All For One
An X Fanfic

	November was the dreariest month of the year, Subaru thought.
	The onnmyouji leaned wearily against the doorway, looking on 
in silence as Nokoru tended to Yuzuriha's wounds.  There was an 
expression on the girl's face of bafflement and pain -- the look 
of an innocent and trusting young thing who had been hurt for the 
first time by a big, uncaring world.
	It reminded Subaru a little too much of himself, of the 
guileless boy he used to be.
	Yuzuriha sat perched on the edge of a high and elegant bed. 
Her legs swung a good six inches above the ground, and she held 
out her injured arm for Nokoru like an obedient child.  Inuki 
huddled at her feet, chin resting on his outstretched paws, eyes 
glowing in the failing daylight. The dog-spirit lay patient and 
silent, save now and then when his mistress could not repress a 
cry of pain -- then Inuki answered with an equally piteous sound. 
Outside, the sky was cold and raw, an untextured blank grey that 
looked as though someone had wiped all the color away.
	*These are good people,* Subaru thought. His glance moved 
from Yuzuriha to Arashi, who stood silently nearby, to Seiichirou 
who hovered in the doorway like an anxious father. The others were 
either near or would be once they heard. *Good people. And they're 
being hurt because of me.*
	*Because I am a magnet for the Sakurazukamori.*
	Part of him knew that such thinking was self-destructive and 
foolish. The Sakurazukamori -- 
	*-- Seishirou-san --*
	-- was one of the Dragons of Earth, one of the seven Angels 
bent on destroying the world. He would have come into contact with 
the Seals with or without Subaru's presence. Yuzuriha had been 
lucky that she hadn't been hurt worse; if the others hadn't been 
caught in her kekkai, she might well have died.
	But another part of him wondered...if he were not here, if he 
were to leave Tokyo, would he draw the Sakurazukamori away with 
him?
	Could he spare them that much pain?

*****

	Arashi was the first to find out.
	Her distressed cry caused all the Seals within earshot -- 
Kamui, Yuzuriha, and especially Sorata -- to come running and 
burst anxiously into the room.
	"What...?" Sorata gasped, clutching the baseball cap which 
had fallen off his head in his haste.
	Wordlessly, the Hidden Shrine maiden pointed. Subaru's white 
onmyouji robes lay spread across the neatly made bed. The rest of 
the room was empty, with the bare, sterile feel of a hotel room.
	"He's gone," Yuzuriha said, eyes wide.
	"And I don't think he plans to come back," Arashi's voice was 
soft, but the sorrow overflowing through it was easy to hear.
	Kamui scowled down at the robes. "He has to come back -- why 
would he leave *these* here?"
	Arashi and Yuzuriha glanced at each other. Neither one of 
them could find the words to explain the awful symbolism of the 
empty white robes lying across the untouched bed -- nor could they 
explain how they knew.
	"He won't," the older girl said simply.
	Kamui's hands clenched into fists; astonishingly, the boy 
seemed to be fighting back tears. "He's got to come back! He's got 
to! Or I'll...I'll kill him!"
	"Who's got to come back?" Seiichirou's quiet voice said from 
the doorway. "What's all the shouting about?"
	"Subaru-san's taken off," Sorata told him.
	"He's gone to face the Sakurazukamori," Arashi added. 
"Alone."
	The editor nodded, understanding fighting regret in his hazel 
eyes. "Yes, that makes sense; I'm actually surprised he stayed 
with us as long as he did."
	"Yeah. And after my fight with the Sakurazukamori, he got 
awful quiet," Yuzuriha volunteered. "More than usual, even."
	"So he's going to take on the danger himself, rather than 
watching the rest of us get hurt. I can understand that--it's what 
I'd do if *my* family were threatened."
	"But we need him!" Kamui exploded. "*We're* his family!"
	"Maybe," Sorata said, "he doesn't realize that."
	A silence fell thickly over the room. Five Seals, five 
Dragons of Heaven, five bright stars. They stood together; and yet 
only now, with the absence of Subaru palpable in the room like a 
cigarette burn, did they realize how fractured they truly were. 
Each of them had their own lives, their own heartaches and dreams 
and agendas -- it would be easy for any one of them to spin off 
and away from the group the way Subaru had. Each encounter with 
the Dragons of Earth had reflected that separateness.
	But they had chosen to come together, to form a whole rather 
than stay fragments. And without saying a word, all of them knew 
it was time to reaffirm that choice.
	"So," Arashi said finally. "How do we show him?"
	Yuzuriha looked thoughtful, a finger laid across her lips. 
"I've got an idea. But we all have to agree to it, or it won't 
work."

*****

	Plans were formulated, argued over, and finally everyone 
agreed. Karen was brought up to speed when she came home from 
work, and then the plan was presented in its entirety to Hinoto, 
who approved, and agreed to provide the assistance they needed.
	It was time to move.

*****

	He stood on the very edge of the rooftop, an upright slash of 
black against the brooding grey sky. The wind, unhindered at this 
height, stirred his short black hair and stole under the dark coat 
he'd wrapped around himself. A tiny smile curved his lips as he 
stood, waiting.
	Not long, now.
	Soon all the waiting would be over.
	Abruptly, the smile faltered and fell away. Subaru clutched 
the coat around himself and shivered as the clammy air bit into 
him. He bent over double, coughing violently -- too many 
cigarettes, he supposed, combined with this wretched weather. 
Tears sprang into his eyes as the coughs continued to wrack his 
spare frame.
	*Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he won't come. He's staying away, 
just to torture me...*
	"Hello, Subaru-kun."
	Slowly, the onmyouji straightened up, swallowing the last 
coughs. There he stood, with what passed for the sun at his back, 
a second slash of darkness against the blank grey sky. His 
features were thrown into shadow, and he resembled nothing so much 
as a jagged tear in the clouds, a rip in the sky that had been 
mended by a clumsy hand. Subaru found himself remembering an image 
from a book he hadn't read in years -- Echthroi, the destroyers of 
life, manifested as a star-devouring slash of nothingness across a 
galaxy.
	Then Seishirou moved, and the dark illusion shattered.
	"Have you come to kill me?"
	His voice was soft and amused, velvet over steel. He tilted 
his head slightly, waiting for a reply, and light skittered across 
his sunglasses, then fell into darkness again.
	"Enough games," Subaru said at last, his own voice sounding 
harsh in his ears. He could feel his fingers curl and uncurl, the 
leather of his gloves sliding over itself. "I'm tired of dancing 
for you. This ends now, one way or the other."
	A tolerant smile played over the shadowy features.
	"As you wish."
	For a moment, neither one moved. Then, as Subaru raised his 
hands to enclose this place in his kekkai, Seishirou struck. 
Exquisite pain flared up through the Sumeragi's hands, pouring 
down his arms like molten iron, searing into his very bones. 
Subaru bit back a scream, and stared dumbfounded at his hands.
	Visible even through the heavy winter gloves, the marks 
Seishirou had put on his hands so long ago were glowing with an 
angry red fire.
	"But if we do this," Seishirou remarked calmly, as if 
continuing a friendly chat, "we'll do it my way. No kekkai, 
Subaru-kun; no spirit shield to protect the outside world from the 
fallout of our little game. What we do today is real."
	*No kekkai* Subaru thought numbly, staring at the hands 
frozen in agony before him. *Once again, innocent people will be 
hurt, because of me and my quarrel with the Sakurazukamori.*
	His knees buckled, and he sank softly to the rooftop.
	*I'm going to die, and for nothing.*
	Through the bloody haze that swam across his eyes, Subaru 
could still make out the shape of the Sakurazukamori, his 
coattails swaying in the chilly wind. Long arms moved away from 
his sides, hands moving in too-familiar magical gestures. Then the 
dark form was lost in a swirl of white ofuda. Somewhere in the 
back of his mind, Subaru knew that he *could* resist those things 
-- could render them as harmless as the bits of paper they 
resembled. But not with pain screaming through his hands like 
this; it distracted him, shattered his focus. All he could do was 
sit dumbly and watch as the ofuda arched and spiraled around his 
enemy's dark form, elegant as a magician manipulating cards -- 
then they came at him in a deadly white rush.
	And then, just as the first ofuda was nearly upon him, the 
white paper burst abrubtly into flames. One by one the ofuda -- 
some only inches away from Subaru's face -- ignited in rapid-fire 
succession, flared up like theatrical flash-paper, then blew away 
harmlessly in ash.
	As the last one blazed out of existence, Subaru felt the 
agony drain out of his hands. He fell forward, catching himself 
automatically, and drew a shaky breath. Sweat beaded his forehead 
and drenched his hair.
	"How...?" he breathed aloud.
	Then he spotted her.
	She was sitting, appropriately enough, on a chimney. She wore 
a tailored white blouse and tie and an ankle-length skirt of black 
leather, slit up to the hip to reveal demurely crossed legs. Over 
the blouse was a fitted crimson bodice; a jaunty black cap perched 
atop her curls.
	Catching Subaru's eye, Karen broke into a delighted smile. 
She winked, then blew a kiss to the astonished Sumeragi.
	"Kasumi-san?" Subaru said. "What are *you* doing here?"
	"What's it look like?" the pyrokinetic tossed back. Then, 
over her shoulder: "Diversion!"
	Confused, Subaru followed her glance -- and was nearly 
flattened when the wind reversed itself without warning and came 
howling past him with unnatural force. Seishirou, who had 
recovered from the surprise of seeing his ofuda burnt and was now 
striding towards them with a menacing grin on his face, was 
equally caught off-guard by the sudden shift, and stumbled 
backwards, coatskirts flapping like corbie wings. He raised his 
hands to perform another spell, but a playful updraft whisked ash 
and rooftop debris into the Sakurazukamori's face. With a cry of 
rage and pain, he clawed at his eyes, and stumbled backwards 
again --
	-- right off the edge of the roof.
	Subaru shouted in horror, reaching vainly toward the vanished 
figure.
	"I wouldn't worry," a voice remarked behind him, becoming 
audible as the wind died down to its natural level. "It's highly 
unlikely that *that* could finish him."
	"Yeah," another voice, unmistakable with its Kansai twang. 
"That'd be *way* too easy."
	Subaru looked from one to the other. Sorata, perched on the 
rooftop edge of the building next door, was dressed in what looked 
like a military flight suit, but all red, with a pair of black 
harness straps criscrossing his chest. He wore a black aviator's 
hat complete with goggles. Catching Subaru's eye, the young monk 
grinned and flashed him the victory salute. Seiichirou, standing 
easily nearby on nothing at all, had discarded his quiet brown 
business suit for a dramatic black coat with long, full tails. The 
coat was lined with crimson and accented with matching epaulettes, 
buckles, and gloves. On one sleeve Subaru saw a red arm band, 
decorated with a pattern he recognized -- seven stars in a familiar 
constellation.
	"Aoki-san? Arisugawa-san? You're here, too?"
	"Of course we're here," Seiichirou said, walking down air to 
the rooftop as if he were on a staircase.
	"We're all here."

	It was true. One by one, the rest of the Seals appeared: 
Arashi, in a fiery tailored jacket and skirt, dark hair streaming 
like river water from beneath a red beret; Yuzuriha, looking 
extremely cute in red shorts and a white shirt with suspenders, 
black sneakers, and a scarlet tie; and finally Kamui, in a coat 
cut like Seiichirou's, crimson trimmed with black instead of the 
other way round. Looking closely, Subaru thought he saw the collar 
of the boy's school uniform sticking out of the coat. Each wore 
the constellation pattern somewhere on their outfits -- on an 
armband, a tie, a hat, or the back of a shirt.
	Subaru frowned. It was almost as if they were trying to look 
like characters from a sentai show -- albeit, one with six members. 
But if so, they should have made the uniforms look more alike.
	"You...all of you...don't have to be here," the onmyouji 
said. "This isn't your fight."
	"Don't be silly!" Yuzuriha retorted. "It is so our fight."
	"Sumeragi-san, you should put up your kekkai," Arashi broke 
in with her usual grave courtesy.
	Subaru glanced behind him. Seishirou had apparently caught 
himself on a ledge just below the roof, and was now pulling 
himself back up. The playful expression was gone from his narrow 
face -- his mouth had lost its usual touch of smile, and was fixed 
in a taut line. When at last he stood upright, safely in from the 
edge of the roof, he straightened his clothing with a sharp, angry 
gesture, then turned to face his antagonist.
	He was expecting to see Subaru. At most, Subaru together with 
the pyrokinetic and the wind-master. What he did see was all seven 
Dragons of Heaven standing in an arc, their black and crimson 
burning fiercely against the blank grey sky. At the center of the 
semicircle stood the onmyouji, green eyes focused on the upturned 
palms of his hands. Seishirou's lips tightened with rage, but 
before he could move to distract Subaru, a small, glowing pentacle 
appeared in the Dragon of Heaven's cupped hands. For a moment it 
hung there unmoving, then in a great golden rush it swept up and 
out to its full size.
	Instantly, the wind died away to nothing. An eerie luminosity 
replaced the gray November light, heightening the sense of 
displacement felt by everyone within the kekkai.
	Seishirou's expression blackened and twisted into a scowl.  
None of this was working out as he'd planned; abruptly, he decided 
to leave the scene. Staring deliberately from one to the other of 
the Seals, the Sakurazukamori spread out his arms --
	-- and dissolved into a flurry of shell-pink petals.
	"Aw, nut-bunnies!" Sorata exploded. "I *hate* it when he does 
that!"
	"Relax," said Arashi. Very calmly, she raised her hands to 
her eyes, formed a circle through which she scanned the rooftop. 
"He's inside the kekkai -- he can't have gotten....there!" Her hand 
swept out, the pointing finger accented by the sudden outthrust of 
the god-blade from the palm of her hand.
	Subaru still couldn't see anything -- *I never could see 
through his illusions,* he thought ironically -- but with a gesture, 
he sent a shimmering cascade of his own ofuda into the air. The 
white bits of paper arched high into the air, sprouted wings, and 
became a flock of pure white birds winging furiously in the 
direction indicated by Arashi's sword.
	He was unsurprised that most of them failed to reach their 
target; after all, the still-invisible Sakurazukamori was not 
likely to oblige them all by standing still. Unfazed, Subaru 
commanded his birds to spread out and sweep the area -- as Arashi 
had pointed out, there was no way Seishirou could leave the 
kekkai. One by one the birds wheeled out and away, circling the 
rooftop for their invisible foe. And then, as Subaru was beginning 
to think he'd have to try another stragegy, a black- gloved hand 
flashed into existence, just long enough to catch one of the white 
birds and crush it, reducing it to a handful of paper shards.
	That was long enough for Inuki. The dog-spirit, who had been 
standing quiet and unobserved beside its mistress, shot into 
action, barrelling across the rooftop to the spot where the hand 
had appeared. Before the ex-bird hit the roof, Inuki sank its 
gleaming teeth into the invisible Sakurazukamori's leg. A spray of 
blood shot disconcertingly out of nowhere, and then the Dragon of 
Earth shimmered back into existence.
	"Seven against one, Subaru-kun?" he said, his voice smooth as 
ever, even though Inuki was still worrying his leg. "That's not 
very fair. How unworthy of the Sumeragi head."
	Subaru flinched. 
	"I didn't plan this," he replied, his voice so small it 
barely carried.
	"Nope," Sorata agreed cheerfully. "This was all our idea. 
*He* was gonna get all noble and throw himself away. Oh, don't 
worry--we ain't gonna gang up on you; we're just here to even up 
the odds a bit."
	Seishirou looked down at the dog-spirit maintaining its 
death-grip on his calf, then up and around to the ring of Seals.
	"Even. This doesn't look very even to me."
	He gestured, flinging out his long, slender hand with furious 
grace -- once, twice, three times.
	"There. That's a little better."
	Subaru stared at the spots on the roof where Arashi, Karen, 
and Yuzuriha had stood a moment ago.
	"And you see? I'm even willing to be a gentleman about this. 
No need to put the ladies into any...real...danger."
	Sorata let out a yelp, echoed by a suddenly bereft Inuki. The 
inugami released its hold on Seishirou's leg and backed away, 
snarling softly.
	"Oh, yes," Seishirou continued, looking down into the spirit-
dog's malevolent eyes. "You ruined my favorite pair of trousers. 
Time to pay, little dog."
	Subaru's eyes widened as Seishirou raised his hands. But as 
the onmyouji was drawing breath to counter him, Sorata burst out:
	"No way! After what you did to my beautiful Miss?"
	The monk's hands swept up and out, fingers spread stiffly. 
>From each fingertip sprang tiny balls of lightning that sped, 
hissing and crackling, toward the tall, black-coated figure. 
Seishirou whipped around, shielding himself easily from the 
lightning; but in doing so his attack on Inuki went wide. The bolt 
of energy that would have dispersed the spirit-dog's essence 
splattered harmlessly on the rooftop and fizzled out.
	Another wave of lightning, this time combined with a white 
rain of Subaru's ofuda: papers becoming birds becoming blazing 
white streaks against the livid sky. Seishirou's shields held at 
first, but there were too many and one of the birds got through. 
Black sunglasses clattered to the concrete rooftop, and an ugly 
red slash appeared on his face. A safe distance away, Seiichirou 
stood with his hand firmly clamped around Kamui's arm, whispering 
something in the younger Seal's ear.
	Seishirou touched the blood wonderingly, a look of disbelief 
in his one good eye.
	*All the blood he's spilt,* Subaru found himself thinking. 
*How often has he seen his own?*
	His heart contracted in swift pain, and he nearly missed what 
happened next.
	Seishirou's hand clenched shut around the blood--an ugly, 
convulsive movement. When he opened it again, a globe of pusating 
darkness lay nestled in his palm. Subaru stared in horror, his eye 
caught not so much by the darkness as by the aura of malevolence 
and hunger radiating out from it.
	*Blood magic!*
	The Sakurazukamori hurled the sphere towards them, high in 
the air. At the apex of its arc, the black sphere seemed to pause, 
hanging tantalizingly against the glowing kekkai wall, and then, 
even as it plummeted down, it began to twist, writhing hideously 
like a living thing. As the two Seals watched in morbid 
fascination, it suddenly shot outward into five streaks of anti- 
light -- livid red-black tentacles that shaped themselves into 
dragon heads with gaping jaws and eyes burning with the blood and 
madness that had birthed them.
	The first one struck. Fangs black as frost-blight sank into 
the chunk of rooftop where Sorata had been standing a moment ago. 
Subaru had barely enough time to see him leap to safety before the 
second dragon came shrieking down towards him. The building gave a 
shudder; cracks raced out like an obscene spiderweb from the first 
dragon's impact, and chunks of concrete began to fall away. For a 
moment, Subaru considered simply letting the dragon take him --
*That would end it, certainly* -- and then a far older instinct 
kicked in and he sprang out of reach just as the killing-frost 
breath of the dragon laced his skin.
	From the safety of the rooftop next door, Subaru watched as 
the third dragon-head lashed toward the other two Seals. At the 
last possible moment, the wind-master leaped into the air, pulling 
Kamui with him. Infuriated, the dragon bit off a corner of that 
rooftop, then coiled back on itself as the other two did.
	Again and again the blood-dragons struck, each time coming 
just a bit closer; each time taking out more of the surrounding 
architecture. Sorata's lightning had no effect on them, nor did 
Subaru's ofuda-birds do more than slow them a bit. Seiichirou 
seemed to be expending most of his efforts keeping Kamui safe -- 
sensible, though the onmyouji found himself wondering why the boy 
held back.
	Then the dragons struck again. Once more they missed; once 
more a large chunk of building was gouged away -- and all at once 
Subaru realized something:
	"Arisugawa-san!" he shouted. "Don't waste your energy dodging 
them! They aren't trying to hit *us*!"
	Sorata shot him a baffled stare, as if trying to figure out 
what drugs the onmyouji was on. Then comprehension flared in his 
mobile face:
	"I get it! He's gonna..."
	The rest of his words were lost as a dragon head snaked 
around him, ignoring the monk entirely, and bit away a chunk of 
masonry just behind him. The rooftop below Sorata's feet cracked, 
and before he could leap to safety, crumbled away into rubble. 
With a cry that held more outrage than pain, Sorata fell through 
the hole, landed on a pile of concrete shards ten feet below, and 
lay unmoving.
	Subaru raced toward the hole, shouting his name, oblivious to 
the dragon-head that streaked along above him. There was no 
answer, save only a treacherous creak from the roof beneath his 
feet. Backing away, Subaru turned back toward the intact bit of 
rooftop where Seishirou stood, expression once more hidden by 
sunglasses.
	His eyes narrowed to cold emerald slits.
	Bringing his hands together, the onmyouji began to chant, 
words hissing out through tightly clenched teeth. He clenched his 
hands, fingers interlaced so tightly his knuckles stood out even 
through his gloves. Then he released them, and flung a shell of 
clear golden light out toward the Sakurazukamori.
	The dragons reared back, but the wave of brilliance caught 
them. They writhed in impotent agony for a space, then like all 
things wrought of blood-magic, they fell away into ash.
	Light gleamed off Seishirou's sunglasses; with an audible 
crack, the frame broke in half and fell away. The wash of gold 
faded into grayness, and Subaru's knees buckled as fatigue settled 
into his limbs. He was bruised and sore, and a flying shard of 
glass had sliced his arm, but that didn't bother him as much as 
the fact that his energy was rapidly fading.
	*I don't know if I can repel another attack like that,* he 
thought. Kneeling by the hole through which Sorata had fallen, 
Subaru peered down at the still figure that lay crumpled amidst 
the rubble--*like a toy he'd grown tired of and tossed aside.*
But while the young monk was unconscious, and probably badly hurt, 
Subaru was relieved to see his spirit was still bound to his body.
	"Hold on," he whispered, then rose unsteadily back to his 
feet.
	Seishirou's mismatched eyes were focused on him when the 
onmyouji turned back around. In the silence that lay thick across 
the rooftop, the hiss of the older man's breathing could be heard. 
There was a catch to it, and he held himself stiffly, without his 
usual coiled grace. They had hurt him, Subaru realized suddenly. 
Not just a superficial cut or scratch; they had actually hurt him.
	The realization wrung something deep inside Subaru...
	And then faded to simple regret.

	Before Subaru could stop to ponder this curious development 
-- why did the thought of hurting Seishirou still bother him; and 
why did it bother him so *little*? -- Seishirou raised his hand, 
making a black-gloved fist high above his head.
	Even before the thing he was conjuring took shape, Subaru 
knew with horrible certainty what it was. He could feel the 
incredible amount of power it drew, taking every last bit of 
strength the Sakurazukamori possessed. He stood in a pool of 
almost tangible blackness, the energy rising up through and around 
him in great pulsating ribbons, to gather above his fist into a 
shape Subaru knew all too well. Smoke-colored wings, barred with 
sooty black, talons like gleaming wrought steel, eyes that glowed 
like malevolent moons above a cruel curved beak.
	"Shikigami," Subaru breathed. And then,
	"Seishirou-san..."
	The Dragon of Earth made a brief movement with his fist, and 
the spirit-eagle raised its ashen wings and sprang away into the 
air. It gave a cry that ripped through the air, a harsh and final 
sound that tugged the spirit down, urging the hearer to curl up in 
a hopeless ball on the ground. There was utter confidence in that 
cry, in the proud arch of its wings as it soared above the 
shattered buildings -- the complete and perfect assurance of one who 
could not lose.
	It was all Subaru could do to remain upright. His knees 
trembled with the effort to stay locked and stable; his mental 
shields buckled under the waves of despair that battered him from 
the inside out.
	"I can't stop that thing," he whispered, his voice ragged and 
faint. "Nothing can stop it."
	The great ashen bird circled once, twice, three times. A 
ferocious wind sprang up, shifting direction frequently and 
without warning, but the eagle merely tilted its wings and flew 
on, the random winds smoothing out to stillness beneath its 
feathers. Three times round it soared, then folded its wings and 
plunged downward like an arrow loosed from a crossbow.
	An arrow aimed precisely at the Sumeragi's heart.
	Gathering the shreds of his powers, Subaru raised a shield, a 
pale, glimmering bubble of magic that swelled out to meet the 
shikigami. But the eagle pressed through it, and was not even 
slowed. Once again, Subaru fought to keep his knees from melting 
beneath him; every limb was trembling with exhaustion.
	*Nothing...nothing left...*
	Then...
	Feet, pounding past him.
	A small, red-clad form burst through the tattered shreds of 
Subaru's ward. The boy's face was set and grim as he flashed past 
Subaru; the crimson tails of his coat poured out behind him like 
twin rivers of blood.
	Kamui.
	No longer held in check, the young Seal stood in front of 
Subaru, feet planted firmly on the crumbling rooftop, limned in a 
haze of power. One hand was curled into a fist at his hip, the 
other outhrust toward the plumetting shikigami.
	"That idiot!"
	An icy shock of terror slivered through Subaru. Despite his 
own exhaustion, he gathered himself up to try and get Kamui out of 
danger -- but before he could move, a hand settled on his shoulder.
	Turning, he saw Seiichirou. The wind-master shook his head, 
gently but firmly. Subaru's eyes widened in sudden comprehension; 
stepping back, he stumbled as his knees finally gave out, sagging 
against the tall form of the other Seal.
	The shikigami screamed. Kamui's hand began to tremble as the 
spirit-bird flew closer. The tension in his arms and narrow 
shoulders could be seen even through the heavy folds of his coat. 
Still the shikigami approached, talons outstretched, cruel beak 
open. The air between Kamui and the spirit-bird shimmered with 
waves of heat-distortion as will struggled against will. The 
Dragon of Heaven's arm was shaking visibly now, and his hair was 
plastered down with sweat; the shikigami hung in the air, inches 
from his outstretched hand, wings whipping furiously.
	And then, just when it seemed the boy could hold out no 
longer, an incredible upwelling of strength burst from his slim 
body, blowing the shikigami into a thousand ashen shards.

*****

	Two rooftops over, where the fight had begun, three mabaroshi 
fields wavered and fell. By some miracle -- or perhaps even by the 
Sakurazukamori's design -- the bit of roof on which they stood was 
still intact. One by one they bled back into reality: Arashi with 
her sword held defensively before her, a dozen small cuts on her 
arms and legs; Karen in a bloom of fire, her "uniform" smeared 
with smoke and ash. Yuzuriha didn't seem to be harmed, but she 
reappeared sitting cross-legged on the ground, face buried in her 
hands. As Subaru watched, a flower fell out of her hair. It faded 
to nothingness before it hit the rooftop.
	Inuki gave a delighted yelp, and fairly flew across the 
broken rooftops to its mistress' side. Subaru and Seiichirou 
followed at a more subdued pace.
	"Are you all right?" the wind-master asked anxiously.
	"Sure," Karen replied, resettling her black cap on her head, 
the witch-fire that surrounded her fading.
	"We were trapped in illusion-battles," Arashi added. She did 
not, Subaru noticed, withdraw her sword. "Even though it was clear 
they weren't real, we still had to fight our way out. At least --" 
and she glanced over at Yuzuriha, who had her arms wrapped tightly 
around Inuki and her face buried in the spirit- dog's coat "--
that's how it was for me. Where's Sorata?"
	"He took a fall," Subaru said gravely. "He should be all 
right, thought."
	He looked from one Dragon of Heaven to the other.
	"Why," he said hesitantly, the words awkward and difficult to 
speak aloud. "Why did you all do this for me? I was trying..."
	"We know what you were trying to do," Unexpectedly, it was 
Yuzuriha who spoke, arms still around Inuki.
	"But, you see, if we let the Dragons of Earth splinter us, 
divide us up so that we're seven individuals, each one of us 
fighting alone against seven *other* individuals, we're doomed,"
Karen added.
	"Besides." This from Kamui, who came staggering back to the 
group, his thin body still showing signs of strain from his recent 
battle. Sorata leaned against him, an arm slung across Kamui's 
shoulders; battered, grey with rock dust, and barely conscious, 
but still with the ubiquitous snap in his dark grey eyes. 
"We...would've done it...even if you *weren't* a Dragon of 
Heaven."
	Startled, Subaru stared at them.
	And for the first time, he really *saw* them.
	*These are good people,* he thought once more.
	Turning away, he looked behind him, to where a dark figure 
lay crumpled in unaccustomed disgrace. Time seemed to hold its 
breath as Subaru moved a few steps away from the other Seals, 
stood between them and this fallen symbol of his innocence.
	*All those years, Seishirou-san. All those years I tried to 
hate you for what you did to me: for your betrayal, the way you 
used me, what you did to Hokoto. All those years I tried to hate 
you, and focus on killing you, and I never could, because...
	*Because you made me love you.
	*And I thought I /had/ to keep loving you, if only because 
not to do so would make me no better than you.*
	Old thoughts, these; tracks worn nine years deep into the 
Sumeragi's mind and heart. But even as the words formed for the 
thousanth time, new ones came tumbling in to take their place:
	*But why /should/ I love you? What did you ever do that was 
worthy of love? What if...all this time I kept loving you because 
I thought I didn't deserve anything more?*
	Subaru drew in his breath sharply at the heretical thought. 
He turned back to the Seals, looked at each of them in turn.
	*These people...they /deserve/ to be loved. They're fighting 
to save lives. They threw themselves into danger for me -- not 
just for another Dragon of Heaven, not just for the head of the 
Sumeragi.
	*For me.
	*Seishirou-san...* and he turned back to the crumpled figure 
*What did you ever do that wasn't a game, a trick, a mabaroshi? 
What did you ever do but toy with me, play on an innocent boy's 
emotions, set me up so you could hurt me over and over again and 
know that I'd keep running back to you for more? Is that someone 
who deserves to be loved?
	*No. And I'm not going to keep throwing myself away on 
someone who doesn't care. I'm not going to keep wasting my heart 
on someone who doesn't want it, who can't return my love. You 
don't deserve me.*
	"You don't deserve my heart!"
	He didn't realize he'd said it aloud until the words came 
echoing back. Seishirou did not move or react; the rest of the 
building didn't crumble away at the force of his cry. 
Nevertheless, it was as if Subaru's world had shattered. An old, 
deadened husk seemed to crumble from around his heart; a leaden 
weight he hadn't known he'd been carrying gave a tremendous crack 
and fell away. Shutters he hadn't realized were barred across his 
soul burst open for the first time in nearly ten years, and warm, 
clean sunlight came streaming in.
	He felt an absurd and completely inappropriate urge to leap 
up and down, to laugh and shout and twirl about on the crumbling 
roof until he fell down. What he did, instead, was walk back to 
the other six Dragons of Heaven.
	There they stood, nearly alike in their red and black 
uniforms -- and suddenly Subaru understood why they wore them, and 
more importantly, why each one was slightly different. They were 
more than just a jumbled collection of people, no longer just 
thrown together by fate or destiny or random chance; they were a 
team. Seven strands of silk, each one still separate and whole in 
itself, but twisted together to form a cord of incredible 
strength.
	"Huh," Karen said as he approached them. "I was right; I 
always thought you'd be awfully pretty if you ever learned how to 
smile."
	Smile? Subaru actually had to put his hands up to his face 
before he realized that he was in fact smiling -- not the faint, 
sad twisting of lips that was all he'd managed for so long, but a 
full, irrepressable grin. It felt strange.
	"Thank you, Kasumi-san," he said formally, even as several of 
the other Seals berated her loudly for her utter lack of shame. 
"And now....I have only one wish left."
	"Oh?" Seiichirou asked, eyes narrowing a bit behind his 
glasses. "And what is that?"
	"I wish...I had an outfit like the rest of you!"
	At that they all burst out laughing.
	"We do!" Yuzuriha exclaimed, bouncing up to her feet. "We had 
one made up specially for you, just in case."
	She sprang off the rooftop, and returned a moment later, her 
skinny arms overflowing with black and red fabric. "Here, put it 
on. The uniforms were *my* idea," she added gleefully.
	The jacket was not as long or full as some of the others; it 
fell to mid-thigh in a smooth, graceful rush of black, accented 
with red at the shoulders, lapels, and waist, and bore the 
ubiquitous constellation symbol on its sleeve. It fit him 
perfectly, even when he fastened all the buckles...well, perhaps 
the shoulders were a bit too wide. Hokoto would have approved. 
Subaru looked down at himself, then at the others. Alike, yet 
different. Once again, he felt his face stretch in that 
unaccustomed smile.
	"Come on," he said. "Let's get Sorata back to the house. He 
needs to rest."
	"What about the Sakurazukamori?" Arashi asked, gesturing with 
a now swordless hand to where the Angel lay.
	"What about him?" Subaru asked, his tone unexpectedly light. 
There was still a corner of his heart that wept, that would 
probably always grieve a little for the loss of his first real 
love. But he was no longer trapped in that corner. Even as he 
wept, he could go on living. "Let *him* see what it feels like to 
be left alive."

Author's note: This one's for everyone who ever wanted to see 
Subaru get over it and join a support group. It was inspired, at 
least in part, by the group shot of the Seven Seals in semi- 
matching uniforms.