the spirit monster.

Subaru had objects powerfully hurled at him, from pieces of dirt to pieces
of buildings or that fence like the one Kusanagi was hit by.

As he ran in a circle, avoiding the attacks he was placing five ofuda at
crucial points until his trap was finished.

His target was already standing in the center of the pentacle, now roaring
with frustration as the pray to its wrath was constantly avoiding its hits.

Subaru leaped to a balcony of the nearby building and began chanting to
activate the trap.

Kazuki was too busy looking at the dead Noter and its two companions
fussing around her, looking at Kusanagi slowly loosing blood and succumbing to
the pain, then to look as the three angry spirits that possessed her body tore
into little oblivious pieces of energy then completely disappear.

She also didn�t see the hawk shaped shikigami that landed on Subaru�s
shoulder as he enhanced his trap to finish the spirits completely.

She only felt herself pulled back to her body until she found herself on
the ground with a headache that felt like a tone of iron fell on her head.

Her eyes were closed, she didn�t want to open them; she knew what she�ll
see.

�Subaru-kun!� the shikigami screeched and took off to sit at it�s maker�s shoulder. Seishiro ran with Subaru to Kusanagi�s side.

�Shiyu-san! Are you still there?� two pairs of
hands flipped the man to his back and supported him so his wounds won�t lie on
the ground.

The man they held was pale and already starting to become cold as the
blood gushed out of his wounds. But he didn�t show any of it, only little
twitches of pain fluttered over his face from time to time.

�The�.little miss�..would be sad�.� He managed to cough up with some
blood before he sank into a sleep he will never wake from.

�Shiyu-san! Shiyu-san!�

�It�s no use Subaru-kun, he was hit too hard�

Realizing that, Subaru dashed off to the two remaining Noters, leaving
Seishiro and his shikigami with Kusanagi�s body.

Subaru arrived at the Noters along with the cart of medics who jumped
off it and ran towards whoever was wounded.

But no one was wounded, only dead.

Subaru had a little scratch on his left arm where a piece of shrapnel hurt
him in flight. He brushed off the medic who tried to care for the wound until Seishiro
walked over to him and glared at him to just receive the treatment.

The other two Noters were in complete shock; one was still holding
Ferret�s hand mumbling things to her through her tears, the other slowly got to
his feet to pass on the message of his friend�s death to his superiors.

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

Kamui and Fuma were sipping a cup of strong black coffee with Lion and
Iceman when a Noter barged into the office where they sat.

He was breathless, his uniforms splattered with blood, his face pale and
his eyes bulging.

He half screamed a chain of words that made the two superior Noters in
the office freeze on their acts.

Justice watched with some confusion as Lion slowly looked down at his
desk and sideways, looking graver by the minute.

Iceman walked to the window in the office and turned his back to them as
he looked out of it, hiding his face.

The messenger looked from one commander to the other, then to Kamui and
Fuma. Tears began flooding his eyes flowing down his young face without his
expression changing one bit.

All Kamui and Fuma could do was to stare back.

A powerful slam of Lion�s fist on his table whipped Justice�s attention
back to the man. He got up, recomposed himself and slowly walked over to the
crying messenger. He embraced the young man who broke into tears in his arms
weeping and sobbing violently while talking again.

�I think you better leave now, I�ll show you back to your house it�s on
the way to my base� Iceman gestured for Kamui and Fuma almost shoving them out
of the room. His expression was as cold as ice, no emotions once or ever, not
even in his deep voice, not even after all that.

�What happened?� Fuma wasn�t answered, they were walking through the
entrance room where the second Noter who was on the site was sat, given tea and
comforted. She ignored everything despite the people fussing over her to cheer
her up.

Only when they exited the building and began moving towards Kamui and Fuma�s home did Iceman talk as he took big long steps, his
fur coat majestically waving behind him.

�There was an incident involving one of your men. A young male-ish looking person that wears a dress?� he turned to them
and waited for them to show any signs of recognition.

�Kazuki? Kazuki did something wrong?�

�Did it involve a ribbon like thing?�

�Stop it Fuma, she�s stopped that Nataku things a long time ago�

�She, as I now know, didn�t attack anything on her own free will. She
was possessed by spirits from her clothes and these attacked our patrol. Our patrol
gave off a warning signal which attracted the monster�s attention to them. One
of our soldiers, Ferret, was helping her comrades to duck down from the attacks
and got hit by a rock thrown at her. She was dead on hit.�

�I�m so sorry to hear that�

�Me too�

Iceman sniggered coldly �You could be a bit too young for this job, I
think but�.who am I to doubt destiny?� he raised his hands to the sky
scornfully imitating a prayer gesture.

There was a long tense silence.

�It�s the fifth time Avi lost one of his children� the Iceman finally
spoke, mostly to himself.

�Avi?...� Fuma received a glare from the older
man and winced a bit.

�Lion. Four times he lost his children here in
this dimension, once he lost two on our own world and two more here. His soldiers
are his children, as so he considers them and as so he worries for them. Now
another one is gone�..I suppose you can�t even say �when will all this madness
be over� here, can�t you?� he didn�t bother to turn around to look at
Justice behind him.

He only turned to them when they arrived at their home. �You�ll have to
build your own court; you can�t really expect our men to help you out�

�I believe Lion promised otherwise Iceman� Fuma was dropping his tone to
the same commanding icy level Ice spoke in.

�Listen, kid�

�Kamui and Fuma for you� Kamui snapped �we are Justice and you
are one of our men. If Lion, who is your superior, ordered his children to help
us then so they will. At least you can rest assured that such a job won�t be as
dangerous as�.� He was stopped by Fuma�s hand on his
shoulder. He was running into painful subjects.

Iceman sized Kamui up silently with eyes that made Kamui feel like he�s
freezing. �You�ve grown quite a mouth on you, Kamui�

�I�m not Alex�s little toy anymore� violet fire glaring at sapphire one.

�Humph we�ll see� and with that the god walked away, not even bothering
with a farewell.

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

�A spirit monster?! I�ve never encountered
anything like that�

�It happens quite a lot� Charlie sighed as he covered Kusanagi�s body respectfully. You know her clothes, Kazuki
that is, were made of fabrics taken from dead people�s old clothing so��

�Yes we knew that and it�s not a new thing that angry spirits would
posses any kind of object belonging to it and harm whoever now owns that object
but�I never saw combined spirits�and such an intensity of anger�� Subaru looked
at the inanimate body under the sheet.

�Hey, what happened? Was that Kusanagi you just covered there?! Charlie-chan?� Yutu emerged from his office.

Charlie nodded at him

�Oh my� he held his hand to his chest �this explains the pains I�ve been
having in my chest�

�Maybe you�re just having some problem�.� Charlie tried to near the
blond.

�No, I know when something�..when my power is weakened�..but� he
brightened up, beaming at Seishiro and Subaru standing by the stretcher �as
long as I have you two around I can survive, I�ll just feed off from what you
have between you and I�ll survive� he laughed.

The onmyoujis merely stared at him with pain (well Subaru was staring in
pain, Seishiro just stared)

�What? What�s wrong?�

Behind Yutu the stretcher with Ferret�s body was brought in.

Yutu clutched at his chest, suddenly caving into pain and folding down.

He took some deep breaths. Trying to break through the searing sensation
a nurse ran to his side to ask him what�s wrong. He didn�t answer her; he
straightened up, his face almost gray, and looked at the onmyoujis.

�What happened?� there was nothing of the happy-go-lucky, always smiling,
always merry Yutu in the man before them now.

�Kigai-san�.� Is all Subaru managed to mutter.

�Yutu�..I�m sorry� Charlie switched to Japanese �but Ferret was also
killed by what attacked Kusanagi. My condolences� he looked like he did it too
many times to make this time special or any different.

Yutu turned to look at the second stretcher. He walked to the dead girl,
tactfully covered already. He placed his hand where Ferret�s hand was, never
taking his eyes off of the body. He muttered something silently and placed a
kiss on the covered hand.

Then he turned around and walked back to his office, his head bowed a
little.

Noting his coworker was back Seiichiro raised his eyes from the piles of
paper he was working on to Yutu.

�Kiga�.� The pain soaked look turned to him
silenced him.

Yet Yutu didn�t cry, didn�t speak, he didn�t even correct Seiichiro as
he always did.

He simply smiled, a painful smile, but he smiled, his pretty eyes
glittering a bit with some light as they always did.

Seiichiro found himself a bit dumbfounded at that. He heard of what
happened from the Noter that worked with them, Yutu was in the bathroom at the
moment. He wanted to say something but he just couldn�t. Something in him was
happy that he managed to make whatever it was that hurt Yutu disappear enough
to get that trademark smile back on his face.

Yutu walked over to Seiichiro, still smiling painfully but honestly and
softly held his coworker�s face in his hand.

Behind glass lenses Seiichiro�s eyes widened
in shock a bit. Under the lenses� frame a slight blush rose. Seiichiro couldn�t
speak again for another good hour or so. Let alone concentrate on his work
despite the fact that Yutu himself could long ago.

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

It was an unusually disgusting weather the next day as Ferret and Kusanagi�s funerals were held.

The Noters quietly attended a small intimate funeral for Ferret with a
little speech from Lion and Ferret�s commander, Iceman. Yutu was the only non-Noter
participant allowed in.

A heavy, dirty shower poured down on them from the impending clouds
above.

At Kusanagi�s funeral the rain stopped but the
thick clouds lingered on to allow Victoria
to attend the daytime ceremony.

The young vampire, wearing a thick cape, held Yuzuriha�s
hand as it trembled violently.

The girl was holding back her sobs, biting her lower lip, but her tears
and her painful expression was enough to give off her emotions.

Subaru half hugged her, tears in his eyes for her pain.

Kamui was standing near her, Fuma at his toe slightly awkward.

Arashi stood a little away from them, clutching her shirt at her chest.

Sorata was hugging her; he was the one standing closer to Yuzuriha
talking words of comfort to her from time to time.

Seiichiro was fumbling at his tie constantly eaten from the inside at
the thought of his own daughter mourning for the loss of her father, and how
she too might look like this, maybe even right now.

Karen stood nearer to the grave. She finished saying her prayer, with
many words of apology to Kusanagi for ever mistrusting him. When she finished
she didn�t walk over to Yuzuriha, she merely stood a little away from there
running her hands slowly but frantically through her hair.

A bigger distance from the scene stood Seishiro and Alex. They were silent
as they watched the funeral.

�Do you get something of off these things?�

�Hmmm?� Alex wasn�t really listening; he was
exchanging looks with David who was just straightening Kusanagi�s
tombstone as it edged sideways in the mud.

�Do you get something from these things?� Seishiro�s
tone was merely a wondering one. Nothing from the emotional scene before them
soaked into him.

�What do you mean?�

�Yutu felt something when Kusanagi died along with his love to Yuzuriha
and when Ferret died along with her love to him, so I wondered�.�

�I�m too distracted by this whole place right now, it�s reeking with
death�

Silence. Subaru was exchanging looks with Seishiro
just to check that he�s still there.

�How does it feel? To die�

�I never died, never really died�

�But you did, somehow�you said��

��.I experienced a human death as a part of becoming Death but I�m still
very alive if that�s what you mean�

�And how did that feel?�

�Suddenly the assassin wonders how death feels like?�

�Don�t change the subject�

Alex sighed, it was a memory from a time he didn�t like to dig in �I was
numbing to the point of thought oblivion then I was covered by light. Suddenly
I was alive again but not in a human way. But I�m still, definitely alive Seishiro�

More silence.

�No one I ever knew died like that, out of the blue you know. I killed
my own mother�.I had no feelings for her, not at that moment. Hokuto asked me
to kill her so I merely did as I was told but�.just like that�.without
preparations�.�

�You�ll find that such sudden deaths are quite common here�

�I got that notion by now, thank you�

Silence. Subaru hung a pair of pain filled
emerald eyes at Seishiro, tears dripping randomly down his cheeks drop by drop.

�He�s so kind, Subaru-kun is, sometimes I wonder how come he doesn�t
explode from all the pain he soaks up from other people�

�You gave him enough pain that crumbled him for a while there,
remember?�

Seishiro ignored him, sunk in his thoughts �When I met him I suddenly
saw a person like nothing I ever met. My mother taught me that everybody
deserves to die for some reason. Everybody hurt somebody during their life
whether they mean it or not.

�Here came a person that didn�t, that avoided causing anybody
pain with even the cost of his own life. The more I knew him the more I was
astounded by him. I suppose that if I had made anybody else my prey then they�d
die on the spot, but Subaru was so different he�I couldn�t just kill him like
that, not something that broke every theory I ever grew up on.

�When the bet ended I knew I lost but I didn�t really want to do
anything about it. When Hokuto came to me and told me of her wish I was yelling
at myself �NO! DON�T DO IT!!!� but I realized that there was a method to her
madness��

�That�s nonsense, if she didn�t go off to get herself killed then at
some point she�d manage to snap Subaru out of his blankness and you two would
manage to get your act together. If her death wouldn�t be between you two then
things would have looked completely different�

�Do you know that for sure? Have you seen a manga or anime like that in
one of the other dimensions you�ve traveled?� there was some emotion there in Seishiro�s voice, finally, after he droned monotonously so
far.

�No, it�s a theory of mine. She was a brave girl but sometimes bravery
doesn�t account for any intelligence�

�You�re blunt. Better not speak like that near Subaru-kun. It�s already
a touchy subject between us. We never talk about it, it�s like a conversational
minefield; we know never to tread there, me at least�

�Keep it that way� was that a command?

Silence.

�So if you knew you lost why didn�t you do anything, before Hokuto came
to you, or after, or at all? Why didn�t you tell him he won straight away?�

Silence.

�Because�..because�.I couldn�t give up everything I had so far�.Subaru
was something big in my life but he wasn�t everything. If I�d admit my losing
I�d be giving up everything my mother ever taught me. She died by my hands,
died so I can become the next Sakurazukamori. From the moment I was born she
gave all her time and efforts to educate me, even if it was on how to be an assassin
I.�.couldn�t just give that up�.I don�t know
why�.�

�Like occupied territory. Whenever the country
that conquered the land wants to give it back to the people it belongs to they remember
all the men who died to conquer this land and flinch back from peace. They
think of blood spilled for aggressive violence as blood spilled for protective
violence and praise the dead little men instead of denouncing the bigger men
who sent these pawns to war. It�s a stubborn, stupid and harmful way of
thinking and the longer you keep thinking it the more it hurts not to think it.
It�s also very human, it�s vary rare that someone is enlightened and smart
enough to see what�s really good for them�

�I know that. Now I think about it almost every night�.every night
Alex. I lie in bed and think about the past kicking myself mentally for all the
mistakes I�ve done. I know things are better then I ever dreamt of now but I
know there is still damage. I keep wondering if Subaru-kun still feels hateful
towards me on that part like he did back then�..�

�You�ve changed; the tree that held your emotions in a spell is not here
anymore�

�I hate it, I know I shouldn�t but I hate it. It makes me so much more
different then what I used to be, I can hardly recognize myself anymore�

�You�re taking it too hard, you haven�t changed that much. Don�t be
bothered by the fact that you�re becoming more human. It�s only good for your
Subaru and the people around you�

�I don�t give a damn about the people around me! They could all be dead
as much as I would care�

�Then you and Subaru would drive each other mad�

�Really?�

Alex sniggered �Yes, I love watching you guys, you�re the best
entertainment there is around here! But you�re good, you�re my little
project�.the only thing I ever managed to pull out right in this place�.� He
sighed.

Silence.

�But I�m doing stupid things. When this whole mess happened I just ran
to where Subaru-kun was. I wasn�t thinking clearly. I could have sent my shikigami
to look after Subaru-kun and help him. Instead I just ran and only as I went
along I thought of using it��

�He did remarkably without you, you know�

�Yes, amazingly well, that thing was like nothing he ever encountered.
He had grown strong. I�m proud of him�

�He�s your lover not your child Seishiro, you should stop looking at him
as if he�s a little nine year old boy�

��But he was really cute that way�

�The last man who found kids that age cute got killed by a spirit
monster Seishiro�

They broke into choked gigles, luckily unheard
by the rest of the funeral participants.

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

Karen leaned against the door frame to Yuzuriha�s
room.

Subaru, Kamui and Victoria were still sitting with the weeping girl. Victoria�s
red eyes were dim and constantly in and out of focus as she fought her natural
instincts to sleep in the daytime.

Karen couldn�t stop the flood of thoughts gushing in her mind; they were
slowly driving her mad.

After all, she was the one who got the �recycled� fabric for Kazuki�s dress, it�s her fault that all of this happened.
Now Yuzuriha and Yutu had their dearest special people dead because of her
laziness in finding some solution to Kazuki�s
problem.

Karen couldn�t stand it anymore, she ran off from the house.

She ran towards the main rescue team�s house.

�My roommate back in my spaceship had a guitar. He was a lousy
player� Ace received no answer from his roommate as he sat with a guitar,
strumming it softly from time to time.

All Spike did was groan from time to time, his cigarette hanging loosely
from his lips as he lay sprawled on the bed as if poured there.

�He liked this singer, Rasta Billy Skunk, my god! Talk about bad music.
That guy, if he�d play his records you�d have to spend the next few months in
hospital! I tell you, that record had a health warning on it!�

Spike managed to muster enough energy to smile a little, the idea amused
him a bit.

When Karen walked into their room they both raised surprised eyes that
turned into worried ones as they saw her.

Her hair was a mess, her face was gray with
worry, swollen dark skin under her eyes showed that she hadn�t slept that night,
that she was crying.

During their various patrols Karen had gotten quite friendly with both
Ace and Spike. Sometimes when she was in a patrol with one the other would come
along, just for the conversation and company.

She came to them now because her friends at her house made her feel
guilty, they were too close to the subject to make her comfortable and she
needed a listening ear.

�What�s wrong Karen?�

�It�s that guy who died from you guys, isn�t it?�

�It�s my entire fault!!!!� she wailed. Breaking into tears again, she landed
on the bed by Ace. She buried her face in her hands crying out all her
maddening thoughts and self blaming.

Spike sat down on her other side, lighting a cigarette for her and
offering it as a thing to focus her mind on from the crying. Ace brought her
tissues to wipe her nose with and opened a window to let the smoke out.

After some crying and relaxing (Spike had to smoke the cigarette himself
before it burnt his fingers) she finally wiped her face and looked up at her
friends.

�I did it, I�m the one who killed the Noter and Shiyu-san�it�s all my fault� her eyes began tearing again. She bowed her
head, shaking with silent sobs.

�Why? Because you�re the one who used dead people�s
clothes?!� Ace�s voice could sometime rise to almost feminine levels
when he was surprised by something.

�Look, Karen� Spike grabbed his jacket which, only now she noticed it,
was slightly mismatched in color to his blue pants �this jacket belongs to some
gentleman who isn�t with us anymore. I had it for months now, and nothing
happened�

�That�s right, these things happen, they don�t happen a lot but they
happen. That dress was merely a coincidence, a sad one, that�s all�

�But it was so strong I heard, abnormal. Like nothing before� she was
still sobbing a little.

�Yes well, I heard it was because it was made of three ghosts, the dress
was made from three different clothes so��

Karen looked at the floor, mindlessly taking drafts from her new cigarette
�Kazuki wanted something with a pattern�.now I don�t know if she�ll ever wear
that dress anymore�.I think Subaru said it�ll never happen again, something
about a possessed suit he once dealt with�.but Yuzuriha-chan�.poor Yuzuriha-chan��
she began crying again when Spike laid a hand on her back.

�Listen, Karen�.if there�s one thing everybody who knows me know it�s
that I hate two things: women and animals. Some women though are different;
they�re�.not like all the other women�.they�re�.not victims to all sorts of
feminine nonsense like others. You�re one of those women, there are only two
like that that I know of and one of them is you. In other words, you�re not a
bad woman at all�

It was a rare compliment.

Karen looked at Spike with thankful watery eyes. �Thank you�.and for the
cigarette� she managed a faint sad laughter.

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

The next place Karen was headed for was the infirmary. She wanted to
pick up Kazuki.

The bioroid was in slight shock, breaking out of it in constant fits of
alarmed and hysterical crying.

Her psychologist was at her side around the clock to see she�s not doing
anything drastic.

When Karen walked into the psychologist�s room she saw the man sitting
by Kazuki on the sofa he had there, looking very tired.

Kazuki was sitting besides him, slumped like a doll someone threw away.
Karen noted some tares in her dress which she still didn�t take off. Apparently
she didn�t undress yet but tore at the garment in her anger.

Now Kazuki was just numb and sad.

Karen saw the bioroid�s eyes and immediately
thought of Kamui after Kotori�s death. It might not
end up being exactly it but she had to do something to silence her fears.

She sat down by Kazuki, holding her hand. When she received no response
but a faint �mm�, Karen took the bioroid in her arms doing as best as she could
to sit the body of a young man on her lap like a little child.

She spoke softly to Kazuki�s ear. �Sweetie, do
you want me to sing you a song? I heard it from my kindergarten teacher, a very
nice woman. Listen, Kazuki.

�The prettiest girl in kindergarten

She has the prettiest eyes in kindergarten

And the prettiest braid in kindergarten

And the prettiest mouth in kindergarten

�And the more that you look at her

The more you realize there�s no doubt

That she is the prettiest, prettiest girl in kindergarten

�When she smiles, I smile too

And when she�s sad I can�t understand

How can you be sad?

When you�re the prettiest girl in kindergarten�

Karen sang the verses over and over again, softly and calmly until she
could feel the body in her arms soften from its stiff condition. Until Kazuki hung her tearful eyes at Karen and beamed a sad smile
at the older woman.

�There, now I can smile too, because the prettiest girl smiled at me�
Karen beamed too, running her fingers through Kazuki�s
hair. �My, and your hair grew so long, soon you�ll be able to have braids in
your hair�

Kazuki only smiled faintly and snuggled up closer to Karen, slowly
falling asleep in the embrace.

Karen allowed herself to finally close her eyes as well and let sleep
take over her.

The psychologist sighed and got up, closing the door behind him.

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

Yuzuriha�s first patrol since Kusanagi�s death.
After walking silently for a few hours she sudden stopped.

Two figures stopped with her. One was Victoria
and the other was Inuki.

The spirit dog�s revival was the result of a little of Yutu�s help to try and find a comfort in the love within
her heart. Now she had a little spirit puppy that trotted merrily by at her
feet on little stumpy pup legs.

�What�s wrong Yuzu? Did Inuki find something?�
Victoria couldn�t see Inuki. It�s
just not the sort of thing a vampire could see, not her type anyway.

Lestate could see Inuki, he could see ghosts too. He said Inuki looked
like a little wolf and that he hopes it won�t grow to be a wolf.

Yuzuriha was too numb to answer that.

She was floating on a different cloud on the days after Kusanagi�s death. She was silent, always a bit stooped and
slouchy with whatever she did. Her eyes were distant and unfocused, dimmed and
tearful most of the time. She heard but didn�t really reply or understand
what�s spoken to her. Her movements were slow and her speaking, if it came at
all, was hushed and monotonous. She was distracted easily by her thoughts often
freezing in the middle of whatever it is she was doing to do. She became
careless and clumsy, dropping things and banging into furniture.

Inuki was some comfort to her, the little spirit puppy was bringing joy
to her. But she was so sad that even that happiness drowned into her
depression.

�I don�t want to die Bicky-chan� she said.

For the first time Victoria
saw Yuzuriha�s eyes focused and clear. They scared
her with their clarity and graveness. Her voice was sharp and her words came
fast without small musing breaks between them like they were of late.

Victoria couldn�t answer
that, what would a vampire say to a mortal about such a thing? The only thing
she could come up with was what her father used to tell her whenever she
thought of death

�But Yuzu� she plastered a smile on her face
�you�re so young, death is so far away from you. You have a lot of time to live
out, don�t get your mind into such things already� she laughed a small nervous
laughter.

Yuzuriha stared at her for a moment, during which Victoria
kicked herself mentally for saying a stupid thing like that. In here dangers
like what killed Kusanagi could jump at you and you wouldn�t even know what hit
you.

�I want you to turn me into a vampire, then I wouldn�t die� it�s as if Yuzuriha
didn�t hear her words at all.

Could she really do it?! Her master asked her for her permission to do
that it, and Yuzuriha wanted it. She didn�t quite remember everything from that
time in clarity; it was all a mess in her head. But�.was she allowed?

Even if she was, even if she really knew how, Victoria
wouldn�t do such a thing just on request.

Her friends� eyes burned holes of guilt in her; she had to give some
answer.

�Say, why don�t we go ask Alex if we could do that? Just to get a final
permission okay Yuzu?�

Yuzuriha merely nodded faintly.

They headed towards the Rescue team�s main house.

Alex was sitting on his bed, smoking silently. His window was closed and
the curtains drawn.

Cigarette smoke rose and curled near the ceiling like a fog, little
clouds in it were in constant movement as each exhaling added to it�s thickness.

He was just about to go to the Cliffside to meditate a little on the
general condition of things but for now he�ll finish his cigarette.

A depression that started when Kamui told him he wanted Fuma was sitting
down on him like a fog thicker then anything. It began burning things within
him, blinding him and numbing him with pain and rage.

When Victoria came in to
his room with Yuzuriha and Inuki she saw a numb cold look in his eyes that
matched Yuzuriha�s grieving state.

He slowly raised a pair of dim green eyes to them �What do you want?� he
asked flatly, without interest or care.

Yuzuriha boldly stepped forward �I want to become a vampire, whether by Bicky-chan, by you or by anybody, I don�t care�

Alex looked at her for some time, sizing her up calmly as if she was an opponent
�And why do you want to do such a thing to yourself?�

�I don�t want to die� her voice wavered slightly.

�And you think you�ll be invincible as a vampire?�

�Yes, I understood it is so�

�You only become truly immortal after you gain certain strength and age.
Before that you�re relatively vulnerable and even when you�re strongest you�re
still vulnerable to some things�

�I understood you made Bicky-chan stronger
then she was when she came here; surely you can make me the same�

�Is power all you want?� he exhaled a cloud of smoke towards her. The
white cloud crushed on her, breaking into a thin layer of white air.

She stiffened her body, clenching her fists �No.� her voice was harsh �I
don�t want to die�

�There were a couple of vampires here once. I took real good care of
them. But a big fire happened here during the daytime when they were sleeping,
that took them down. They died�

�And where were you?�

�I was searching for our mutual friend Kamui� his eyes hardened, it seems
he was about to dismiss her or start a loud argument. She was touching
sensitive nerves that no one in her position should.

Silence.

Victoria darted her eyes
worriedly from Alex to Yuzuriha.

Alex rubbed his chin and stubbed his cigarette in an ashtray. He opened
the windows and the curtains to let the fresh night air clear all the stifling
smoke from his room.

On the floor by the bed he sat on was a rectangle that was less dusty and
dirty then the rest of the room, it was where Kamui�s
coffin used to be once.

�You want to be a vampire and be with Victoria
right? As a friend?�

Yuzuriha nodded, darting a look at Victoria.

The young vampire noted her eyes were brightened, perhaps with the light
of hope.

�And what about a boyfriend? Won�t you want one
some day?�

Yuzuriha fought back her tears.

�Are you going to cry about him now?� Alex�s voice wasn�t caring, it was
hard and cold as steel �He�s dead, move on� his words were so crude and so
cruel, but they were truth.

�That is my business� her voice wavered again but only slightly enough
to be hidden by her powerful words.

�It won�t be your business when you will find a boyfriend Yuzuriha.
He�ll wither and die while you�ll stay forever young�

�Then I�ll turn him into a vampire as well�

�And what if you�ll have a fight and break up? Then you�ll run off to
find another boyfriend? Soon you�ll fill this whole place with vampires�

Yuzuriha bowed her head a little, fighting for self control �Can�t you just
do it?� she muttered with a tear soaked voice.

They fell on deaf ears �What about Arashi, the rest of your friends?
They�ll wither and die just like Kusanagi died and you�ll be left alone,
watching as generation after generation lives their life and die. Life will
flow by you like a river and you�ll stand at it�s
shore, never feeling the water again�

Yuzuriha looked away. She scooped Inuki in for a tight hug.

Victoria bowed her head
after, seeing that darting begging looks at Alex didn�t work.

Alex sized Yuzuriha again, lit another cigarette and leaned back against
the wall of his room. The night sky was dark and heavy in the window above his
head.

�You�re still a child Yuzuriha. Even if you had all the good arguments
for me to turn you into a vampire then I still wouldn�t. Let�s start with the
fact that your body is still not fully developed yet. You�ll be stuck in the
body of a fourteen year old girl and even if you�ll behave as maturely as
you�ll mentally be people will always look at you as a little girl.

�Let�s see, Victoria, you�re
what? Nineteen? (Victoria
nodded) don�t you want to see the world the way she does? As
a grown up? Wait until you�ll be her age and then we�ll see. You�ll have
time to measure your friendships and the bond with Victoria,
even see what you think about other boys. Then we�ll talk, is that a deal?�

Yuzuriha nodded, hanging her hopeful eyes at Alex and even smiled a
little �All right, it�s a deal!� her voice regained its cheerful bubbly essence
again.

The girls walked out of the house to resume their patrol.

�So, you feel better now Yuzu? Where�s Inuki now
by the way?�

Yuzuriha giggled a little �Yes, I feel a lot better now, and he�s at my
feet�.aw, he just stumbled over something, he�s so sweet!�

�Ano, Bicky-chan?�

�Yes?�

�There�s just one more stop I want to have before we get back to the
proper patrol course, okay?�

�Sure�

They stopped at the cemetery. Yuzuriha placed some daisies on Kusanagi�s grave, speaking a few words Victoria
couldn�t hear.

She lifted something from the ground to the tombstone, introducing Inuki
to Kusanagi.

Then she rose back to her feet and smiled brightly yet somewhat sadly at
Victoria.

The two carried on with their patrol.

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

�Oooooooooh�

�What is it Seishiro-san?�

�Another hard day at work Sakurazuka-san?�

Seishiro glared at Sorata who quickly withdrew to the kitchen with a
mental tail between his legs.

Sure, the monk put the social bonding of all the house�s residents as
his main goal but sometimes he did tactical mistakes he could realize (most of
the time he babble stupid things and didn�t even know they�re stupid)

�Our annoying assistant is sick! I hope he dies. If not I�ll kill him
myself, tree or no tree!�

Subaru sat Seishiro on a sofa in the living room, following their little
routine.

Seishiro would come back from work and moan about it to Subaru.

Subaru would take his jacket, hang it by the door and sit him down on
the sofa. Until dinner came, or after if Seishiro was late, Subaru would rub Seishiro�s feet, or shoulders or arms or whatever according
to that day�s cramps.

�Ano�..umm�.� Kazuki was mulling the apron of
her dress nervously, standing by Seishiro.

The older onmyouji looked up at her questioningly.

�I was just thinking�.umm�.if you needed an assistant because yours is
sick�.so I thought I might be able to do that, for the mean time until he�ll be
better again�..�

If Karen wouldn�t be on patrol she would either tare Kazuki from the
idea or threat Seishiro not to accept the offer.

But she wasn�t there.

Seishiro looked at Kazuki for a while, wondering if the bioroid is in her
right mind.

Then shrugged �All right, and you can stay after he heals too as much as
I care. A corpse would be a better use then him!�

He turned to Subaru �Did I tell you what he did last time? He stared at
himself in this mirror he found for about an hour, I know that because
we timed this procedure we were doing while he was at it. And in the end of it
you know what he said? He turned to us and said �yes, as I thought, I am
amazingly beautiful (2)� can you believe that?!�

Subaru chuckled.

Kazuki allowed herself to chuckle as well. She now had a use that was
more then to get possessed by vengeful spirits. Her mind was at ease and so she
could lighten up and be happy again.

(tbc)

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

(1) Non Commanding Officer.

(2) I don�t really remember exactly what Hotohori
said but it was something of the sort wasn�t it?
- 12
- 13
- 14
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A New World