Rain
Prologue
by Meimi

Disclaimer: X and associated characters belong to CLAMP ect. ect. You get the deal. All original characters herein belong to me ect. ect.

Timeline: I'm trying to set this after the 10th manga. So spoiler up to there may and can apply.

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The sky darkened as billowing clouds of shadowed gray and a velvet black began to blot out the sun. A chilling breeze wafted about throughout the city, an almost nonexistent howl of things to come following closely in its wake. Deep fog rolled in from the east obscuring the towering skyscrapers and creeping across the empty streets until he truly couldn't see much of anything anymore.

A black umbrella cut off the last lingering rays of sunlight above him as someone unfamiliar came to a halt next to him. Slim, pale fingers reached out beyond the edge of the umbrella as if to catch the first drops of rain cast down from the darkening heavens.

'It's going to rain.'

< Who? >

~*~

Kamui blinked several times in confusion as he awoke to find himself back in school, far away from where any sort of rain could reach him. A dream then, he wondered, it must have just been a dream. A strange dream, but nonetheless, still a dream. Though it had felt different from any dream he had had before. Different from even the Dreamgazer's dreams. Odd...

He shivered slightly from a sudden chill and turned to glance out the classroom windows. He shivered again, more violently this time, as he watched a bank of thunderclouds cover up the last lingering rays of the mid-morning sun. It WAS going to rain.

Why did he feel so cold?

~*~

The fire that had so often rage through his nightmares was dying of its own accord. Each strand of crimson pain danced lower and lower as the winds grew colder and colder. In the center of the dying fires his mother kneeled, the last flickering flames still alight within her shimmering hair.

< Kaasan. >

She gazed up intently at the ever darkening sky, her hand held out as if to catch the first drops of the oncoming downfall. The chilling winds teased the last flame out of her hair, tossing the tiny ember about until it finally died out and was gone.

She turned to look at him then, a frown of concern upon her lips and something unnameable darkening the depths of her eyes.

'You forgot something.'

~*~

Kamui awoke again, shaking his head as if to clear it, at lunch. Twice now, he had fallen asleep and dreamt. Surely, he had gotten enough sleep last night and he didn't feel tired. So why was he drifting off at the slightest inclination? Maybe he was coming down with something. Or something...

He shook his head again to clear out the last lingering bits of the recent dream. Whenever he dreamt of his mother or even thought about her he felt the heat of the fire, the rush of burning pain in his heart. But this time it had been different.

The dream had been cold and he had been numb. It was as if he had become disassociated with himself. An observer but not a participant. Perhaps he should talk to someone about it...

No, it was only a dream. A strange one, but just a dream after all. He had better things to think about. Like...

Why was it so cold today?

~*~

Kotori smiled sweetly as she came towards him, crimson droplets spattering the fair skin of her bare feet as she walked across the blood drenched ground. The sky darkened further as more and more rain-filled clouds rolled in from the east.

Kotori came to a halt before him, a smile of fondness brightening her features. He closed his eyes as she reached up to brush his cheek with a feather-light caress.

'Kamui-chan.'

He opened his eyes to find a trickle of blood seeping out of the cornerof her mouth. She smiled sadly as she watched tiny cracks form across the hand she had touched him with, a small stream of blood coming from each tiny wound. She made as if to touch him again, but stopped short of his cheek. Something unnameable gleamed within her eyes as she frowned in concern.

'You left something behind.'

~*~

Kamui awoke in time to hear the last bell, heavy lids and a lasting confusion keeping him in his seat as he watched the rest of the class file out. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and started putting his things in some semblance of order. He shot a cursory glance outside, it hadn't started raining just yet. It would soon though.

At last content that he could at least figure out this organization, Kamui gathered his things and headed out. He wondered briefly if instead of rain it would snow. It felt cold enough for it to him.

His mind wandered as he tried to remember if he had anything to do. Every time it seemed he would at last settle on one thought, it would fly away from him. Why couldn't he seem to think straight?

He shook his head, trying to clear up some of the clutter as he passed through the school doors into the open. He stopped abruptly and looked up at the dark cloud cover, briefly wondering when it would begin to rain.

He shivered violently as a numbing cold creeped up from the base of his spine, reaching through to the center of his bones and finally engulfing his heart in shards of ice.

He blinked as his vision darkened. A faint ghostly touch of fingers brushed up his back and came to rest on his shoulder. Within his minds eye, it seemed as if a flame went out. Instantly snuffed out by the endless numbing ice that gripped him.

He returned his gaze to the skies as the first few drops of rain landed in his tousled hair, darkening the strands before dripping down onto his face, leaving trails of ice that burned even as they chilled him even more.

"It's going to rain."

As if on cue, the rain truly began. A deluge fell from the heavens, drenching him in scant seconds from its fury. He blinked as water droplets gathered on his eyelashes and then dripped off as more and more gathered. He was too cold, too numb to feel the rain that peppered his skin. Too cold inside to feel much of anything.

Where did this come from? What brought this on? These questions flitted through his mind, only to be chased away by the cold unfeeling ice.

It was getting darker now. Or was that him? He couldn't really tell. Didn't feel like mustering up the effort to find out. It was too cold to do much of anything except fall into the icy darkness that seemed to reach up and drag him down within its depths.

And even there, it was raining.

~*~

The almost nonexistent shadow of an umbrella covered the upper half of the sprawled figure on the ground, blocking the rain from him for a moment. Slim, delicate fingers reached out from beneath the safety of the umbrella to catch a few drops on their tips.

"See Kamui, I told you it would rain."

A second passed and then the rain returned again to soak the boy's hair as the umbrella and its owner faded back into nothing.

To be continued...