Time-Immaterial
	 By Monica Shin

Author's Note: This strange one has been bouncing in my head for a
while. Does this sound terribly implausible? (You'll know the "this" if 
you read the story.) If it does, well, it is the basis of my story, 
so... Well, enjoy, and please e-mail me if you have any comments at 
monica@pipeline.com.


---BEFORE---AFTER---

	A chant, eerie and wrong, sounds from the darkened alley. On a 
dark night, under a solitary streetlight, a forbidden knowledge is 
being practiced. A flash, as the chant reaches its peak- and then, the 
chanter is gone. And a shadow, hidden, smiles.

---NOW---THEN---

	He looks, disoriented, at the bright blue sky above him. He 
discovers that he has been lying down, unconscious. He stands, shaky, 
but steady enough to brush the dust off of his coat.
	*Where..? Is this the alley I was in before... Did it work?*
	The man walks out of the alley, trying to get his bearings, and 
looks around. He shivers as a cool wind ruffles his hair, blowing a few 
dead leaves around him.
	*It must be fall... but am I in time?*
	He spies a newspaper, and sees the date. 
	*Yes- it is before... I can!*
	He looks around, gazing for a moment at Tokyo Tower, before he 
starts to run.

---

	"Seishiro-san, I'm sorry that I can't stay longer, but I have so 
much work to catch up with, because of my work... I've missed too many 
classes." Subaru sighs, and then looks at his friend, who smiles, and says, 
"Don't worry, Subaru-kun. I know that you have to do well in school. Get 
home safely, and tell Hokuto-chan that I'll come over tomorrow."
	Subaru smiles and runs out, yelling, "Don't worry, I'll be 
careful. Bye!"
	Seishiro looks at the door for a minute, then starts to gather the 
dishes. He washes them, and puts them away into the cabinet, before he 
notices that Subaru left his book behind. 
	"Forgetful Subaru..." he whispers, before continuing, "I don't feel
anything to you... This has been a waste of my time. I will kill you...
I will win the bet."
	A voice behind him says softly, "Will you?"
	Seishiro turns, shocked. *How... how did someone come in without me 
noticing?*
	Composing himself, he says, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in. 
Is there a problem? Do you have a sick animal that you'd like me to look at?"
He smiled, and then continues. "I'm closed right now, but if it's an 
emergency, I'll have a look."
	A voice, cold and flat rings out. "Stop with this. I know who you are.
I know what you are. The assassination group that is only one person...
Sakurazukamori- you, Seishiro Sakurazuka."
	"Ah... I don't know what you're talking about, young man. Who are you?
What is this about-"
	"Who am I? I am one who you have marked. I am what hunts the hunter,
who punishes the one outside the law. I am your death. I will make sure that
a boy does not lose the one he loves, and then his sibling to you. I will 
make sure that I am not created, that I don't have to be made... Now- Die!"
	Shikigami fly out of his hand, as the man starts chanting. Seishiro,
who has not been prepared, get hit a few times, cuts dripping blood onto
the pristine floor, before he retaliates. The room starts to show the wear
of the battle- plaster falling from the roof, and the table falls to the 
floor. The whimpers of the frightened animals in the next room waft into the
room. 
	"Ah! Seishiro-san! Do you know where I left my book-" Subaru's voice
stops as he views the wreckage of the room in shock. 
	*Wha... Seishiro-san and who? They're fighting... Seishiro-san's 
bleeding!* 
	Subaru runs into the middle of the combat, yelling, "Stop! What are
you doing? Seishiro-san, are you all right?" Then, seeing the man, he yells
out, "Who are you? Why are you attacking Seishiro-san?"
	The man stops, looking stunned, then he tells Subaru, "Stay out of 
this, and get out of the way. He's mine... finally."
	Subaru looks shocked, and then yells, "What are you talking about?
Seishiro-san's my friend! There is no reason for you to want to hurt him!
Who are you?" He kneels besides Seishiro, who has been looking at both of
them with a look akin to shock. "Seishiro-san, are you all right? Do you
know who this is?" 
	*It couldn't be...* Subaru blurts out his thought, "You're him, aren't
you? Sakurazukamori! Why are you after Seishiro-san! If I have to, I'll 
fight you. I won't let you hurt him!" He launches a few shikigami at the
man, who dodges easily.
	The man laughs, bitterly. "Sakurazukamori, am I? Not yet, but I will
be soon, won't I? He look as Seishiro, and then whispers, "When I kill you,
I'll become Sakurazukamori. Will I have to do what you did to me?"
	Subaru looks at him, uncomprehending. "What are you talking about?
If you aren't Sakurazukamori, how would you become it by killing Seishiro-
san?"
	Seishiro answers him in a cold voice. "When one kills the last 
Sakurazukamori, the killer becomes the new. Only a few people know that 
information. How did you..?"
	The man answers, bitterly. "How... because you told me, the day you
told me I don't mean anything to you, and tried to kill me... Only here, in
this world, that will never happen, because I will kill you before it does.
This Subaru, at the very least, will never truly know what it's like to have
the person special to them, betray and hurt them."
	Understanding dawns on Seishiro's face, as he says, "No... it can't
be... Subaru? But...how?" He stands up, and walks next to the older Subaru.
Seishiro holds his face, and looks deeply into his eyes. "It is you, but 
not. The innocent eyes... they have disappeared. I see only pain in them 
now..."
	"Pain that you put there... that should neither please nor displease
you, as you have no soul, no feelings. I am that boy over there, a few years
older, but not the same... never the same. I am Subaru Sumeragi, thirteenth
head of the Sumeragi Clan. I am also your prey turned hunter, and I have
come here to destroy you, breaking an oath I had made, never to use the 
forbidden spells of time-walking."
	A gasp rises from the boy, who had been listening to this, 
uncomprehending. Subaru walks over to him, and then whispers, "Sleep...
Forget." The young man sighs, and then slumps over. Subaru looks at him,
gently, and then says softly, "You are the reason- so you will never know
what I know. I will protect you, at least..."
	Then he smiles a feral smile. "Finally, I will end this. You will 
die." Then he concentrates, and says, "I don't want to attract any more 
people in here-" and the a star-shaped kekkai rises up from his self, 
encompassing the room, and much of the area around them. "Now, we can 
really fight...Seishiro-san."
	Seishiro looks at Subaru, stunned. *He... him, I could feel something
for...* 
	Subaru yells, "Defend yourself, or don't, but either way, you will 
die!" as he attacks the strangely still Seishiro. He is about to 
finish off Seishiro, who is strangely not giving any indication that he is
going to defend himself, when, from a distance, a voice calls out.
	"What?" Subaru thinks, as he sees his younger self coming toward him.
"How is he in the kekkai? He should be unconscious!"
	"Subaru... you must not do this... it is forbidden. Fate...cannot
be avoided." The younger self's voice had taken on a more ethereal, feminine
quality. Subaru stares in shock, and even Seishiro comes out of the daze
he was in. Subaru yells out, "Who are you?"
	"I think you know already, Subaru. My younger brother, my younger
twin... we were always close enough so that I could use this vessel to 
communicate with you. You know that this is forbidden... to meddle in the
time-paths is a dangerous thing, and trying to change Fate is even more
so..."
	He/she comes to Subaru, hugging him. "His betrayal, my death. Both
things were necessary for your destiny. There is no changing it, and you
should not try change it here, in the past. Fate cannot be denied, unless
you change it while you life, in your true present. But I can't let you 
do this here... I'm sorry." Hokuto lets him go, and he stumbles to the 
ground, shocked.
	"Go back... to the time, and create a new destiny. But don't try
to change the past... it cannot be." And with that, both Hokuto and his
younger self faded out of the kekkai.
	"No... NO! This... this cannot be... I won't let it be this way
forever- but... I must." Subaru looks at his enemy, and says, "I will 
destroy you in the future, if I cannot do it now. But never doubt that
someday, you will be held accountable for your sins... Sakurazukamori."
	*Now- Forget...Sleep. Remember nothing of this, and do...do as you
will, as you must...* As Seishiro falls to the floor, he starts the chant,
mournful, ominous, and disappears again. In the eyes of the man he left
on the floor, a glint could be seen, before they closed...

---BEFORE---AFTER---

	"Why... why couldn't I?" Subaru looked at the ground of the alley, and
started to pound the walls, when he felt arms around him. Seishiro whispered
to him, "Now, you did what I recall... you did what showed me... what showed
me that I could feel something..."
	"What?" Subaru turns furiously, ready to defend himself, only to see
Seishiro without any defenses. Seishiro smiles, and then softly says, "You
gave me the knowledge that someday, I would meet the one I could feel 
something about... the one with pain, beautiful pain, who would be able to 
be my true opposite- you, now. I made you the way you are, but you made
yourself, too. Fate is immutable, and cannot be changed... to attempt to 
do so carries consequences."
	Seishiro comes again, to hug Subaru, and whispers, "I would have 
killed you without toying with you when our bet was over, if the now-you
hadn't shown up. I don't remember much about our meeting, in the past,
but I do remember enough so that I was able to create you... My love..."

---END---

-----
Monica Shin----monica@pipeline.com- Anime Fan!!! 
CLAMP---RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon, X, MKR 
Dragon Ball Z-"Super-Saiyajin no BARGAIN SALE!!
Marmalade Boy, Gundam Wing, Vision of Escaflowne
Fushigi Yuugi, Yu Yu Hakusho, Mac +,7, Evangelion