sakon76

Subaru woke in a red room. This confused him until he realized it was the light of the setting sun that was painting the walls the brilliant color. Still, it wasn't his room. He lay in the bed for a few minutes after waking, examining what he could see. Decorated simply and in clean colors and lines, the owner of this bedroom clearly had good taste and a traditional Japanese aesthetic. The floor was covered in tatami and the few pieces of furniture--a chest of drawers and a bedside table--were both immaculate age-darkened wood with bright brass handles and hinges. The person also seemed to love plants: there were no less than a dozen in the room, hanging in baskets or standing along the walls.

Pushing back the black coverlet, Subaru stood. The room swirled for a moment, then held still. He found his way to the bathroom and splashed water on his face.

Then he went in search of the apartment's owner.

*****

Kurama sat cross-legged on his balcony holding an argument with a bonsai. /It/ stubbornly clung to the position that as the finest poet in _The Tale of Genji_ the Akagi lady had the right to raise her daughter, while Kurama, who had lived in Heian-kyo, held firmly to the fact that only Murasaki had the social skills to raise the girl in a way that befit Genji's daughter. As Kurama was currently getting thousand-year-old poetry quoted at him by a miniature pine, he was considering not reading it any more ancient literature in the near future. Pines were stubborn, and this one refused to give an inch on its views.

The pine fell silent as Kurama heard a soft footstep behind himself.

"Hello, Sumeragi-san," he said, turning to face the young man. "Are you hungry?"

"Were you...." The man was staring at him and at the tree.

Kurama stifled a smile as he stood. "Arguing literature with a tree? Yes. For a brat that's less than a hundred, it certainly thinks it knows more than I do. There's miso soup on the stove... I'm not the best of cooks, but I hope teriyaki chicken is all right?"

"What are you?" the onmyouji asked, following Kurama to the kitchen. He sounded bewildered.

"A relative of yours," Kurama replied, opening a cupboard and reaching for bowls. "Which is why I'm taking care of you. You owe Yuusuke an apology for collapsing at his stand, by the way. Fortunately he didn't take it as an insult to his cooking."

"Relative?" Subaru seemed to be getting lost in the conversation.

"How much rice do you want?" Kurama inquired, opening his rice cooker. Steam wafted up.

"Relative?" the Sumeragi repeated with just a touch of force behind the question.

Kurama sighed and half-turned to face his guest. "As a Sumeragi, you /are/ a descendant of Abe no Seimei, aren't you?" he asked pointedly. "Therefore, you and I are related."