A/N: Mwahahaha, I’m back! *cowers* I’m really sorry for the wait…

Important Announcement: This is based on the manga, because the TV series sucks and the movie is a real disaster. Don’t ask me how they can fit all the manga into a movie. This is a fanfic, so screw the logic. Oh wait, there are still some minor details from the TV series though…

Disclaimer: CLAMP?

Millions of Dreams

Chapter Seven - The Cute Little Stalker

By Aikawa Fuuko

       

Kasumi Karen smiled slightly when she saw a certain dark-haired director. He was talking with a very nice young girl. She had never seen this girl before, so she guessed that this girl had to be new here. The girl cheerfully waved Seishirou goodbye and ran off towards another direction. Bouncy and genki, the girl had to be that dog-lover Ten no Ryuu.

The fiery-haired woman gracefully approached the Sakurazuka from behind, a slight smile on her lips. He was reading something. Maybe it was the casting list. It had been quite a long time since they’d last met, she recalled. He hadn’t changed a bit, always work and work.

“Seishirou.”

The dark-haired man turned at the sweet familiar voice next to his ears. Fiery strands of hair on his shoulders confirmed his guess once more. To tell the truth, besides his sister, there was only one more woman who could be this close to him.

“Hi, koibito.” Seishirou smiled at her charmingly and turned slightly to face her. Karen giggled at the way Seishirou called her. ‘Koibito’ had become the older man’s habitual greeting whenever they met since that ‘incident’ some years ago. At first, it had only been some kind of joke, but later, it had become one of the habits that they could never get rid of.

Speaking of habitual greetings, there was still one more thing they occasionally did when they met. Karen looked up at Seishirou expectantly, titling her head to one side and smiling innocently.

“We’re in public.” Seishirou said with amusement, but the young woman seemed unconcerned about it.

“Aren’t lovers allowed to show their love in public?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief. Seishirou shook his head, smiling. Karen was really the daring type of women. But that was what made them get together anyway. Seishirou was also a man of adventures.

Deciding that he would just get on with Karen’s joke, the dark-haired man leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. However, he couldn’t help but whispered in her ears in a husky voice when he leaned down; a small smirk crept into his handsome feature. His expression darkened in an unexplainable way.

“No, they aren’t. Lovers are only allowed to show their love to each other in private only. They belong to each other all alone. Lovers are too selfish to let people see their love, because they are afraid of getting their love snatched away.” Seishirou’s smirk widened a little, then he straightened up, waiting for the red-haired woman’s response.

“Ooh, if I didn’t know you better, I would say that you are a very possessive lover.” Karen giggled slightly, patting the man’s arm. Seishirou quickly regained his cheerful attitude and usual bright smile. It was unnerving how the dark-haired man could change from a seemingly dark and dangerous person to a cheerful and uncaring one. Then again, he was an actor. So Karen didn’t mind him a bit.

“But then why did you do that in public, huh?” Karen allowed a false expression of obvious confusion crept into her face. Her mischievous smile never faltered though.

“Ahh… Are you saying that we are not lovers then? I’m hurt, Seishirou!” The fiery-haired woman put on another fake mask of hurt, the My-lover-doesn’t-love-me-anymore-oh-what-am-I-gonna-do expression she had once used in one of her famous movies. Her face was a perfect imitation of hurt and desperation, though the mischievous twinkle never left her eyes.

Seishirou chuckled in amusement. That expression was so familiar to him.

“You really remind me of a character in a book I’ve read recently. In fact, he’s my character in this movie.” The dark-haired man smirked, recalling several times his character had said that sentence to ‘Subaru’ in “Tokyo Babylon”.

“Hm? I don’t remember reading any sentence like that in the script...” Karen looked at him blankly. Seishirou shook his head, chuckling.

“That book – Tokyo Babylon is the prequel for X/1999, also written by Sumeragi Hokuto years ago. I’ll lend you that book later. I haven’t finished reading it myself.” Seishirou turned his attention towards the main door. It looked like the second main character had arrived.

“Oh… sounds interesting… I didn’t know X had a prequel. I’d really like to read it.” Karen smiled, a little curious about why Seishirou knew that Sumeragi Hokuto had written a prequel of X. Normally when writers didn’t want their books or scripts to be publicized, they wouldn’t tell a director about it, chances that he would try to turn the book into a movie immediately, especially when that book was the prequel of such a big project like X. Karen had a distinct feeling that Sumeragi Hokuto really didn’t want to publicize ‘Tokyo Babylon’.

Suddenly noticing that Seishirou was looking towards the main door, the fiery-haired woman also turned to look at the one who had just arrived. This one seemed to attract attention a lot, because since the moment they’d stepped in, the room had been filled with excited whispers (not really… they were loud…) and… squeals? Karen blinked.

People parted to let the newly-arrived one in, and Karen realized the reason why there were ‘squeals’ immediately when she saw him. The young man was very handsome, tall, well-built, definitely charming with his heart-melting smile and burning amber eyes. He was dressed in a simple dark shirt and jeans, which gave him an aura of deadly seductions. Somehow, this guy really reminded her of Seishirou. Yes, that was Monou Fuuma – the famous singer, and also the second main character of this movie.

Seishirou greeted Fuuma with a smirk. That young man seemed that he liked to attract attention everywhere he went. But when Fuuma and the small crowd around him were nearer, the dark-haired director suddenly noticed that there were two very familiar girls walking next to the singer. His sister Setsuka and Sumeragi Sakura. And it was clear that they’d stepped in at the same time with Fuuma, which could only mean that Fuuma’d driven them here.

Seishirou frowned, contemplating the new information. Sakura, he could understand, because he himself asked Fuuma to pick her up after school. But why Setsuka as well? It wasn’t like his sister didn’t have a car. And he thought she was dating Kigai Yuuto? Seishirou pushed all his thoughts away as the trio approached Hokuto group first.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go and great the heroes of the movie!” Karen pulled him towards the small group with a cheerful smile. She was also eager to meet the actors in this movie. Karen had recognized Setsuka – Seishirou’s sister next to Fuuma, but who was that other young girl?

       

Sumeragi Subaru wasn’t sure what his feelings had been when Seishirou had kissed that Kasumi Karen woman. He had felt… strange… like there had been something sinking inside of him. Though it had only seemed like a peck on the lips, somehow that image kept burning in his mind. He guessed he shouldn’t have been so surprised like that. Seishirou was a charming famous director and all, so it was only natural that the man had a girlfriend or a lover, right? But still, Subaru had hoped that…

“Subaru-chan!!” A cheerful voice snapped Subaru out of his confused state of mind. He abruptly looked up at the very familiar voice…but the owner of that voice was not supposed to be here!

“Sakura-chan? What—Why are you here?” Subaru gasped out in surprise, staring at the beautiful young girl in front of him. True, sometimes Sakura would also come to the studio to see Hokuto and him, but only when she was free. And she was supposed to be at school now. She was still wearing her uniform, so it meant that she had come here straight from school…

“She didn’t tell you? She has a role in this movie too. I thought you must have known…” Fuuma approached from behind Sakura, looking mildly surprised. But Subaru was even more surprised by that fact. Unaware of Subaru’s shocked face, Fuuma continued on. “The cast meeting today is very important, so the director asked me to pick her up from her school. Don’t worry, Hokuto-san has already asked the teachers to give Sakura a day off.”

The green-eyed young man resisted the urge to fall over. Hokuto and Seishirou and…everyone had known this all along, but no one had bothered to tell him?! Or was this some kind of joke of those two evil sisters again? He was about to bombard them with tons of question, but was cut short by a familiar warm voice from behind.

“Sakura-chan, I am glad you finally made it to the studio.” Subaru turned only to be greeted by the heart-warming gentle smile of Sakurazuka Seishirou, who happened to be standing only inches behind him. He could feel the warmth radiating from the body behind him, as well as from inside of him… He wondered what it would be like if he leaned in a little closer… but unfortunately, the voice of a woman snapped him out of his daydream.

“Oh, I wonder which role a young girl like you has! I think it’d be a great thing to work with a nice girl like you, ne?” Karen gave the beautiful young girl a friendly smile. She seemed kind of curious about something.

“Oh, I’m Kasumi Karen – the fire master. Nice to meet you all.” Karen smiled cheerfully at everybody.

“Monou Fuuma – the leader of the Dragons of Earth at your service, Ma’am.” Fuuma smirked pleasantly, bowing. Everyone had to admit that he really was charming.

“I am Sumeragi Subaru – the onmyouji.” Subaru bowed slightly in hesitance. He didn’t exactly know how to act around this woman. She seemed nice, but… that strange feeling kept bothering him… making him uncomfortable and a little confused… And he could feel his younger sister’s eyes on him, damn it. She must have noticed something. He really didn’t want to end up getting a long lecture about love from his two sisters… again.

“I am Sumeragi Sakura.” The girl bowed politely, looking at the woman in front of her curiously. Just what is she to Seishirou? This woman was no doubt close to the man. And Sakura was sure there was something wrong with her brother. He seemed quite out of it sometimes… The way he had been staring at Seishirou and that woman… could it be… jealousy? The young girl blinked. Jealousy? She definitely needed to find out more about this… Oh yes, she dared him to say he had no special feelings for the older man now.

Setsuka popped up from behind Fuuma with a smirk. Things always got a lot more interesting when there was Karen – her supposed-to-be sister in law - around. She really liked Karen. The woman was really nice and fun in her opinion. Too bad her brother had no interest in the fiery-haired woman though…

“Hey, Setsuka-chan. Thanks for Monou-san here, you came to the studio in time for once.”  Seishirou looked at his sister with amusement, smirking his ‘typical annoying smirk’ – according to Setsuka.

Setsuka laughed silently inside. Her brother hid his thoughts really well. She knew that he was annoyed about this, but he didn’t say it out loud. Truthfully, there was nothing between the famous singer and her, they were just close friends, that was all. But she just loved teasing her brother. Somehow she felt happy when she knew that Seishirou cared for her like that, though her way to achieve that care was not a very good idea…

Never missing a beat, the two evil sisters aka Sumeragi Hokuto and Shirou Kotori decided to turn up, of course with the poor guys Kamui and Sorata in tow. Let’s just say that Seishirou had given up trying to figure out why the hell Yuuto had casted Kotori as Fuuma’s sister.

“Ah, Sakura-chan, you’re here already. Oh, who is this? The famous Monou Fuuma? Isn’t he your idol, Sakura-chan?” Kotori smiled broadly and bowed gracefully at the man. “Nice to meet you. I’m Shirou Kotori - your younger sister.”

“Ah… nice to meet you too…” Fuuma was a bit taken aback by this strange girl. He thought his “sister” was supposed to be a weak blond girl? Or had he not read the script carefully enough? Anyway… who’s that guy behind her? He looks familiar… And the famous singer Monou Fuuma decided to strike up a conversation with the strange girl and a certain violet-eyed guy who was standing behind her…

Meanwhile, Hokuto was having her own fun. Somehow she managed to get on with Karen in only five minutes talking, and Subaru found a very obvious threat of evil women manipulating the studio now. He had no idea how to tell Hokuto that Karen was indeed the Sakurazuka’s girlfriend, while Hokuto was obliviously hinting about “my brother” and “my brother-in-law” all the time. How would he be able to explain all of this… and never mind the fact that his younger sister was also looking at him weirdly.

“Umm… so what role do you have?” Subaru smiled uneasily, trying to start a conversation with his younger sister. Anything to make her stop looking at me like that…

“The young girl with the black cat you happen to help at the beginning.” Sumeragi Sakura smiled back. Somehow her smile reminded him too much of Hokuto in her most dangerous… err…

Subaru dashed his eyes around and somehow found himself drawn to a certain dark-haired director again. The older man was talking with some girls… Subaru recognized Kishuu Arashi – one of the most beautiful and successful model of Japan at the present. She always looked cool… which reminded him of a certain miko in the script… (Little did he know that Seishirou was also thanking gods that Arashi seemed to be the only in-character girl.)

Next to Kishuu Arashi was Sakamoto Hinoto – a young girl who had won the highest prize in the big contest of the movies “Young Talents” last year. She was a cute girl with short blond hair and dark brown eyes. This time she took a very challenging role in X: the Oracle princess who was blind, deaf, dumb, and paralyzed. People were eager to see her acting in this movie. Next to the small girl… hmm… was Matsumoto Kanoe – another experienced actress he used to work with… Subaru blinked. The woman was indeed twitching about something…

Suddenly someone’s shouts startled everyone.

“SEISHIROU!! Where are you?!” Along with the strangely high-pitched shout, a young boy appeared, running towards a certain short-haired girl named Sumeragi Hokuto, looking clearly annoyed about something. Never mind the fact that everyone was looking at him as if a disaster had come. Subaru was sure that he heard someone groan “There he goes again…”.

“Hokuto-san! Do you know where Seishirou is?” The boy skidded right in front of Hokuto, trying to catch his breath. Hokuto seemed to be quite amused. The dark-haired director, upon hearing his name being shouted, had turned up next to Hokuto and looked at the kid in front of him curiously.

“Who, me?”

“No, not you, Sei-chan. Ne, Shunkei-kun, I haven’t seen Seishirou since I came in. Why don’t you try outside?” Hokuto smiled sweetly at the boy as he immediately sprinted off. Some people sighed in relief. Some other ones looked at Hokuto questioningly. Before they could ask anything, a young girl about the same age with the previous kid had come in and also walked towards Hokuto.

“Good afternoon, Hokuto-san. I see that Shunkei-kun has arrived.” The girl with blond hair politely bowed and smiled at everyone.

“Uh, who are you?” Fuuma looked at the girl curiously. This time it was Hokuto who did the introduction.

“This is Koizumi Hanako – the one who will play Kotori as a small kid.” There were screech and squeals from some people. Kotori bounced towards excitedly, observing the small girl.

“My gosh, she’s so cute! When you told me you’d found the kids for our roles, I didn’t think you would choose someone this cute to be me!!”

“So that kid earlier…?”

“Is Kamui.” Hokuto smiled broadly. Kotori now had the urge to fall over laughing like mad. Kamui seemed to be seriously offended by the fact that his child version was so… err… noisy…

“Aa… so who is that ‘Seishirou’ he mentioned?”

“Oh, that’s Tomizawa Seishirou – Fuuma’s child version, and also Shunkei’s target of stalking.” Hokuto snickered with amusement. Those two were always like that, chasing after each other. Well, actually, it was only Shunkei who chased.

“Oh.” That was all Fuuma could say. That sounded quite amusing actually: “Kamui” stalking “Fuuma”.

“Yeah, Shunkei-kun has been stalking Seishirou-kun for quite a long time… since the first time they worked together in a TV series for kids… He has a strange obsession over Seishirou-kun, I guess.” Hanako smiled gently. She always smiled. “Poor Seishirou-kun. Actually he has arrived, but he’s outside to hide from Shunkei-kun. I saw him when I came…”

“Uh oh.” Hokuto blinked. “I told Shunkei to go outside…” Very on cue, a high-pitched screech could be heard outside. Hokuto shrugged. “Oh well…”

Seishirou rubbed his head due to a headache coming up. Hearing people talk about “Seishirou” but indeed about another person made his head hurt… When he’d asked for Hokuto’s help for finding the kids, he hadn’t thought that…

“STOP IT!!” Another shout cut off his thoughts. Really, the upcoming days were going to be long…

~*~*~*~*~End Chapter 7~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Pointless chapter it is. @_@ Sorry, I wrote the first half of this months ago, so today when I opened it again, I totally forgot what I’d had in mind for this chapter. I didn’t want to keep you guys waiting any longer, so I decided to just get on with it. Again, I’m really sorry for the long wait. ^^;;

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