Tokyo Babylon: Song
Part 4: As I Lay Me Down


        Sorata Arisugawa looked up automatically as the door to the small 
Western-style restaurant opened, and was surprised to see a familiar face.  He 
paused, food half-way to his mouth, to watch Sumeragi Subaru be shown to a 
table near his.  "Excuse me, miss," he said, setting down his fork as the 
waitress Sumeragi was following passed him.  "The gentleman and I know each 
other.  Would it be terribly inconvenient for us to sit together?"
        "Not at all, sir... if that is your wish, sir?" she asked, turning to 
Sumeragi.
        "Fine," he replied succinctly, looking almost distrustfully at Sorata.  
He slid into the seat across from Sorata and accepted the offered menu with 
the barest murmuring of thanks.  His eyes did not leave Sorata's.  "What do 
you want?" he asked as the waitress left.
        "I recommend the blueberry pancakes," Sorata said, spearing a sausage 
on his fork and idly twirling it around.  "It's difficult to talk on an empty 
stomach.  The cinnamon rolls here are to die for, by the way."
        "Kimi wa hen desu," Sumeragi said, looking at the menu.
        "I've gotten used to being called weird, Sumeragi-san," Sorata 
replied lightly.  "If you want to hurt my feelings, you'll have to try harder."
        "Do I have to clarify again that I have no interest in this holy war 
of yours?" he was asked.  "That I have only one reason for being here?"
        "What is _with_ the attitude?" Sorata wondered plaintively, resting 
his head on one hand.  "Do you wake up on the wrong side of the bed every 
morning, or something?"
        Only Sumeragi's silence answered him.
        Sorata sighed.  "Look, we're both here.  I promise I won't try to 
recruit you to the Seals during the length of this meal if you promise to try 
and not ruin it for either of us.  A bad breakfast experience sours the rest 
of the day.  Deal?" he asked.
        "Would you like some coffee, sir?" the pretty waitress asked, offering 
some to Sumeragi.
        "Yes, thank you," he replied.  She turned the coffee cup at his place 
over and quickly filled it with the hot, dark, liquid.  "Deal," Sumeragi 
replied as he lifted the cup to his lips and took a drink.
        The slight trembling of Sumeragi Subaru's hands made Sorata wonder.
        Then the entire building began to shake.
        He and Sumeragi looked at each other for a second, then out the 
window.
        A massive dragon, made of energy that looked like nothing so much as 
lightning to their supernatural sight, raced through the city, heading in the 
general direction of the cafe.
        "Time to abandon ship," Sorata decided, standing and leaving his 
payment on the table, with an extra-generous tip for the waitress.
        "Agreed."  Sumeragi stood as well, leaving his own payment for the 
barely-tasted coffee.

        The roar of the Dragon of Earth became immensely louder the instant 
Subaru stepped out of the restaurant.  He stared at it, closing his eyes as he 
tried to trace its energy back to its origin.  His mind's eye was perfectly 
able to see the three different threads of color tied into it: the first color 
was green, the second was blue, and the third was the pink of a cherry 
blossom.
        A velvety petal brushed his cheek like a tear.
        "Sakurazukamori," he started angrily, stepping forward.
        A hand clamped down on his arm.
        "We've got to split," Arisugawa said.
        "You do what you want," Subaru informed him.  "I'm going after 
Sakurazukamori."
        "Damn it, are you crazy, Sumeragi?!" he yelled, though Subaru could 
barely hear him over the rushing wind.  "We haven't got time for this revenge 
thing of yours!  That dragon's going to kill everyone here unless we 
manage to distract it!"
        A black sports car pulled up to the sidewalk next to them, and the 
driver turned her face towards them, pushing her shades back to rest on her 
dark hair.
        "Get in the car," Toyuuki Midori ordered them.
        "Who's she?" Arisugawa asked.
        Subaru decided to ignore the Seal for the moment.  "I can find 
Sakurazukamori," he said.
        "Big deal.  I can find him for you anytime you want, Sumeragi-san," 
Toyuuki retorted.  "You're going to be dead if you don't get into this car 
now, both of you.  That dragon is looking for Seals for lunch."
        "We're coming!" Arisugawa decided, dragging Subaru around the car.  He 
opened the door and slid into the back seat.  Subaru reluctantly sat in the 
front seat, next to the young woman.  The minute the door of the car closed, 
he became aware of a sense of utter _stillness_ inside the vehicle, like there 
were wards around it to keep the world away.
        "Seatbelts," Toyuuki commanded, shifting the car into first.
        "Why?" Arisugawa Sorata asked.  Toyuuki turned to face the two of them, 
and Subaru did not like the dangerous glint in her eyes.
        "Because," she replied, "you're going to need them."
        With that, she stepped on the gas, the sudden acceleration making 
Subaru quickly fasten his seatbelt.  "What are you trying to do?" he 
demanded.
        "That dragon wants the two of you nice, yummy Seals for a meal," she 
replied, shifting into third already.  "I'm going to make it chase us until 
it gets out of the range of its casters and dissapates."
        "How do you know I'm a Seal?" Sorata asked.
        "Who else would glow that brightly?" Toyuuki asked as a response.

        Midori shifted into fourth gear as she finished rounding a corner at 
top speed.  Closing her eyes, she loosed her right hand from the wheel and 
held it before her, index and middle fingers held together while the others 
curled against her palm.
        "Gah!  Watch the road, the road!" the unfamiliar Seal cried from the 
back seat.
        "I don't need eyes to drive," she replied, and concentrated herself on 
the magic.
        With a murmuring of keywords, she activated four of the spells she had 
bound into the body of the car.  They numbed her body for a second as the 
power rushed through her.  Then the sound of the air rushing past the car 
vanished into total silence.
        "What was that?" Sumeragi Subaru asked from next to her.
        "Zero possibility of collision," she answered, opening her eyes again.  
"We shifted just out of phase with anything above ground level.  There's also 
an invisibility spell working, a cloak to magical traces, and a built-in 'luck' 
spell; you might call it a blessing.  That dragon hasn't got a chance of 
munching on something it can't see.  Plus, we are going to hit what I suspect 
are its limits in about twelve seconds."
        "Where did you _get_ this car?" the other Seal asked.
        Midori smiled.  This was ironic, running from a creation of her 
brother in his own gift.  "My elder brother gave it to me when I turned 
twenty.  He doesn't know about the 'modifications' I've made to it.  I'm 
Toyuuki Midori, by the way."
        "Arisugawa Sorata.  Call me Sora-chan.  How do you fit into all of 
this, Toyuuki-san?"
        Midori frowned.  "I want Sakurazukamori ended."
        "Then why don't you just face off with him?"
        "Me?  Against Sakurazukamori?  The mage-assassin of the Minions?"  
Midori laughed this time.  "I have versatility in my magic, not power.  I'd be 
dead if I tried, and I'm not that stupid.  My abilities are based on 
gathering information and hiding myself, not destroying sorcerors."

*********
"Kimi wa hen desu." means "You are strange/weird."