Bloodline

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns it. I play with it.

Pairings: Seishirou x Subaru, Kakyou x Hokuto

Warnings: Violence, blood, implications of sex. If you have a problem with any of this...you're in the wrong fandom. This is CLAMP, so blood is a given.

Author's note: I haven't abandoned this story. Really. I intend to finish it, so please, I know I've probably lost ALL my readers at this point, but stick with me? I love you guys...

Also, in case you're still following...special shout out to Beki from tumblr, you made my day when I saw your posts all that time ago!

...Bloodline...

Chapter Eight – Confrontation

Ice crystals shimmered in the air from the freezing layer of cloud that drifted down into the great chasm Hisa called her home. She sat in a self crafted throne of ice, drumming her fingernails on the arm of it, blowing gentle little puffs of air to scatter the crystals, making them glimmer and glisten in the thin sunlight streaming down from the top of the crevice. She had only been able to craft the endless expanses of ice in her prison ever since she had been bound here, and despite despising the cold and the blue and the white at first, in the hundreds of years she had languished, they had become her solace and sanctuary. The trickles of magic she had been able to access had become torrents, yet still she was bound, unable to leave. But for a few drops of blood and a single spell.

Some years ago she had realised with a thrill of horror that that cursed line, the Sumeragi who had sealed her here all those years ago was dwindling. Her three hundred year plan had to happen before they all died out, or she would perish along with them. It wasn't just their magic that bound her, it was a curse, and curses required breaking – that was why Hishiro couldn't just kill the boy and girl and be done with his revenge – for her to be free, she needed the boy, the heir. The girl, Hokuto, was inconsequential really, not powerful, a by-product of the line. Unusual to see twins in a magical line such as the Sumeragi, and she supposed it was lucky for them the ruling power passed to one of the two rather than being split and weakening both.

Still, whilst she only really needed the powerful young heir to break her spell, that was only freeing her. For her revenge (and by extension Hishiro's) to really hurt the family, she would have to destroy the prospects of future heirs. Hishiro had done his research – most of the Sumeragi still living were in their late fifties at least, the twins' parents were dead. There was one uncle still around, mid thirties and unmarried – but he was less than likely to produce talented children, if he married at all. The future of the clan rested on the two teenaged twins. So she would remove them from the equation – after the boy had released her from this god forsaken prison.

"My lady?" Hishiro interrupted her thoughts, and she schooled her face, smiling as he approached her, wrapped in furs and shivering, his breath misting in front of his face. "Share your thoughts, you're planning something."

"We should strike while Sumeragi is still recovering, still weak. As falsely powerful as you are, he is still formidable, and we don't know how good he is at fighting – so far he treats his work, however subconsciously, as child's play. Also, there's Sakurazukamori to worry about. If he gets involved and fights with the boy against you, you will lose, and likely be speared through the heart for your trouble."

"But I'm – "

"Not a match for the Sakurazakumori. Hardly a match for Sumeragi, but we'll make the best of it."

"Always with the compliments." Hishiro grumbled, flushing lightly. He knew his family line was weaker, it happened to be a consistent sore point. Three hundred and seventy years ago, it was his family, the Kamizaki ichimon, who served as the emperor's finest onmyouji. Then the first Hishiro, his namesake, the seventh head, was outed as a traitor by the then second head of the Sumeragi clan, Miharu Sumeragi. A new clan only recently elevated into the court, the Sumeragi were powerful, influential and wealthy. The modern Kamizaki family (as sparse as they were) believed that the first Hishiro Kamizaki had been betrayed. The pair of onmyouji had been lovers despite their separate marriages, until Miharu had publicly declared him a terrorist and a traitor. Hishiro was executed and the family disgraced, despite proclaiming their innocence and claiming that the Sumeragi had had their eyes on the position of influence the Kamizaki family enjoyed for years.

The Sumeragi, when the story had been fresh, had held a different view – that Miharu had been right, and that the Kamizaki were plotting with the emperor's enemies and warring clans to oust him and claim the throne.

Of course, nearly four hundred years later, the evidence was nonexistent, and nothing had ever been proved either way. The emperor at the time had chosen to believe Miharu Sumeragi, and since then it had been their family who had the coveted position of the ruling onmyouji family, the family who kept the rest of the magicians in line. Kamizaki's fist clenched as he thought about the injustice of it all. Were the Sumeragi brats even told about the time they took over his family? Or was it whitewashed history for their perfectly pure little children...?

"Go." Hisa banished him with a wave of her hand, and Kamizaki felt the chill grip of her magic transporting him back to Japan.

...Bloodline...

Seishirou's fingers twisted with Subaru's, not caring that two layers of fabric separated their hands. Both young men were dressed up in gloves and scarves to take the worst off the chill in the air, but despite the cold it was sunny and bright, and they were enjoying a walk in Ueno before Subaru had to dash off for his first job since the fire. Seishirou wasn't happy he was going alone, but the younger refused to be coddled, and he was recovering from his injuries. He still needed antiseptic burn cream every night, which Seishirou absolutely didn't mind applying for him, much to Subaru's amusement, but he was slowly getting better.

They had heard absolutely nothing from the boy's grandmother since she had let him come home to Tokyo and move back into his old apartment. It was smaller than the one they'd moved to, but for now it was just fine. Maybe Seishirou could look for one after his appointments this afternoon, take his mind off Subaru running around Tokyo by himself. God knows he wasn't happy about it.

"What are you thinking, Seishirou-san?"

"That I should go with you."

"You have appointments. It's just a routine job, I'll be alright. We'll have dinner together, I promise. Pick up some peppers and green beans on the way home and I'll stir fry them."

"You, cooking?" Amusement, and Seishirou leant down to brush his lips to his little lover's forehead. "Hilarious."

"Shut up." Subaru blushed brightly, and Seishirou allowed himself to indulge in the younger boy's embarrassment. Subaru was still pretty appalling in the kitchen, and since the assassin wasn't all that much better, he hadn't bothered to teach him what little he actually knew. Which meant a lot of take-outs, eating out and oven ready meals. Not very domestic, but still a big leap out of the comfort zone for Seishirou, still not quite used to nights in sprawled together on the sofa enjoying each others company. It was strange, but not unwelcome, and even more special since the recent fire. They appreciated each other more than ever. Seishirou knew he had...issues, most of them surrounding his upbringing and his mother, but he knew that he loved Subaru, and he knew that the younger boy was changing the way Seishirou approached life – not on purpose, and not without Seishirou's knowledge and consent. It was just...despite the arguments and their very different mental and moral ethoses, they cared deeply for one another, and though the feeling was still a little alien to Seishirou, he liked the way Subaru looked at him.

He accepted him. Everything about him. And now, Seishirou wasn't afraid to admit his feelings, he was more mature about the entire situation. He had been childish when he'd known Subaru originally, despite his calm manner and his relative age compared to the younger. His attitude had been selfish, born of his self diagnosed sociopathy.

"You're going down to Yokohama, aren't you?" He asked finally, stopping at the entrance to the park, where they were to part ways. "Are you sure you don't want me there? It's a long way..." He lifted a hand to brush Subaru's cheek with his gloved hand, and the younger boy smiled, leaning easily into the touch.

"It's alright, it's going to be an easy job." He reassured, covering Seishirou's hand with his own, heart bursting with affection. "The journey is what'll take the time. The earthquake last summer brought down parts of one of the warehouses on one of the piers there, and several people were trapped inside." A grimace. "It's not surprising their spirits are still there." He sighed, biting his lip.

"Still so much love for the world." Seishirou chuckled, ruffling his hair. "Go on, or you won't be back for hours."

Subaru made his way to the station – it was too far to walk to the port at Yokohama, it would be about an hour's train ride from Ueno. He smiled faintly as he glanced back over his shoulder, catching Seishirou just disappearing round the corner to head back to Shinjuku. He didn't have to wait long at the station, he'd timed it perfectly, and though he didn't manage to find a seat, it wasn't so crowded he was squashed against the window, either. In fact, as they left the busy city centre, people filtered off the train, and he was able to inch his way down the carriage and eventually find himself a seat near the door, where he settled to watch the view fly by, letting his thoughts drift.

...Bloodline...

Pink. There would have to be lots of pink. They hadn't got as far as colour schemes yet, and though Hokuto very much doubted she'd be allowed to go for, say, a hot pink...she might be able to sneak in some paler, more subtle tones. She loved pink (much to Subaru's disgust whenever she made something obnoxiously mauve for him to wear) and since Kakyou had already told her to do exactly as she liked, she would bargain with her grandmother. Perhaps she'd have to wear a family heirloom in return.

She hummed as she pottered around the kitchen, cleaning up after their lunch. Kakyou was napping in the living room, and she didn't want to disturb him just yet. He'd had a few bad days in a row, plagued by unfamiliar dreams he couldn't interpret. It worried her, but she could do little to stop them – she could only be there to offer comfort when he woke. She knew he was frustrated now that their destinies were foggy to him, and perhaps that was her fault. But she wasn't sorry. She knew her brother's memories of the past life were fading, she could tell by the confused look he sometimes wore, and the way he shook his head a little as if to clear it of too many thoughts. She of course, had nothing to remember anyway, save little glimpses of Subaru's acute unhappiness, and who knew what Seishirou was thinking? She set the last plate on the rack to dry, thinking about her life she shouldn't be leading, and wondering what the future held for all of them.

When something tingled unpleasantly, shivering along her skin, she glanced up with a frown. It travelled down her spine and froze her blood, then it was gone. "What on earth..."With a little toss of her head, she returned to the living room.

Kakyou was still there, sleeping peacefully on the sofa.

"Kyou-chan, time to wake up or you'll throw off your new sleep pattern. Come on, lazy, I need you to help me with some dress designs!" She giggled and tickled him. Kakyou didn't stir at all, and she tutted. "Fine, ignore me." She shook him a bit more fiercely, and moments later, alarm bells rang and fear tugged at her heart. He wasn't waking up. His face was paler than usual and he was still as death. "Kyou-chan...? Kakyou? Kakyou!" She gasped, gripping his shoulders. "Kakyou...wake up...please...or...or let me in..."

"He can't."

She reeled back in shock. Kakyou's mouth had opened to speak, but the voice wasn't his. It was cold, and dark, more than a hint of threat behind it.

"Who are you? Let him go!" She demanded, drawing on her magic.

"You can't hurt me without hurting your beloved. Little witch who toys with time and evades the cloud of death that clings to her...come and bargain for his life."

Hokuto was frozen in place, hands gripping Kakyou's shirt desperately. "Don't hurt him...please don't hurt him..." Her thoughts were running away with her as she tried to work out what was going on. Was it another dreamseer? Was it -her-, the white haired witch under the government building? She felt so cold, terror for her fiancé rooting her to the spot. "Kakyou...please fight...please fight whoever's holding you..."

"He can't hear you, little witch."

"Who are you?"

"Why don't you come and find out...?" Moments later she felt the air constrict around her. She had time to let out a cry, scrabbling for reality as she was sent spinning through space. She gave in – what choice did she have if fighting the attacker would hurt Kakyou? Darkness and a deep impression of intense cold were the last things she registered before giving into oblivion.

...Bloodline...

Subaru was making his way along the deserted pier, which had been closed off since the recent earthquake and subsequent ghost sightings, heading for the warehouse he was supposed to exorcise when he felt eyes on him. He anticipated the magical strike seconds before it hit, spinning around and deflecting it with a quiet word and a single ofuda. His eyes narrowed and he backed up, searching for his attacker. He had been on his guard ever since coming out of hospital, and now he was tense as a bowstring, ofuda drawn, gaze roaming the dock behind him. He had been personally attacked once too often now, and damnit, it would stop!

"It seems you're not as pathetic as we thought, Sumeragi." A tall man with cold eyes and dark hair stepped out, and Subaru's heart stopped – for a second it was like looking at Seishirou, the iciness of his gaze, the height and the air of malevolence surrounding him – but it wasn't, of course, this man was thinner, his eyes were not Seishirou's familiar burning golden brown, and his face wasn't so aristocratic.

"And who are you?" Subaru hissed, standing his ground. Screw trying to reason with him, the circumstances were too perfect for this man not to be the murderer everyone hunted, he reeked of death, and in his hand was a silver knife which sang with dark, unfamiliar magic.

"Kamizaki. Perhaps you know the name?" The stranger said silkily.

"No, sorry." Subaru shot back, even as his mind went over and over the name. He had hoped never to be caught out in a trap again ever since Miyuki had lured him to that apartment complex to shoot him. The stranger gave him an ugly look, and anger filled his eyes as he stepped closer. Immediately, Subaru's shield flared, wind whipping up around him. "Stay away from me." He snapped, eyes on the knife. His gaze flickered over the other man in search of other weapons. Kamizaki's belt buckle was an ugly skull, and his leather, knee-length coat was worn and spattered with what Subaru thought might be blood. The silver knife, too, was filthy, and he shuddered at the thought of it anywhere near him.

"Don't worry." Kamizaki grinned viciously, flipping the silver weapon in his hand. "This isn't for you. Not yet, anyway. I don't need enchanted weapons to beat you, Sumeragi. I'm going to take back what your wretched family stole from mine with my bare hands..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I suppose your stories are quite different to ours...once, little Sumeragi, my family were in your position. We were the best, the strongest, the most respected. For nine generations, through four clan heads, the Kamizaki family were the emperor's ruling onmyouji family. You were sideshows, sideliners." He spat, and Subaru racked his brains, thinking back to long-forgotten history lessons. Then, it clicked.

"Hishiro Kamizaki." He guessed. "Seventeenth head of the Kamizaki family."

"Very good." Kamizaki said, his tone patronising.

"Your family were nothing but power hungry traitors." Subaru remembered, eyes cool. "You didn't deserve the responsibility then, and you don't now."

"We remember things quite differently, Sumeragi-kun." Kamizaki stepped forward, then had to raise a shield as Subaru shot a warning attack at him, a dozen razor sharp feathers exploding from his fingertips. "NO!" He shouted. "You WILL listen, and you WILL understand!" He seethed.

"You're nothing but a crazy murderer, you could never bear the duties of the Sumeragi family." Subaru shot back, thinking fast. He needed to call Seishirou. As much as he knew he wasn't helpless, he had barely recovered from almost being burnt alive, he was still bruised and sore, and he knew it wasn't a weakness to ask for help from his powerful, overprotective lover. He sent his shikigami with a sharp cry, and Kamizaki snarled. All Subaru could hope was that his spirit bird flew quickly – he was a long way from home, after all.

"So. You won't listen. And now I have to do this quickly, before your attack dog arrives. I wonder what your darling family would think if they knew you ran crying behind the Sakurazukamori for help?" He taunted, attacking. Subaru hurled up a shield, and sliced his hand through the air with a hissed spell, slicing through the attack and deflecting it back. Then, they were fighting in earnest, magic spitting and crackling in the air. His doves flew, and Kamizaki sent a spinning whirlwind of ice crystals at him, cutting his skin even as he deflected it. Subaru ducked to the side, then was blasted off his feet by a surge of whipping wind and hurled to the ground, where he rolled and lay still, winded. Gathering his wits, he chanted softly, and water reared up from the harbour behind Kamizaki. The man turned with a curse – and was enveloped by the surge, which swirled around him, trapping him long enough for Subaru to fire off containment and binding spells, green eyes sparkling with hatred. This man had murdered members of his family, friends, innocent onmyouji. And for what? Subaru would find out. He stepped closer, magic spinning at his fingers, when the other man smashed through both his shield, and his wall of water. Subaru gasped as his own magic turned on him, recoiling with such a vicious slam it felt like it was trying to tear his skin from his body. With a scream, he slammed into the wall, where two ofuda flared either side of him – they weren't his own, he could tell by the malevolent flare of the magic. But they didn't look like Kamizaki's either, there was an unfamiliar blue symbol on them.

Then, he was pinned in place, bound so tightly with magic he could only gasp in pain. It had been perfect, Subaru had hit the wall precisely where Kamizaki had anticipated – how often had Subaru used the same trick? With the ofuda already placed and ready to fire, the spells were stronger and more ironclad than they would be had they just been thrown.

Kamizaki banished the roiling water with a flick of his hand, and stepped forward, wind whipping his hair. Subaru was gratified to see he was panting, chest heaving. A vein throbbed on his forehead and there were dark shadows under his eyes. His counter had taken a lot out of him, if Subaru could just break free...but his own magic was screaming at him, he was winded and trembling with fatigue. Their attacks had been strong and pinpointed, designed to take each other out as quickly as possible.

As Subaru watched Kamizaki approach, he saw the shadows melt away, the thin cuts on the man's face mend themselves slowly, and the malevolence returned to his eyes. Subaru flinched back. "What are you..."

"Only what you made me, Sumeragi." Kamizaki hissed. "My line was dying, the magic dwindling. I had to grow stronger, or I'd never defeat you." Subaru strained against the bonds, but with a thrill of horror, he realised they were designed to use his own magic against him. "Like them?" Kamizaki guessed the reason for his dawning alarm. "Not my design, but they're genius, aren't they?" He brushed a lock of hair from Subaru's face, then grasped his chin and forced his gaze up to meet his own. Kamizaki's eyes were a shocking multitude of colours, flecks of brown and green and even a foreign blue set in the grey he thought the man's eyes might naturally be. "Rather like this knife." He commented, raising the silver weapon and spelling it clean so it shone in the sunlight."I must say, it's most effective when the subject dies, which is rather a shame."

"You're nothing but a thief. All those people had to die, just so you could beat me?" Subaru realised, completely immobile.

"But I did, didn't I?" Kamizaki grinned. "I beat you." The younger boy could see a touch of madness in those icy, polychromatic eyes, and he shrank away from them even as Kamizaki placed a hand on the wall near his head. "And once we're through, the Sumeragi family won't even exist any more. Besides, this was never just about me. You piss a lot of people off, you Sumeragi."

"Yes, of course I'm personally responsible for your horrible life. You think I've had it easy?" He growled, thinking of the aching loneliness, the chain smoking, the drinking, the torture, the loss of his sister...but that was a long time ago now, the memories were little more than dull echoes. They had been so bright when they had first come back to him, all those months ago when he'd caught his sister and Seishirou arguing, but now...they were blending into one another, old replaced by new. He supposed having two sets of memories in a mind so young was taking it's toll. The three of them never discussed the resetting of their own timeline, he'd never asked Hokuto how she'd done it, incredible as it was. Were they slowly losing their memories of the tragic first cycle, too? Subaru wasn't sure he wanted to forget, those memories were...as precious as any other, if only to remind him what he had now, and how different it was.

He was jerked back to reality by a sharp flare of pain, and he focussed on the knife, the point of which as just brushing his shoulder, twisting a little. Kamizaki's gaze was vicious, the eyes intense. "You know nothing." He said quietly, twisting the knife point a little deeper. Subaru choked back a cry, then screamed as his attacker worked the knife into his shoulder, tortuously slowly. He couldn't move, or even attempt to wriggle away. Kamizaki pushed the knife deeper, and it flare briefly, dazzling white. Symbols Subaru didn't recognise flared on the silver, and his stomach clenched as unfamiliar dark magic leapt up hungrily with it. "It's so tempting to kill you now." The man above him growled, pressing the Sumeragi into the wall. "Finally, you're at my complete mercy. Unfortunately I'm bound by bigger promises, and luckily for you this pretty treasure doesn't have to kill you to steal your powers."

"Then...then why..." Subaru choked through the horrible pain in his shoulder. He could feel his spirit energy, something that was as big a part of him as his eyes, his limbs, his lungs, draining away, channelled into the knife in his shoulder. "Why did you...have to kill so many..."

"Pinned like a butterfly, and still you care more for others who are dead, than you, who are, if only briefly, still alive. You know, there's a point where altruism becomes cavity-inducing, brat."

"Why?" Subaru demanded again, biting his lip against the pain even as Kamizaki pulled the glowing knife from his body, leaving him gasping, exhausted, and very, very definitely minus his power. He'd often wanted this as a child, he thought abstractly, mind fuzzy with pain and loss. Now he knew the horrible truth – the world was quiet. Quiet, and lonely, there was no constant hum of people's souls and spirits, no fleeting thoughts passing through his mind that weren't his own. That comforting presence that had simply always been there, was gone. Subaru let out a tiny cry of loss, sagging against the wall.

"This knife takes, but I can't steal without getting rid of the source. It can't give me power without the death of the original vessel, but it can still take it. And until I'm finally able to kill you, I am going to enjoy taking it again, and again, and again." Kamizaki leaned in uncomfortably close. "I'm going to watch you suffer for your family's slight on mine, and when we're through, the Sumeragi will be wiped from existence."

A thrill of horror as he thought of his sister, quickly cut off when Kamizaki broke the spell holding him to hurl him to the floor where Subaru went sprawling, gasping for breath. He couldn't fight back. He was drained, magically and physically. He'd never felt so helpless, not even when Seishirou had...

Kamizaki kicked him onto his back and pressed his foot down on the boy's chest. His back was grazing against the ground, irritating his already inflamed skin, and he choked down a cry of pain, eyes watering. "I'd have liked to play some more, but I don't have any way of knowing if your damned shikigami reached the Sakurazukamori in time. I don't think I'm overly keen on fighting him straight after you." The man said conversationally, kicking Subaru again. Images clashed in Subaru's head, and it ached, almost-forgotten memories of being trapped in a marboroshi under a sentient sakura tree, being kicked and hit and tortured just like this. Kamizaki stepped on his wrist, and fear gripped Subaru's heart.

No, stop it, not the same way...

He ground down, and Subaru screamed as his wrist snapped. His mind was brutally replaying half-memories of Seishirou standing over him, stepping on his already broken arm and grinding his heel down the way Kamizaki was. A cough. "S...Seishirou..." Another vicious twist, and he gave into horrible, devastating blackness, a blackness as dark as an enchanted illusion that had once held him.

"I have never felt anything in particular."

Hurt. Pain. He hadn't understood the term heartbreak, until now.

"Seeing you suffer like this...I feel nothing."

He was going to die. Seishirou was going to kill him, and maybe, just maybe, that was what he wanted.

"...I don't hate you. But I don't love you either, you're just...an object. That merely exists."

…

…

…

"...Seishirou..."

...Bloodline...

Author's note – POOR BABIES. I am so horrible to them. So, Kakyou, Hokuto and Subaru are all in trouble – what is Seishirou going to do about it? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out! (Hopefully you won't be waiting a year like last time OH MY GOD I AM SUCH A CRAP PERSON I KNOW SOB SOB)

Please please please review, they really brighten my day :)

Also, an interesting side note on the subject of family histories. For this chapter I had to figure out an approximation of how old the Sumeragi family had to be to have had 13 clan heads. Assuming that ten generations is, on average, equal to approximately 250 years, and factoring in that given the Obaa-sama to Subaru 'grandchild' takeover, we could be seeing a generational gap of five or six more, I estimated the Sumeragi family to be around 400 years old. My Kamizaki family would therefore be four 'headships' older (given that Hishiro is the seventeenth head) and approximately 75-100 years older still.

I know, I know, cliffhanger. But I have the next chapter all planned out and ready to go. I estimate five or six more chapters of this fic, one of which will be an annexe. Then, There maaaaay be a third part detailing the events of X with the changed dynamic. Depends how many people want it! Love you all, my lovely, wonderful readers!