Warnings: Shonen-ai, angst, Saiga molesting people, the usual. Oh, and a guest appearance by yet another CLAMP character.

Disclaimers: The characters from Gouhou Drug and Tokyo Babylon are not mine. This story is just for fun. Please don't take it too seriously. The lyrics are from Eve 6's song "Think Twice" from their newest album to be released in stores tomorrow (07-22-03).

~*~

"When all is said and done and dead,

Does he love you the way I do?

Beating in lightning... tonight's fighting...

I feel the hurt... so physical..."

~*~

Kazahaya was given a rude awakening as a sneaker rebounded off his skull. He shot up, rubbing his sore head, and glared at Rikuou. "You idiot! What are you doing?" This, of course, was a question asked in vain. He knew exactly what Rikuou was doing. He was being a bastard just for the sake of being a bastard, just like always.

The boy with the dark hair raised his eyebrows. "You better get up and make breakfast so you aren't late for work," Rikuou replied, sounding fairly indifferent about the whole thing. Meanwhile, his blonde companion was seething quietly in the bed.

"Why don't you make breakfast!" Kazahaya used the word "teme" for "you". He also picked up the sneaker and threw it back at Rikuou a moment too late. It slammed against the door that closed just behind Rikuou. Breathing hard, Kazahaya yelled at the top of his lungs, "YOU BASTARD!"

~*~

Saiga opened his eyes, looking heavenward through his sunglasses in the general direction of the scream. "Sounds like they're up," he commented dispassionately. He was sitting behind the register, and he had been sleeping until the shouting started. Kakei was leaned on the edge of the counter, writing on a piece of paper on a clipboard and counting things with the back end of his pen between taking notes.

Saiga stood, leaning over the counter, and wrapped his arms around Kakei's upper body, pinning the other man's arms to his sides. Saiga buried his face in Kakei's neck, gently nuzzling the milky skin, and whispered into the man's collar, "they really are noisy in bed." Kakei glanced back at Saiga with a patient look and chuckled.

"And you aren't?" he asked playfully. Saiga also chuckled, a rumbling sound deep in his throat and tilted his head up to look at Kakei better. There they stood still for a moment before Saiga started to lean forward as though he was going to kiss Kakei.

"You'll wake the neighbors, monk," Rikuou was declaring as he waltzed into the shop. He had the morning paper folded under one arm. Saiga released Kakei who went back to his counting as though nothing had happened. Rikuou certainly hadn't noticed. And, the man chasing him through the door didn't seem to notice either.

"Well, you could have told me you already ate breakfast! Now, I didn't get anything to eat, and I'm going to be hungry all day, you bastard!" Kazahaya's eyes fell on Saiga only moments before the man's arms went around him, slipping under the younger man's apron and running over his shirt suggestively. "Saiga-san!"

"Mm, you are edible today, Kazahaya...." The blonde pushed Saiga away bodily, blushing furiously. The man in the sunglasses seemed to find it funny, if not anything else. Saiga laughed fluidly and gave Kazahaya a smile that had "sex" written all over it. "You must be a morning person."

"This monk?" Rikuou snorted. "He refuses to wake up. He never gets out of bed. Not to mention, he sometimes sleeps in my bed, instead." Rikuou grinned as Saiga's sunglasses slipped just a little and Kazahaya gaped like a fish in disbelief. "Shut your mouth, you look like a guppy," Rikuou added, smiling at Kazahaya.

The blonde's hands balled into fists. "Who's a guppy, you bastard?!"

Kakei laughed patiently. "This room is just filled with fish today," he said pleasantly. "A sleeping lump of tuna, a guppy, a Pisces, and a blowfish." The others looked at him with a look that meant, how do you figure Rikuou is a blowfish? "Anyway, I have a job for you, Kudou-kun. Saiga, will you please watch the register. Himura-kun, please stock the shelves. We just got in a new shipment." Kakei turned and went into his office. After a couple pointed glares at the two dark haired men, Kazahaya followed Kakei.

"So, what is the job?" Kazahaya wondered quietly.

"It's in Tokyo," Kakei replied pleasantly as Kazahaya face-faulted. "I want you to bring me some sakura petals."

"Our client wants sakura petals?" Kazahaya asked indignantly. Of course, he knew that it meant that he would probably have to get some sort of special sakura petals that would lead him to all kinds of trouble, as usual. All the same, it was the first time he was ever asked to go to Tokyo for a job.

"As usual, you will be paid handsomely for doing this. Our client is from a wealthy family in Kyoto, so I am sure you can expect a healthy sum of money." Kakei tilted his head to the side a little. "So, will you take the job?"

"I need the money," Kazahaya replied, sighing.

"I sent instructions to your cell phone." Kakei picked up a strangely shaped piece of paper off the desk and handed it to Kazahaya. It had once been a rectangle, the younger blonde guessed, but it was half-burnt, giving it a strange shape. There was some sort of weird script written on it in what appeared to be a large calligraphy pen. Then, Kakei handed Kazahaya a plastic baggie as he added, "you have until midnight tonight to do this, so please hurry." The smile on Kakei's face was unnerving.

~*~

Kazahaya had no idea where he was. Honestly, he didn't know Tokyo at all. All he knew were there were lots of sakura petals in the spring of Tokyo. How was he supposed to decide on which petals to take back with him? Kazahaya sighed, stopping a random man on the street, gently placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Excuse me, but if I want to look at sakura petals, where should I go?"

The man laughed fluidly, tilting his head to the side. He had bright blue eyes and bright blonde hair. Kazahaya hoped for a minute that he had not just stopped a gaijin and asked about Tokyo. "You must be new to Tokyo. I think I would have recognized such a pretty face." Kazahaya blushed, surprised at the man's words. "The sakura of Ueno park would be best suited to a beautiful person like you."

"A-Ah. Thanks," Kazahaya said quickly, getting away from the strange blonde man as quickly as possible. Once he was a safe distance away, he checked his map of Tokyo and found that the park stood almost in the center of the city. Advertised on the map was some sort of festival that was supposed to be going on there in honor of the beauty of the sakura.

Shrugging, Kazahaya tucked the map under one arm, shoved his hands in his jean pockets, and began walking toward his destination. The closer he got, the stronger the smell that permeated the whole city was. When Kazahaya reached the festival, he was surrounded by people going to all the different stands and chattering excitedly as they went from place to place. Kazahaya made his way through the thick crowds, finding behind one stand a small path that had been beaten into the ground rather than officially paved.

Kazahaya, acting on instinct alone, followed that path as it led directly to the center of the park. By the time the path came to an end, the smell of sakura was overwhelming. Kazahaya found himself at the base of a giant sakura tree that was far larger than was natural, and had literally billions of light pink petals gently shifting in the breeze. So, this must have been the tree he needed petals from, but which ones? Why was it important?

Kazahaya pulled the charred paper out from his back pocket and looked at it. Nothing happened. He couldn't even read the memories from the piece of paper as he should have been able to. Irritated, he put the paper back in his pocket and went to the tree. He placed one bare hand against it, and instantly yanked it away. Even if only for a second, all he could hear when he touched the tree were screams of anguish and anger from thousands of souls. There was so much pain in the proud tree, Kazahaya could hardly even believe it.

He collapsed to the ground, breathing hard as the rush of pain he had felt continued to sweep over him. It was almost physical, this anguish felt by the souls in that tree. It was as if hundreds of generations of a very large family were all crying out in pain together from the one focal point of the tree. How was Kazahaya supposed to make sense of anything at all? Unless...

A focal point. Of course.

Kazahaya grabbed the paper with one shaking hand and placed it against the tree, holding it with three fingers. This time, only two souls came to his touch. Both were utterly at peace. Kazahaya felt himself slipping into memory.

"Even you deserve the chance to love, Sei-chan..." The girl was no older than Kazahaya, and she whispered her dying words in front of this tree. She was beautiful, and watching her die felt like such a loss to the world. She was like a bright light in a dark world...

The other memory was far more disturbing.

"You really are cute. And... You... I...." The man who was collapsing forward whispered something in the other man's ear, and then died with a smile on his face. Kazahaya couldn't shake the feeling that the dying man looked an awful lot like Saiga and the other man in the memory looked exactly like the girl who died in the first memory, only older and male

Kazahaya drew back his hand, in tears for no real reason. He didn't know these people. It didn't matter to him whether or not they lived or died, but he was in tears. He glanced up at the tree again just to see a man standing in front of him in a suit. Kazahaya had now done enough "jobs" for Kakei to recognize that this man was a spirit. "Sakurazuka Seishirou," Kazahaya said certainly, not sure why he knew the man's name.

"Please tell Subaru-kun... I meant what I said," Seishirou said pleasantly. "When people die, they say the thing that is most important for them to tell someone. Just as Subaru-kun was what was most important to me." Seishirou smiled sadly, and Kazahaya knew the expression was foreign on his face... he just didn't know how he knew that. "Please take care of... of my Subaru-kun...."

"I will," Kazahaya promised the spirit, getting on his feet to gently extend a hand to Seishirou. As soon as his hand wrapped around Seishirou's, the man disappeared in front of his eyes, and Kazahaya found that his hand was gently clasped around some sakura petals. He pulled the plastic baggie out of his back pocket and dumped the petals inside, watching the wind gently blow through the branches of the tree.

~*~

Rikuou had come to pick up Kazahaya as per Kakei's request after Kazahaya had relayed the events of the day to his boss over the cell phone. Once they got back to the shop, Kazahaya left the baggie on Kakei's desk and went upstairs to his apartment, ignoring the lewd comment from Saiga and the insult from Rikuou. He just felt the sudden strong desire to be alone for a while.

So, staring out his bedroom window, Kazahaya watched people come and go from the shop with little interest, until one particular man went in. He was wearing a black trench coat over a white turtle neck and dark jeans. Kazahaya, for a moment, thought he recognized the man. When the man left a few minutes later, clutching something against his chest, Kazahaya was careful to get a better look at him.

He was thin, but very attractive, with mismatched green and gold eyes and longish black hair. He wore a very small, sad smile as he lifted up the baggie that Kazahaya knew contained the sakura petals. He opened the bag and dumped the petals out, letting them drift slowly to the ground. A sudden breeze caused the petals to swirl around the man a couple times, and he closed his eyes, as though being held by a lover. As suddenly as they had come, the petals were gone, blowing away in the breeze, leaving the stranger with a contented smile on his face.

"Subaru-kun?" Kazahaya wondered absently, flopping back into his bed with his hands under his head. He glanced over to the door as it creaked open, and frowned at Rikuou who had, once again, entered without knocking. "Don't you ever knock, you bastard?" Kazahaya demanded irritably.

"And what would a monk be doing that I couldn't see?" Rikuou replied flippantly, walking over and sitting on the edge of Kazahaya's western style bed.

Kazahaya sat up instantly, his hands clenched in fists. "What if I was naked? Did you ever think I might be changing and you would just walk in on me in... my...." Kazahaya trailed off as Rikuou leaned closer, his lips hovering much closer to Kazahaya's than the blonde would have liked. "Rikuou...."

"Would that really be a problem, Kazahaya?" Rikuou asked quietly, his hand going to Kazahaya's cheek. The blonde melted into the touch, his lips parting slightly.

"You're being awfully familiar again, you bastard," Kazahaya whispered, the feeling of Rikuou's breath against his lips absolutely intoxicating him.

"I don't see you complaining."

~*~

Kakei smiled in amusement. First, there was yelling, and now silence from upstairs. An evil smile came to his face as he worked on the cash report for the day. Go forbid the two of them should have a little peace. Of course, Kakei had the feeling that nothing peaceful was going on upstairs if Kazahaya and Rikuou had both suddenly gone entirely silent.

Saiga suddenly flopped down on Kakei's desk, effectively covering the work Kakei had been trying to get done. He rolled on his side, facing Kakei, and asked quietly, "was that really the Sumeragi head? I didn't expect him to be so... pretty."

Kakei shrugged. "I don't think he does that on purpose, Saiga. At least, not anymore. He doesn't have a love to live for anymore." Kakei smiled ironically. "But, you have to admit, it is a romantic idea. To have one person that means more to you than anything else. One person who you want to live for in order to die for." Kakei sighed heavily, his otherwise pleasant expression twisting into a rather serious frown. "They must have been deeply in love."

Saiga grinned. "Being so serious doesn't suit you, Kakei." Again, they looked at eachother for a long moment before Kakei stood and Saiga rolled on his back. Kakei leaned over Saiga with the intention of kissing him. And, as usual, they got within a breath of doing so before they were interrupted by shouting.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard?!" Kazahaya yelled suddenly, and there was a crash.

"Shut up, you idiot! You're being too noisy again!" Rikuou yelled back.

They continued to fight, and Kakei let his head drop to Saiga's chest, laughing quietly. "I foresee doomsday," he joked.

Saiga ran his fingers through Kakei's hair, turning the man's face up to look at him once again. "Nah, they must be deeply in love." Saiga gently kissed the top of Kakei's head, and the blonde laughed gently again.

"I guess so."

~*~

"Wait 'till the day you finally see

I've been waiting here patiently

Crossing my fingers and my t's

Crying on my shoulder, she's begging me 'please'..."

~*~ The End ~*~