Chapter 6: Lover's Soul
Keisuke Shidou had never thought of Kaoru as his lover.
She wouldn't let him.
Oh, she acted affectionately enough when the occasion called for it,
but it was hardly the way she really felt about him.
He was merely a tool to be used like any other.
Was her declaration of love just another attempt to use him?
Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Honesty can, after all, be a very useful tool itself.
So for what may have been the first time, they made love.
Aya Mizuno couldn't be any happier.
She and her boyfriend, Kouji, were on their way to a little action
on -- and perhaps off -- the slopes of Sapporo.
She still had a hard time believing he actually blew his savings to
get first-class accommodations.
"Just the two of us," he had told her with a charmingly lecherous
grin.
She felt like giving him what he wanted right then and there at
Anna Miller's.
Propriety won out, of course.
Though, it seemed, not for much longer.
If anyone cared to look up, they might have noticed a somewhat
beautiful young woman carrying an ornate--and quite functional--sword.
Though the fact that she was floating in mid-air, alighting on
telephone poles and the like on occasion, would likely have drawn more
attention.
Alone, but not for long.
Death rarely is in this world.
And the company she keeps more often than not has little say in it.
"Mmm. Still haven't lost your touch," Kaoru Shidou said as she
slipped back into her night shirt.
Keisuke was still naked under the sheets.
"I suppose you got tired of celibacy."
"You know that's not why I came back."
"Of course."
"I know you still haven't forgiven me."
"That's true. But I don't hate you anymore. That's a start."
With that, she leaned down and kissed her husband, letting him see
her down her shirt.
"You don't have to show off how young your body is." He got up to
get dressed, quite disgusted at how she was going about his return.
But the real sinner was he.
He sacrificed the fate of their daughter for their own benefit.
He had power he barely understood and yet he wished for Kaoru to
be ever youthful--as lovely as on the day they married.
She hated it. She never asked for his "gift." When her children
all have children of their own, she would look like their sister rather
than their mother.
And when she died she would be alone.
"So, Aya, are you all set?"
"Un. I have the tickets right here, our bags, and..."
"The condoms?"
"Um, yes, I have them."
"Good. Wouldn't want an unexpected package to burden you."
"Kouji...you really want us to make love, right?"
"Sure. We've been seeing each other for over two years, haven't
we? That's more than enough time to know each other well enough, don't
you think so?"
"But, are you sure you can afford the trip? You withdrew all
your savings, and I know your band is good, but your gigs don't pay
all that much, and--"
She felt his tongue stopping her last word form escaping.
She sucked it in, gently biting it as their mouths became one.
A thin thread of spittle was suspended from the corner of their
lips as they split off.
"Don't worry about a thing. I found this producer who's gonna
sign up me and the boys. You too, if want to be our vocalist."
"I don't sing that well."
"You do--cut out the humility. It's not doing you any good,
y'know? That Hououji girl, she was smarter than you. She sang better
than you--hell, she probably kisses better than--"
"STOP IT! Fuu-san is my friend! How can you even think that
I'm actually..."
"Jealous? Of course you are. You were just too nice to admit
it. Whether that makes you a good friend...."
"I'm sorry. It's just, since I've known her or so long, people
can't help but compare with her. I though I was her best friend, but
these two girls she met on our field trip to Tokyo Tower seem like her
sisters! It isn't fair!"
"Crying won't solve anything, but go ahead if it makes you feel
better."
"Thank you, Kouji-san."
"I suppose I should let them live a bit longer."
Anemone Zephyrantes bore a remarkable resemblance to Fuu Hououji.
She should--for it was Fuu's body she now possessed.
There hadbeen no untimely deaths to attend to save that of the
Hououjis. It was an unfortunate side-effect of Fuu's acceptance of the
Sword of Fuuma. It needed blood to fully awaken, and her family were the
only possible donors.
Her mother and father were blissfully unawareas they died in their
sleep. Yuu and Katsuhiko Hououji were locked in an embrace as rigor mortis
set in.
Kuu was awake and was slightly shocked by what she felt from her
"sister." Her death was painless as well for she did not struggle or even
cry for help she knew would not get there on time.
The Fuuma was almost sorry she had to do it. But that was Fuu's
heart speaking, not hers. She had feelings for one and only one other
being in all Creation.
And she would not rest till she found her--either among the quick
or the dead.
Johann Chua -- HP: http://www.geocities.com/fuuma_1999/
CLAMP Fan Fiction: http://members.xoom.com/fuuma_monou/clampfix5.0/
"Many strange things are done in the name of love. People drink poison,
hurl themselves off tall buildings, get expensive implants and commit
murder, among other acts. These may strike the casual observer as insane,
but to the person in love, they make perfect sense." --Jessica Zafra