Tokyo Babylon: Sound part 1: Whispering / Beginning Subaru stood outside the house and looked at the number, then at the slip of paper in his hand. He hoped it was the right place. It had to be the right place. After eight years' worth of utter silence, he had received a call from her, and he wasn't about to let her get away. Not again. He pushed the gate open and walked to the front door, noting that the name placard did, indeed, bear the name "Toyuuki." He smiled softly to himself and rang the doorbell. "Hello," said the child who opened the door. "Can I help you?" Subaru stared in shock. The boy had green eyes and black feathery hair, looking almost exactly as he himself had as a child. It couldn't be that Midori had... but.... "... O...tou...san...?" the boy questioned in a whisper, staring back with wide emerald eyes. "Who is it, Suba--" Midori's voice broke off as she came to the door and saw for herself. Her silver eyes widened momentarily, then she quietly absorbed her own surprise. "Come in," she said quietly, holding the door open wider. Subaru wordlessly obeyed, not sure what he could or would say to her now. "Subaru, why don't you go play with Seiji-kun next door for a little while?" Midori softly suggested to her... *their*... son. "He invited you earlier, didn't he?" "Mmm," the boy agreed, his eyes still fastened on Subaru. "Will he...?" "He'll be here when you get back," Midori answered him. "I promise." Subaru watched silently as the boy slipped on his shoes and ran next door, looking backwards at him all the time. Only when the child was out of sight did he turn back to Midori. "Don't say it," she murmured, closing the door. "Let me get some tea, and we can talk." "You're so calm," he murmured, slipping into a pair of house shoes and following her, not sure just yet what approach to take with her... not now. "When did you get all this self-control, Midori?" "Having a son to take care of made me grow up a little," she answered, ducking into a kitchen. He followed. "You've changed, too, though, haven't you?" "Some," Subaru answered, watching as she expertly set water out to boil. She looked the same, he thought. A little older, with a couple more smile lines dancing about her mouth, but she was exactly the same otherwise. Still as charmingly beautiful as he remembered. Her long black hair was pulled back into a thick braid that reached well past her hips now, some fine wisps escaping to frame her face. She absently brushed them back and pulled some small snacks from one of the cabinets, setting them on a tray. "Still making your living by onmyoujutsu, Subaru?" she asked, arranging cookies on the platter, her eyes avoiding his. "What else?" he asked, shrugging. "What do you do these days?" "I teach at a high school," she answered. "Is that something you would have thought of me?" "I can see it," he replied. He paused, then asked, "He's mine, isn't he?" "... You could doubt it?" she asked in reply. "He looks almost exactly like you." * * * "Why did you leave, then, if you knew you were going to have a baby?" Subaru asked quietly. Midori knew him well enough that she could hear the control in his voice. "My baby. Why didn't you stay, Midori? Surely you didn't think...." "I don't know what I thought anymore," Midori replied. Some spark in her stiffened her backbone, made her stand up straighter and turn to look at him. "Before last night I'd thought a thousand times about trying to contact you, Subaru, trying to tell you... I could never figure out what I'd say. I left because my part in your destiny was done. I left because I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed around any longer. I didn't want to see your fight with Oniisan continued. I didn't want to see either of you killed. I didn't know I was pregnant when I left, Subaru, and I was too afraid of going back to tell you. Then... it just became easier to remain silent." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she saw his eyes... a dark green that masked his thoughts, his emotions. "I'm sorry, Subaru. I was wrong, and I know it, but I did what I thought was right at the time." Subaru said nothing, not knowing what to say. "He's of the age to need a father now," Midori continued, "and you have more than a right to know your own son. But please, Subaru... don't take him away from me entirely. Not now... not yet. He's not an onmyouji like you... he can't be... he can't be. He's a Balancer, like me. I need to finish his training... and he's too young in any case... please...." "He know that I'm his father, doesn't he?" "He knows that his father is a powerful onmyouji named Sumeragi Subaru. He knows what he sees in the mirror every morning. He knows that you are his father." Midori felt like he had slapped her across the face with his icy attitude. He hadn't agreed. "Subaru... don't. Even if you hate me now, don't. Don't take him from me. Please... he's my life now...." * * * "Do you distrust me that much?" Subaru asked from behind a calm mask, looking at in her eyes... begging eyes. He could feel that emotion pouring off of her, despite her restraint, despite his resolve not to use his powers on her. She was desperate to keep their son with her, and that cancelled out anything else she felt... even whatever she might have still felt for him. "I hadn't thought that you would, Midori. Not after what happened between us." "That was eight years ago," she replied, her voice steady, her emotions barely shifting at the mention of their time together. "I've changed. You've changed. I don't know if we know each other anymore." "Did we know really each other then?" he asked softly, almost sadly. Midori had changed too much, perhaps, to be the girl he had come here looking for. If she was no longer in love with him, then his primary purpose in coming here was nullified... but now there was a second reason. A second reason to be part of her life.... "We knew what we needed to know," she answered. "And I knew a good deal more about you than you knew about me. I knew enough to fall in love." "But you didn't love me enough to come back." Midori's eyes clouded. "What happened, Subaru?" she whispered slowly. "What happened between you and Oniisan? I never did a divination. I couldn't stand to find out what had occurred...." "We fought. Neither of us won. I haven't seen him since." Midori breathed a soft sigh of relief, and Subaru found himself remembering things that he didn't want to remember. Midori had been willing to die to stop them from killing each other. Of course that was what she wanted. Her brother alive, her lover alive, her son alive. Her son. Their son, who bore not only his image but his name.... "Why did you name him for me?" he asked quietly. Midori met his eyes evenly. "If anything was to happen to me, Subaru, his name was to be his safeguard. You would know who he was. Oniisan would know who he was. Whichever of you found him first would guard him." "You would trust Subaru to Sakurazukamori?!" he demanded. "No," she replied. "I would trust my son to my brother. One thing he does not, cannot, do, is break promises. And he promised me once that he would protect my children and never harm them in any way." The tea kettle whistled shrilly, and Midori moved to take it off the stove, setting it on the tray. She moved silently into the living room and Subaru followed her. ***** Linguistics: "Sonna bakana" is roughly equivalent to "It can't be." "Otousan" means "Father." Onmyoujutsu is a traditional Japanese form of sorcery; it can be translated as "yin-yang sorcery." Those who practice it are called onmyouji. For further information, read TB itself. ^_^