---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 around, disoriented, at the bright blue sky above him and 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 truly 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.

"Seishirou-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!"

Seishirou 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 has left his book behind.

"Forgetful Subaru..." he whispers, before continuing, "I don't feel anything for 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?" Seishirou turns, shocked.

*How... how did someone come in without my 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 smiles, 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... what you are. The assassination group that is only one person. Sakurazukamori- you, Seishirou 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 first his innocence, the one he loves, and then his twin, all at once, all to you. I will make sure that I am not created, that I don't have to be made... Now- Die!"

Shikigami flies out of his hand, as the man starts chanting. Seishirou, who has not been prepared, gets hit a few times, and as his cuts drip blood onto the pristine floor, he retaliates, the shadow of an eagle falling over him. The room starts to show the wear of the battle- as the plaster falls from the roof, and the table falls to the floor. The whimpers of the frightened animals in the next room are audible in the background, a soft counterpoint to the battle going on in the room.

"Ah! Seishirou-san! Do you know where I left my book-" Subaru's voice stops as he views the wreckage of the room in shock.

*Wha... Seishirou-san and who? They're fighting... Seishirou-san's bleeding!*

Subaru runs into the middle of the combat, yelling, "Stop! What are you doing? Seishirou-san, are you all right?" Then, seeing the man, he yells out, "Who are you? Why are you attacking Seishirou-san?"

The man stops attacking for a moment, stunned, before 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? Seishirou-san's my friend! There is no reason for you to want to hurt him! Who are you?" He kneels besides Seishirou, who has been looking at both of them with a look akin to shock. "Seishirou-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 Seishirou-san! If I have to, I'll fight you. I won't let you hurt him!" Then he concentrates, briefly, before launching his attack at the stranger, who dodges easily.

The man laughs bitterly. "Sakurazukamori, am I? Not yet, but I will be soon, won't I?" He look at Seishirou, and then whispers, "When I kill you, I'll become Sakurazukamori. Will I have to do what you almost did to me? As you do to all your victims?"

Subaru looks at him, uncomprehending. "What are you talking about? If you aren't Sakurazukamori, how would you become it by killing Seishirou-san?"

Seishirou 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 do 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 can ever happen. This Subaru, at the very least, will never truly know what it's like to have the person most special to them, betray and hurt them."

Understanding dawns on Seishirou'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, confusion in his eyes. Subaru walks over to him, and then whispers, "Sleep- and 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-" and then he looks at Seishirou, and continues. " You will die." Then he concentrates, and says, "I don't want 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...Seishirou-san."

Seishirou has been looking at Subaru, stunned. His mind, usually calm and unflappable, was now frantic, cycling. *He... him. I don't understand... How can he be so? How can he be so different, and yet... Can I feel something for... What? I don't understand. How can he make me feel? I am Sakurazukamori- The Guardian of the Grave... I must not, I cannot feel and yet...*

Subaru yells, "Defend yourself, or don't, but either way, you will die!" as he attacks. Seishirou merely sits, shocked at the realization that he is feeling anything. As Subaru is about to finish him off, a voice calls out from a distance.

"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 Seishirou 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..."

Hokuto 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 can do so while you live, 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 your true time, and create a new destiny. But don't try to change the past... it cannot be." With that last whisper, both Hokuto and his younger self fades 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." And then he concentrates.

*Now- Forget...Sleep. Remember nothing of this, and do...do as you will, as you must...* As Seishiroi falls to the floor, he starts a chant, mournful and ominous, and disappears again. In the eyes of the man he has left on the floor, a glint could be seen, before they close...

---BEFORE---AFTER---

"Why... why couldn't I?" Subaru looks at the ground of the alley, and starts to pound the walls, when he feels arms around him. Seishirou whispers 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 his enemy without any defenses. Seishirou 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."

Seishirou 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 did remember enough so that I was able to create you... My love..."

---Finis---