Subaru waited for the green light, and when it came, he accelerated 
rapidly into the night, leaving the other cars behind him.  He shifted 
smoothly through the gears, his sense of anger somehow nursed by the power 
the automobile was drawing from its engine.  He had only had this car for a 
year, only known how to drive for a month more, but he had turned it into 
his means of escape when he needed it.  Once, he would have taken to a 
school's fields and run around a small track until he had worn himself out 
physically.  Once, his anger would have had a peaceful end.  Once, he would 
never have been angry in the first place.
        Once, he would have been human.
        Only when Tokyo was far, far behind him and he found himself 
surrounded by fields did Subaru pull off to the side of the road and sit in 
his car for a few minutes, gloved hands gripped tightly around the steering 
wheel, lips compressed into a narrow line, breath shuddering with unspoken 
fury.  The distance had not helped any, but leaving Tokyo had prevented him 
from killing someone to vent his emotions.  Here, there was no one to lay 
hands on and destroy.  No one would come up to him and die, caught in his 
mad anger.
        Sakurazukamori.
        Damn the man for everything.
        As the moments slowly ticked past, Subaru felt his anger blessedly 
fade.  In its place was an emptiness that felt even worse, followed by an 
unfathomable sorrow and pain and guilt.  Subaru slumped forward, his eyes 
closing as his forehead rested against the cool leather of the steering 
wheel.
        Finally, he straightened and opened his eyes, feeling that he was 
once again Subaru Sumeragi.
        The rages, the anger, they came from the part of him that was 
someone else.  They came from the dead and the dying he had seen, whose 
deaths he had taken into himself, into his own life.  They came from the 
pain and sense of injustice that death festered in a human soul.  He tried 
to end unmerciful suffering when asked, releasing the soul from the pained 
or infirm body.  Once he would have called himself a killer.  Now he merely 
considered it as a part of his life, balancing the white with the black, 
damning himself with the acts of mercy every night.
        "Damn him," he said under his breath.
        He looked to his left as Hokuto materialized in the passenger seat 
of the car.  "Hokuto-chan," he said simply, by way of greeting.
        "'Evening, Subaru," she replied, leaning back into the seat.  
"What's up?"
        "Thankfully, not the sun," Subaru answered.  He let out a soft 
sigh.  "I lost it again.  I'm sorry."
        Hokuto gave him an odd look, her translucent skin seeming to 
glimmer in the moonlight.  "You are impossible," was all she said, before 
turning her head to look at the stars.
        It was a pity ghosts didn't age, Subaru thought to himself.  Hokuto 
had been very pretty when alive, and had shown promise of growing into a 
great beauty in another few years.  But she was stuck forever in the 
afterlife image of a sixteen-year-old.  And that was at least partly his 
fault....
        Subaru closed his eyes, not wanting to see his own faint reflection 
in the windshield.  He already knew what he looked like: a young man, 
twenty-one years of age, with short-cropped black hair and large eyes that 
were primarily green, but which sometimes changed to reflect his emotions.  
He was of average height, exceedingly slender, and had pale skin that was 
nearly as translucent as a ghost's.  And that was because....
        Hokuto, bonded to him as no other had ever been, knew the flow of 
his thoughts automatically, and her hand touched on his, spirit flesh to 
living flesh, and both real to the other.  "It's not your fault, Subaru," 
she murmured in comfort.  "It was never your fault."
        "That's not true," Subaru answered, shaking his head.  "I could 
have chosen differently.  I could have walked away.  I could have..."
        "Let me die in pain?" Hokuto interrupted.  "Like hell.  Sei-chan 
knew you loved me too much for that, Subaru.  He knew you would see that I 
couldn't live, that you would make it merciful for me.  If anything, this 
is my fault, for not seeing what he was planning and guarding myself 
against him."  She paused and gave a soft sigh.  "I was such a fool to 
encourage you to become friends with him, Subaru.  It cost me my life and 
you... everything."
        "Not everything!" Subaru contradicted, opening his eyes and looking 
at his sister.  "I still have you, don't I?"
        Hokuto gave him a small smile and her hand tightened on his almost 
imperceptably.  "That's so," she admitted.


                               Crimson Variant
                                   Part One
                             by Kristin Huntsman


        Arashi Kishuu sat quietly on the floor of her hotel room, eyes 
closed, palms resting on her knees.  Her breathing was slow and controlled, 
her pulse sounding softly through her body, suppressed into the faintest 
murmuring of waves.  She wore a silk kimono that was colored in washes of 
blue and green, with a pattern of red that resembled nothing so much as 
striking lightning streaking around the outfit, her black hair tumbling 
about her shoulders, falling until it reached the floor.  She had donned 
the kimono to help her clear her mind, as she was more comfortable 
meditating in traditional garb than she was in her school uniform.  Perched 
on the chairs in the room, watching silently, were Daisuke Saiki, Sorata 
Arisugawa, and Yuzuriha Nekoi, who had her spirit-dog, Inuki, sitting on 
the floor in front of her chair.
        Arashi was searching for the remaining member of the Seven Seals of 
Heaven.  Two were in the room with her, and she had previously met two 
others, Seiichirou Aoki and Karen Kasumi.  That made a total of five out of 
the seven.  Another would be Kamui Shirou, once he decided on his heart.  
That left only one, and as the most trained in such matters, Arashi had 
taken it upon herself to find the remaining Seal.
        The most likely person, she agreed with Sorata, was Subaru 
Sumeragi, the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan, and the most powerful 
onmyouji, it was rumored, in Japan.  And they already knew he was in 
Tokyo....
        Her breathing became even shallower as Arashi entered a trance, 
her soul stepping out of her body and looking around with spiritual eyes.  
She looked cautiously at the golden thread that wrapped about her wrist, a 
thin line of the golden fire that she felt burning inside her skin.  There 
were other colors, too, when she looked at herself with these eyes, but the 
gold fire that made her a Seal eclipsed them.
        The same fire, she saw, burned within Sorata and Yuzuriha-chan, the 
former having a faint aura of yellow about the fire, the latter glowing a 
bright orange.  She smiled to herself and disappeared, spreading her vision 
all throughout Tokyo, looking for those with the same flames within them.
        She easily found Karen Kasumi, her gold tinted with ruby red, in 
the middle of....  Arashi would have wrinkled her nose in disgust, had she 
had one at the moment.  But what else would one expect a prostitute be 
doing? she reminded herself.  It was the girl's job.
        Aoki-san she found easily as well, in the middle of papers, 
sketching a layout with the ease of long practice.  His aura was tinted 
with blue.  Kamui she barely touched on, knowing that he would be at the 
Togakushi Shrine, his scarlet-and-gold pattern entwined with that of Kotori 
Monou, a girl who appeared to Arashi's inner sight as baby pink.
        That left only one, a mystery person who carried the golden fire 
within him or herself, and had not yet appeared....
        A dragon of power, deep blue and sea-green, marked with black and 
white, roared, twisting in and around and through Arashi's supernatural 
senses, and she felt almost like she had been thrown into a wall, the 
sensation/emotion around her was so intense.  Golden fire surrounded her, 
sparkling, burning, shifting.
        She had found the one she was looking for, unintentionally drifting 
right into and through him as she searched.  She questioned for a name and 
got it, Subaru Sumeragi.  She reached for more information, seeking a 
where, a why, a how.  Where to find him, why he might help them, how to 
convince him....
        Arashi suddenly found herself slammed back into her own body, her 
own awareness, as Sumeragi became aware of her presence in his soul and 
raised shields around himself that cut off not only her contact with him 
but her ability to roam the spirit-scape, throwing her back into her 
physical self.  The only thing she could think to compare the sensation to 
was a car wreck, going from sixty to zero in half a second.  She HURT in 
every aspect of her mind and body from the violent transfer, from the 
adrenaline rush, and was not surprised to see the room spinning around her 
as she opened her eyes.  The only thing that was constant was Sorata's face 
in front of hers.
        She tried to speak, to tell him to let go of her, but the words 
didn't come.  He looked at her concernedly with his dark brown eyes.  "You 
know I can't fall in love with you if you die before then, don't you?" he 
asked.  Arashi managed to mentally compliment him with the word "idiot" 
before closing her eyes and blacking out.

        Subaru felt an intruder try to step into his dreams and kicked 
whoever it was out as rudely as he could, completely closing off his mind 
to the outside world with an abrupt multi-layered shield.  His eyes drifted 
half-open for a second with the effort, then closed again, having noted 
that the room was still bright enough to indicate daylight outside.  Not 
quite time to get up yet, he decided, descending deeper into his dreams.  
Wait until it's dark, then wake up.  Subarus need their sleep.
        Dreams of darkness and light, swirling together until the 
difference was indistinguishable, continued until a sudden splash of red 
disrupted the beautiful, delicate patterns.  Subaru looked up and saw 
Seishirou-san standing there, blood dripping from his right hand.  Behind 
him was....
        "Hokuto-chan!!!" Subaru screamed, running to his twin's side.  She 
looked up at him, drained face and black hair splattered with her own 
blood.  Pain was in her emerald eyes, pain and shock.  He didn't look 
anywhere but her face.  He didn't want to see what he knew was there.  He 
didn't want to see that her arms had been cut off at the elbow, that her 
legs had been amputated with surgical precision just above the knees.  He 
didn't want to see the pooling blood pouring out of her.  He touched her 
cheek with a shaking hand, trying to lie to himself, to her.  "It'll be all 
right.  Let me stop the bleeding, we'll go to a doctor...."
        "Su...baru..." she whispered, just barely audible.
        "She's beyond that," Seishirou said softly behind him.  "Surely you 
can see that, Subaru?"
        "No..." Subaru whimpered.
        "End it mercifully," Seishirou whispered, his voice a command.
        Still, Subaru hesitated, his fingers brushing his sister's face.  
"Su...baru..." she moaned again.  "I... know.  *Please*...."
        "Hokuto-chan," Subaru choked, tears blinding him.  He couldn't let 
her die like this, not in pain, not when he could do something about it.  
"Forgive me."  He bent down over her and touched his lips to her neck.  His 
teeth, canines already sharper than a normal human's, rattled against each 
other as he drew a sobbing breath.  Then he let himself go, let tenuous 
instincts take over, knife-like teeth biting into her skin, the first taste 
of Hokuto's blood providing the mental connection he needed to take control 
of her senses, her emotions.
        Her fear and pain and anger slammed into him like a physical blow, 
and he stumbled blindly until the first swallow of blood gave him the 
strength to comb through her tangled web of sensations.  The pain he 
blocked, simply shutting down the path that led between body and mind, 
letting the hurt stop.  Then he called forth whispered memories of better 
sensations, the thrill of simply being physically alive, cool raindrops on 
an upturned face, bare feet splashing in puddles, delightful adrenaline 
pumping as Hokuto ran her best in a race for the school's track team.
        He felt her tears, mental and physical, slow and stop, then the 
psychic equivalant of his sister throwing her arms around his neck and 
hugging him in thanks.  "Who... did this?" he managed to ask with 
difficulty, the mental connection being awkward to handle.
        "Sakurazukamori," his sister answered, her mind prefectly clear.  
He felt her delicate touch on his soul, her hesitation.  "... Sei-chan."
        With the echoed sound of breaking glass, Subaru's world shattered 
around him.  "He's... he couldn't have... he isn't... he can't!"
        He already knew that it was true.  His friend the veterinarian, his 
friend with soft hazel eyes and the special smile only for him, the friend 
who loved to tease him mercilessly....
        "No..." Subaru whispered.
        "He is Sakurazukamori," Hokuto replied quietly.  "He is *the* 
Sakurazukamori.  There has never been any other.  That part was a lie.  
There have been no others, only him forever."
        "Hokuto...chan...."
        "Thank you, Subaru," she whispered distantly, her voice fading.  
"It doesn't hurt anymore....  I'm sorry...."
        As his other part, his twin, disappeared into an afterlife that was 
hopefully more merciful than the fate of this one, Subaru stopped drinking 
her blood.  A single last heartbeat struggled to sound as he drew away, 
then no more.
        Even blinded by tears, Subaru could still see the tall figure next 
to him, for once not wearing glasses, smiling gently.  "Only one more step 
to take, Subaru-kun," he said gently.  "Then you will be like me... and 
perhaps even my match."
        With a scream of rage, Subaru launched himself at Sakurazukamori, 
and woke up.

        It was well after sunset when Arashi woke, having slept off the 
effects of the adrenaline shock.  She sat up slowly, holding a hand to her 
aching head, and noticed that though she had been put into her bed, none of 
her clothes had been removed.  Good.  If he'd tried to take anything off of 
her, she'd have used her katana on Sorata with no compunctions whatsoever.
        "Are you all right, Kishuu-san?" Yuzuriha-chan asked worridly.  
"It's been several hours.  What happened to you?  Did you find him?"
        It was a poor language, Arashi reflected, that allowed the default 
pronoun to be male, especially when women were the ones who were the most 
important, biologically and mythologically.  "I'm fine," she replied 
succinctly.  "And, yes, I found him," she continued, turning towards 
Sorata.  "You were right.  Subaru Sumeragi is the seventh Seal."
        "The head of the Sumeragi clan?" Daisuke asked in surprise.  "The 
one who is rumored to be the enemy of Sakurazukamori?"
        "Thought so," Sorata said thoughtfully, his chin in his hand as he 
actually looked serious for a second.  "But logically that means that 
Sakurazukamori is also a Dragon... a Dragon of Earth, to be precise."
        "Tough competition," Yuzuriha said.  "Right, Inuki?"  The 
spirit-dog looked at its mistress in agreement.
        "Especially since you don't know where to find me," a new voice 
added softly from the area of the door.  Five heads swiveled to look at the 
speaker, a slender young man dressed in gray-toned street clothes.
        "You're..." Arashi said disbelievingly.
        "I'm Subaru Sumeragi," he said, stepping towards them.  "I 
apologize for my earlier rudeness, but you caught me in the middle of 
sleep... in the middle of a nightmare, to be precise."  His green-gray eyes 
looked calmly at Arashi, offering a politic apology, which she accepted 
with a slight nod.
        "The door was locked," she noted.
        "Not for someone with an opening spell," he replied, calmly showing 
Arashi that he was more than able to hold his own with her.
        "I'm Sorata Arisugawa," Sorata offered, without his usual "call me 
Sora-chan" added.  "How did you find her?"
        Arashi mentally sighed at her would-be lover's apparent 
possessiveness.
        "I'm an onmyouji," Subaru replied, apparently seeing and ignoring 
Sorata's slight hostility.  Arashi got the feeling he was used to absorbing 
little things like that.  "I'm supposed to be good at finding things."
        "I'm Yuzuriha Nekoi," Yuzuriha suddenly said with her usual bright 
charm, stepping forward and extending her hand towards Subaru after a bow.  
"And this is my spirit-dog, Inuki.  We're both pleased to meet you!"
        "I'm pleased to meet you as well, Nekoi-san," Subaru replied, 
shaking her hand, "and Inuki as well."  He knelt down and patted the 
spirit-dog, offering him a gloved hand to sniff.  Inuki started licking his 
face, which made Subaru seem to lose some of whatever it was that kept his 
eyes distant.
        "He likes you," Yuzuriha said delightedly.  "I haven't seen him 
take this well to anyone else before... though not a lot of people can see 
him...."
        "I've always loved animals, and dogs in particular," Subaru replied
softly.  "I once dreamed of being a breeder in a zoo, but things happened 
to circumvent that."  Arashi watched his eyes darken again, but he smiled 
up at Yuzuriha-chan nonetheless.
        "I'm Daisuke Saiki," Daisuke offered, extending his uninjured arm 
towards Subaru as the onmyouji stood.  "I've heard so much about you that 
it's interesting to finally meet you."
        "Most of it's not true," Subaru told Daisuke softly as they shook 
hands.  "Except for being the head of the clan, I'm just a regular 
onmyouji."
        Somehow Arashi doubted that as she slid out of the bed and gave her 
own name, introducing herself formally to Subaru Sumeragi, onmyouji, head 
of the Sumeragi clan, and last of the Seven Seals of Heaven.  She very much 
doubted that anything was "regular" about this young man.