Tokyo Bablyon: Song
Ending 4 (final): Imagine / Red Rain


        Running, tripping, crashing wildly to the ground.  Looking up, hearing 
the soft laughter of the crowd.  Where did it go?  The shikigami... it 
escaped.  Sigh.  "Here, let me help you."  A soft voice.  No one I know, but 
whoever it is, he sounds kind.  I accept his assistance as he helps me stand.  
He looks over the slight scratches critically.  "You should get some antiseptic 
on those."  He offers me his hand in a handshake.  "My name is Sakurazuka 
Seishirou.  I'm a veterinarian."  I reply "My name is Sumeragi Subaru.  Thank 
you for your help.  Umm... I really have to get going now."

        Subaru-kun stares blankly at the body on the ground.  He hasn't moved 
since she fell.  The first time he has killed, and he can't even break out of 
the spell of death.  Yet, I hold such hopes for him.  I truly have no intention 
of marrying and fathering a child, so he is the next best to carry on the line 
of the Sakurazukamori, now that Midori is dead.
        "Subaru-kun," I say softly, touching his shoulder.  His head moves so 
that his eyes gaze into mine.  They are blank, and there is nothing behind 
them.  Perfect.  As once before, Subaru has retreated deeply within himself.  
He is mine....
        :Not if I have anything to say about it.:
        I look around for the speaker of the echo-thought, and see no one.  
Odd.  I was sure I heard someone.  Oh well.  I will concern myself with it 
later.  For now, I simply say "Come with me," and guide Subaru-kun away from 
the corpse.

*********

        "Good morning, Subaru-kun," Seishirou-san says softly to me.
        "Good morning, Seishirou-san," I say, smiling back at him.  "I got up 
early and made breakfast."
        "No wonder our bed was so cold," he teases back.
        "You have a long day at the clinic today," I remind Seishirou-san.  "I 
thought you might need a good breakfast."
        He gives me a small, wicked smile and I blush, knowing exactly what 
that smile refers to.  It's the unspoken statement of "After you wore me out 
last night."
        "Too cute, Subaru-kun," he teases.
        "Seishirou-san!" I cry, knowing he deliberately baited me.
        He hurries through the breakfast, one eye on the clock, and finishes 
just in time to rush out the door and go to work.  I smile, and clean up the 
kitchen, then work my way through the rest of the house.  Seishirou-san works, 
and I am the domestic partner... mostly.  I sigh, turn on the CD player, and 
listen absently to the rock music Seishirou-san likes as I sit and start 
studying the text on psychology.  It's a fascinating subject....
        Slowly, I get the sense of something wrong.  I turn my head and look 
around, but see nothing.  I don't see anything... I know I turned the stove 
off and that the door is locked, however, so I turn back to the book.
        Just out of sight, in the corner of my eye, is a motion.  I turn to 
try and catch sight of it, and it is gone from where it was.  It still dances 
just out of my sight, a white-and-black movement.  Rather than trying to catch 
it again, I pause and think, not moving.
        Slowly my eyes re-focus their attention, and I see the room reflected 
in the smoky glass panels that decorate the entertainment center.
        She smiles and waves, as if aware that I have seen her.  I twist my 
head, but she is gone again.  I shake my head, confused, and look back at the 
glass.  She shakes her finger at me, incorporating it into her dance, making 
it seem as if I've done something I oughtn't have.  "Who are you?" I ask, 
confused.  Is she... a ghost?  If so, what is she doing here?
        She places her hand first at her throat, then her lips, shaking her 
head.  She can't speak.  I stand and walk to the stereo, turning the player 
off.  My back is to her, and I stare at the glass to be able to see her.  Her 
dance ceases with the music, and her misty gown stops flowing.  She smiles, 
and beckons me to follow her.  I watch her reflection as she exits the living 
room and follow where she went.
        There are no mirrors in the hall.  I lost her.
        To my left, a door that I can never remember being open suddenly makes 
a clicking noise, as if of a lock being opened.  "In there?" I ask out loud.  
As if in response, the knob turns and the door opens slightly.  I push it open 
further and step into the room.  I have never been in here before, have no 
memory of it.  It is an empty room, a guest room.  A low table sits against 
one wall, with a slightly-dusty shrine on it.  I frown at this neglect and 
kneel before it, gently blowing away the dust.  I will come back and properly 
clean it later.  How careless of Seishirou-san, I think, to let a shrine sit 
and not be taken care of.
        I stand and walk to the closet, sliding it open.  Inside are girl's 
clothes, neatly hung.  They appear to be of good quality and of a uniform 
size.  I blink.  When did a girl stay here?  And why is the room closed up?  I 
can't remember....
        A sudden flash blinds me, and I look to one of the shelves at the side 
of the closet.  A mirror sits there.  I pick it up and use it to look over my 
shoulder.  As I expect, she is there.  "Are these yours?" I ask, indicating 
the closet.  She nods and smiles.  "Who _are_ you?"
        She hesitates a moment, then begins to use her hands to describe.  She 
reaches her hands to a height that is around six feet, then points to me, and 
then in the direction of the bedroom Seishirou-san and I share.  
"Seishirou-san?" I ask.  She nods, then rocks her arms, as if to indicate 
holding a baby.  "His daughter?"  She shakes her head.  "Related to him?"  She 
nods.  "How?"  She sighs, and I began to understand the frustrations of not 
being able to communicate with someone.  "I wish you could talk."
        She stares moodily at the closet, then her face lights up.  She moves 
quickly out of the range of the mirror, towards me.  A sense of coolness 
touches the back of my hand.  Experimentally, I try to find where it goes.  I 
run my hand along through a channel of lowered temperature to the shelf where 
the mirror was.  There are two packages there, both long and thin and wrapped 
in fabric.  I pick them up and unfold the silk.  One is a set of highly 
decorated sticks, and the other contains multiple sticks of incense.  I use 
the mirror again, and ask "Should I light the incense?"
        She nods happily, and I move back to the shrine, setting up the 
incense in a holder and lighting it.  I don't recognize the scent in the least, 
but the smoke swirls around thickly, and the girl's form begins to materialize 
before me, as if the smoke were clinging to her essence to allow me to see 
her.  She smiles and gestures at the sticks, and, to my surprise, they leap to 
life, hovering in the air before us, glowing steadily with golden light.  She 
places her hand around one end of the sticks, and gestures for me to take hold 
of the other.
        The minute I do, she smiles and speaks again.  Her voice is soft and 
hollow, like it is coming from a long way away.  "I missed you, Subaru," she 
says gently.
        "Ho-how do you know my name?" I ask, nearly letting go of the sticks 
in my startlement.
        "Your own actions stole the memory of me from you," she replies.  "You 
do remember me, though.  Or you will.  My name is Midori, and I am your lover's 
sister."
        "Midori?" I ask.  "But Seishirou-san doesn't have a sister...."
        "Not anymore," she agrees.  Her voice washes in and out like waves.  
"But he did, the same as you did once."
        "What do you mean?"  I ask, not understanding.  "Hokuto-chan is alive 
and well!"
        "When was the last time you heard from her?" she asks.
        "Ummm..." I hedge, trying to think of when I last spoke with my 
sister.  It wasn't too long ago, was it?  How odd.  I can't remember.  But she 
is doing well.  I remember her calling and telling me about... a job?  No, that 
can't be correct.  When did I last see her?
        "She's dead, Subaru," the ghost says softly.  "Someone killed her, 
several years ago.  You know it.  You're just blocking it.  You're blocking 
everything you are."
        "No..." I whisper.  I don't remember.  I don't want to remember....
        "You are Sumeragi Subaru, the most powerful Onmyoujutsu practitioner 
in all of Japan, save for your mortal enemy...."
        "No...."
        "Your sister died at the age of sixteen, exchanging her destiny for 
yours with this same enemy.  You hate him and want to kill him for it."
        "No...."
        "You know this is true, Subaru.  You know who I am.  You know 
everything.  The truth must come out.  This world needs you, _now_."
        "NO...."
        "His name...."
        "NO...!"
        "... is Sakurazuka Seishirou."
        "NO!!!"
        The world seems to break around me, shattering into the glittering 
fragments of a broken mirror.  He didn't deceive me, I deceived myself.  I let 
myself become who we both wanted instead of who I really was.  I wanted that, 
and now the price is being paid.
        "Subaru...."  It is Midori's same voice as when she was alive, only 
touched with divinity now.
        I look up, and she brushes a tear off my face.  It glitters like a 
diamond in her transparent palm.  "Forgive me," she asks.
        "Mi...dori...."  I reach for her, and she tries to return the touch, 
but her flesh and mine pass through the same space with barely the sensation 
of each other.
        "I'm sorry, Subaru..." she whispers.  "It had to be done."
        "I know," I whisper back.  "I didn't mean to...."
        "My death is inconsequential," Midori replies.  "It is my life that 
counts, as it is yours."  She smiles sadly at me and her hand brushes against 
my cheek again.
        "Forgive me..." I whisper as she fades out.