Subaru Sumeragi (皇昴流, Sumeragi Subaru) is a fictional character created by CLAMP, protagonist of Tokyo Babylon and mayor side character in X. The 13th head of the powerful clan of onmyōji, the Sumeragi; loyal and noble servants of the emperor for hundreds of years. In X, he is also revealed to be one of the Seven Seals, the Dragons of Heaven that must save this world from the destruction. In the X Tarot he is represented by The Hanged Man, apparently because of his inner personal grief as his chains (represented by Cherry Blossom Tree branches); this card was also called The Traitor, could also represent how he changes sides in the manga. He is briefly mentioned in XxxHOLiC, and has antoher incarnation of himself appears in Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Contents 1 Name 2 Appearance 2.1 Tokyo Babylon 2.2 X/1999 2.3 Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 3 Personality 4 Powers 5 History 5.1 Early Life 5.2 Life as a medium 5.3 Grieving 5.4 The start of the end of the world 5.5 The end of the war 5.5.1 Manga 5.5.2 Anime 5.5.3 Movie 5.5.4 Videogames 6 In other media 6.1 xxxHolic 6.2 CLAMP in Wonderland 6.2.1 CLAMP in Wonderland 1 6.2.2 In CLAMP in Wonderland 2

NameEdit

Like many other Tokyo Babylon characters, Subaru was named after a car brand. It is also the name of the Pleiades star cluster in Japanese, maybe refering as his status as a Dragon of Heaven, represented by the seven stars of the Big Dipper. His last name literally means emperor, as a surname it refers to a direct realtion to the Imperial Family, as a reference that his family has been the main and most powerful clan of onmyōji under the service of the noble.

AppearanceEdit

Tokyo BabylonEdit

In Tokyo Babylon, Subaru was about 16 years old. He had straight black hair that fell to his ears and very green eyes. He wore very extravagant outfits, all designed and made by his twin sister, Hokoto. When he was 9 years old, due to his meeting with the Sakurazukamori, Subaru started to wear gloves enchanted by his grandmother at all times. He continuously wears them right up until the end of the Tokyo Babylon manga. His hands are scarred with the mark of the Sakurazukamori, an inverted pentagram, and the gloves are magicked to cover the marks from anyone with magical powers. After the death of his sister, Subaru's dress style toned down, wearing clothes more suited to comfort than fashion. Subaru also has a ceremonial outfit, a long white tunic with deep sleeves and a pentagram on the back. It is worn with traditional tabi and includes a rosary.

X/1999Edit

In X/1999, Subaru has grown into a 25 year old adult. His hair is shorter, and has lost the adorable babyness to his features. He's tall and thin, usually seen wearing a simple black shirt and black jeans under a long white coat and boots. Sometimes he wears the gloves he wore as a child but he isn't seen wearing them as often as he did as a teenager. After Seishiro's death, Subaru startes to dress all in black, clothes that fit his new status as the Sakurazukamori and he also grows his hair out a bit more until it's similar to how it was in Tokyo Babylon (this only happens in the manga).

Tsubasa Reservoir ChronicleEdit

In Tsubasa, Subaru takes on the form of one of the notorious Vampire Twins. His hair is cut in a bowl cut and his eyes are really bright green. He wears a long, black cape with a blue lining which hangs off his right shoulder, held in place with a gold chain. A silver necklace in the shape of two wings hangs around his neck, usually over the white cravat. Under the cape he wears a black jacket with gold buckles, a white shirt, black pants and black shoes.

PersonalityEdit

Subaru's main virtue is his kindness. As a young child, innocent as he was, he did not feel any fear when Seishirou Sakurazuka told him that under every Cherry Blossom tree was a human corpse and that the the tree leeched the blood, the cause of the pale pink color of its flowers. Instead, he felt worried about the person under the tree, if that person felt any pain. He was very close to his sister Hokuto, they suffered a lot when they were separated because of Subaru's training; but lived very happy times together, even when the girl was extravagant and outgoing, while Subaru was quite bashful, yet cheerful. His kindness and innocence were broken when his beloved Seishirou brutally killed Hokuto. After coming out from the catatonia the betrayal caused him, he became obsessed with the idea of avenge her death, turning cold, full of sorrow, but still sympathetic. Upon meeting Kamui, with whom he shared a similar story due to the death of Kotori at the hands of Fuma, he became close to him and was the main reason he followed the Seven Seals, as he didn't have any interest on the fate of the world.

PowersEdit

Subaru is the heir of the powerful onmyoji family Sumeragi. Thus he is a natural psychic, similar to Kamui, able to send psywaves as bullets or shields, but also can perform rites and chants to communicate with spirits.

Like many magicians he can use the shikigami, which are familiar-like spirits that can be summonned by sacred scrolls with spells on them, Subaru's take the form of white birds with black pentagrams on them, in the manga he can also summon one big three-headed raven. This shikigami can attack the enemy in the form of energy beams or simply by pecking at them.

A technique created and developed by the Sumeragi is to enter to somebody's mind, which can be very painful to the caster, causing him real injuries; but can be used to talk to people in comatose and bring them back to reality. In the manga, after killing Seishiro, thanks to Hokuto's spell, he gained the Sakurazukamori's abilities, to cast illusions and his fightning ability.

As a Dragon of Heaven, he can summon a kekkai, a spiritual barrier, shaped like a 5-pointed star. However, after Seishiro's death, Subaru lost his power to create a kekkai, since Seishiro was the one person that he wanted to protect the most. In the anime, he regained his ability to create a kekkai in time to save Kamui from Fuuma in the last battle. However in doing so, Subaru was targeted by Fuuma and consequently killed. He was later brought back to life by Kamui's kekkai.

In Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, as one of the Twin Vampires, he is similary physically storng and resistant, with a tremendous regenerative ability, and the growth of sharp claws from his fingernails. But the most special of his abilities is the grant of eternal life. This process consits in turning someone into a vampire, like he did with Seishiro, but in turn, he became a prey. A person turned into a vampire must drink blood of their prey to keep living. A prey can be anyone (if this person drank pure vampire blood) or a person that mixed its blood with the vampire's. This person also gain all his abilities. As Subaru is mild-mannered and pacifist he hates to figth, but as noted by Fuma, if angry, Subaru can be terribly savage.

HistoryEdit

Early LifeEdit

Subaru was born on Febraury 19° on 1974, in Kyoto, Japan; in the Sumeragi clan, with a twin sister, Hokuto. They're parents are unknown, the only close relative known is the priror head, Lady Sumeragi, their grandmother and mentor.

At the age of 9 he was separated from his beloved sister to train his powers in solitude, as he was the next leader of the clan, for a whole year in Tokyo. Despite feeling sorrow because of this separation, he quickly mastered the secret Sumeragi techniques.

Practising his abilities and as a first official mission, he went to solve a case in which he sensed any magical precesne. He found a girl being killed by a teenager, which shoked him and made him faint. After he awoke, the teenager asked him if he liked Cherry Blossom trees, Subaru agreed, and the young man told him that the beautiful pale pink color of the petals of the trees is because there is a corpse under roots of every tree, and that the trees feed on the blood. Rather from being frightened, Subaru was concerned if the body was suffering. The young man was so impressed by the child's innocense, and instead of killing him for good, he made a deal with him, which Subaru couldn't hear because of the wind. He then was marked with inverted pentagrams in both hands. At his return, when his grandmother looked at this marks she was terrorized, as she said the name, Sakurazukamori. Then she ordered Subaru to wear the special enchanted gloves she did everytime, and to not take them off.

Life as a mediumEdit

In 1991, after the retirement of their grandmother, he became the offical leader of the Sumeragi Clan, and moved to Tokyo with his sister. He had grown into a cheerful yet bashful teenager, utterly devoted to helping others -- both in his capacity as Japan's most powerful onmyōji and in "normal" life. As well as exorcizing demons, helping lost souls ascend to the afterlife, entering the minds of comatose people to bring them back to the world, and fighting those who abused spiritual powers, he would often also stand up to bullies and provide comfort and friendship to their victims.

Subaru lives in an apartment in Tokyo, in the same building as his sister Hokuto, whose personality had become the polar opposite to his own -- eccentric and outgoing. Hokuto is vexed by her brother's selflessness, encouraging him to think of himself once in a while, rather than placing the good of others above himself. Although she encourages him to be cheerful and polite, she also criticizes his excessive deference to others, including his habit of bowing to people on the phone "like a salaryman".

Subaru and Hokuto are good friends with a kindly and magically-aware veterinarian named Seishirō Sakurazuka, who they met at a railway station after Subaru's shikigami led him on a bizarre chase. Seishirō acts as guardian to both and claims to love Subaru romantically. Subaru is frequently embarrassed by these claims, as well as Hokuto's gleeful attempts to bring the two together, but gradually grows to accept the older man's apparent love.

During this time, Subaru has dreams of the day he became the head of the Sumeragi clan: the day he met a mystrious young man, and begins to wonder if the sinister young man is actually Seishirō despite the different personality shown between the two. He also ponders Hokuto's suggestions that Seishirō's surname links him to the Sakurazukamori, a ruthless magical assassin clan, but dismisses it due to Seishirō's kind nature.

After Seishirō loses the sight in his right eye protecting Subaru, the onmyoji realizes he loves the man. Unfortunately for Subaru, Seishirō reveals that he is indeed the Sakurazukamori, raised to be incapable of either love or hate. Lifting the veil he had placed on the boy's memory, Seishirō states the nature of the bet he had made: that if they met again, he would live with the boy for a year to see if his heart could be moved. However, the assassin claims he was as barren of emotion as ever, and attempts to kill Subaru, only for the boy's grandmother to rescue him at great personal cost, she is became confined to a wheelchair. Subaru becomes catatonic as a result, but recovers when, telepathically, he senses Hokuto's self-sacrifice to the Sakurazukamori. After this, Subaru's personality changed completly, turning sad and cold, leaving school altogether to focus on his job as an onmyoji. He changes his dress style, wearing more casual clothes, and taking up Seishiro's habit of smoking, all so that one day he could avenge his dear twin.

One day he met a little ghost girl, and asked her if there was a girl who looked like him in Heaven. She denies as she says that no one has such sad eyes in "the other side".

GrievingEdit

After Hokuto's death, Subaru left school to concentrate on his job as an onmyoji and kept helping people, always searching for Seishiro. He was close once, (as seen in the motion movie Tokyo Babylon 1999), Subaru was investigating the death of a former enemy of the Sumeragi clan, Kaneyama. Before his death, Kaneyama had undertaken a new project: teaching a group of seven teenage girls how to use dark magic to take revenge on those they deem "guilty," beginning with an abusive teacher. One of the girls, Kurumi, starts to feel remorse; however, she is convinced by the others to continue with their plans. When Subaru attempts to stop them, they declare him to be their enemy and attack him. Subaru learns that his former friend-turned-enemy, assassin Seishirō Sakurazuka, was the one who killed Kaneyama, and he has now turned his sights on the girls.

The girls grow increasingly sick as a result of using the spells, and Subaru tries once more to save them. Seishirō appears, claiming that none of the girls can be saved. Subaru and Seishirō fight, only to ultimately be stopped by the appearance of the ghost of Hokuto Sumeragi, who asks them to stop for her sake. Seishirō leaves, and the fight is unresolved.

At the end, Kurumi says that, hopefully, all the other girls will be able to give up their vengeful plans and become good again. Subaru adds finally that he wishes for the same thing.

The start of the end of the worldEdit

In 1999, Subaru is still in Tokyo, but travels around Japan solving spirtitual problems, still tracking the Sakurazukamori, findng clues from him, like inverted pentagrams in cherry blossoms. But he is totally keen in this quest, and do not care about the upcoming war, the apocalyptic battle between the Dragons of Heavens and the Dragons of Earth. Princess Hinoto tries to contact him but is futile.

Sorata Arisugawa and Arashi Kishu go to recuit him, with a little help of Lady Sumeragi, they contacted him at the middle of a work. Of course, Subaru hadn't gone over Hokuto's death and is still vengeful, so, the fact that Seishiro is a Dragon of Earth is one of the reasons he allied to Hinoto. During his recuit, Kamui was put in coma after the shock of beholding Kotori's death upon the hands of Fuma, so after he finished his work, Subaru went to the Japanese Diet Building to heal Kamui. He used a technique unique to the Sumaragi, to enter into a mind. After talking with Kamui's inner self and learning from each other, he officially became one of the Seven Seals.

He then attended Kotori's funeral at CLAMP Campus where he was adimtted by Nokuru Imonoyama as a honorary college student; but this was just temporal. After a battle with Fuma, he discovered his wish, to loose one of his eye just like Seishiro. Fuma did so and Subaru was left half-blinded, but he was more concerned on how he figured out his wish. Fuma, on the other hand, told Seishiro that only he could grant Subaru's wish.

When Princess Hinoto told him that the next Dragon of Earth destroying the next kekkai, the Rainbow Bridge, was the Sakurazukamori, he didn't think it twice. Their meeting was quite unusual, as when they met at the bridge they shared a cigarrette. Then Subaru attacked. After a narrow battle, Seishiro summonned his signature cherry blossoms and wrapped Subaru on its branches; Subaru managed to break the illusion by cutting himself with one of his ofuda.

After Seishiro revealing that he already knew about Subaru's true wish he impales the Dragon of Heaven's heart with his bare hands, but in this moment, Hokuto's spell activates. Subaru's kekkai dissapeares and among the ruins he finds himself impaling Seishiro. Because the Sakurazukamori tried to kill Subaru by the same way he killed Hokuto, their fates were twisted by this spell. Subaru then reveals his wish: he tried to wish to kill him, but only to erase any sign of his exitance from his heart, to forget everything he has lived together with him, but he couldn't; so he wish that Seishiro would kill him, and when that happened, he could forget about everything. He then asked, if he knew about Hokuto's spell, why he had to activated it, which meant that Seishiro commited suicide. He responded that Subaru wouldn't had the guts to do it, he was just too kind to kill someone. In his last moments, Seishiro said to Subaru an incomplete "I...do...".

The end of the warEdit

From this point on, since X has not been officially finished.

MangaEdit

In the manga, after he killed Seishiro, he followed the line of his family. The Sakurazuka clan was a single person clan, because the leader, the Sakurazukamori, was meant to be killed by his succesor, the person the assasain loved the most, even though he or she couldn't love or hate at all. So Subaru unintentionally became the next Sakurazukamori. Since their destinies were twisted by Hokuto, in that last moment, Seishiro had became a Dragon of Heaven and Subaru a Dragon of Earth, and so Subaru lived on. Fuma, fulfilling Seishiro's last wish, gave Seishiro's eye to Subaru. He could no longer create a kekkai since he had no other person to protect and from then on his fate is unknown

AnimeEdit

In the anime, after Subaru killed Seishiro, he was left in a catatonic state again. Kamui particullary was heartbroken becuase of this, but as told by Subaru himself before collapsing, this must not distract Kamui from his real objective. Following the death of his comrades Karen Kasumi and Sorata Arisugawa, and the beginning of the final battle, the rebellious Dragon of Earth dreamseer Kakyō Kuzuki allows the spirit of Hokuto to cross into Subaru's mind, to convince him to continue the fight; Subaru realizes he cares for Kamui, and joins his final battle against Fūma, protecting him from a fatal strike. Before his apparent death, Subaru urges Kamui to realize his wish. Thus, Kamui sacrifices himself to bring Fūma back to his original, kind-hearted personality and save humanity from destruction; as a side effect, Subaru is revived and lives on.

MovieEdit

In the motion X movie, Subaru is the first Dragon of Heaven to appear and the first to die. He confronts Seishiro in the Nakano Sun Plaza. After an intense psychic battle, Subaru and Seishiro both become dragons and kill each other.

VideogamesEdit

The videogame "X: Unmei no Sentaku" there are two optional endings, dependant on if the player has the Dragons of Heaven or the Dragons of Earth win. In the Heaven ending, after Kamui's death and the restoring of Fuma's old personality and all Tokyo, Subaru returns to Kyoto to meet Lady Sumeragi and goes on in his place as the Sumeragi Clan Head. He also meets his surviving comrades and Fuma at CLAMP campus, when the latter visit Kotori's grave, also promising to take care of the world Kamui has entrusted him. In the Earth ending, however, he is killed by Seishiro's psywave in the Rainbow Bridge, like all his comrades. However, Kamui still restores Fuma's personality after the world is destroyed and re-built.

In other mediaEdit

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle

Subaru is one of the legendary Twin Vampires along with his brother Kamui. The reason of their fame is the fact that they can grant anyone eternal life. One of the person desiring that ability was Seishiro, a treasure hunter that can cross dimentions. Subaru apparently developed a deep bond with him and finally gave his blood, which turned the hunter into a vampire. Kamui, with the help of Yuuko Ichihara, got the ability to cross dimensions too, and escaped from Seishiro. The hunter searched for him in many worlds (including Clow Country in where he got information of him from a child Syaoran, and in Edonis where he thought Oruha was Subaru), but Subaru was in other worlds. Two years before Sayoran and his friends reached Tokyo, Subaru and his brother were already there. Due to the scatter of Sakura's feathers, one of them had fallen in the water reservoir. Subaru was drawn into the well by the power of the feather, telling Kamui to not enter as well. He became trapped in a cocoon and his twin vowed to protect the water with him trapped inside. Sakura was similary drawn by the power of the feather. Subaru tellepathically urges her to wake up before she is lost to her dreams. Afer she wakes up during the battle of the two Sayorans, she regains her feather and Subaru was freed from its power, apologizing to Sakura for making her see the horrible scene of her beloved one's change. He is then reunited with his twin. Subaru then wishes for enough water to fill the entire underground reservoir, taking the blame for the water disappearing. Yuuko makes Kurogane wish for the water, and in exchange Subaru will grant his wish. Kurogane agrees, but Kamui doesn't let Subaru give his blood to Fay stating that he'll "never give Subaru's blood to someone else ever again." Kamui gives his blood and Fay is turned into a Vampire, saving his life. When Sakura went to fullfil the payment for the water, Subaru was chatting with Fuma about Seishiro, revealing that he still cares for him. After the return of the princess, Mokona thanks both the vampires, but Subaru kindly says that he did nothing. Following the group's depature, they also leave Tokyo, their current location is unknown.

xxxHolicEdit

In xxxHOLiC, Subaru is (not namely) mentioned by Yuuko Ichihara. She told Watanuki that some time ago she met two young, twin yin-yang masters, two onmyoyi, a boy and a girl. She hoped that the younger twin brother to be happy, but there are many definitions of happinness. This is one of the very few times Yuuko had met the same person from different worlds as she also knew Subaru, the vampire, which is not the same Subaru, the onmyouji, but they do share a soul. Also, this was the first time she meets two people from different CLAMP works since she has not met Sakura Kinomoto, but she hopes to do so. So if this meeting happenned, this would mean that the universe of xxxHOLiC, which is the same as Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Wish, Suki, Kobato. and possibly Magic Knight Rayearth, is the same world of Tokyo Babylon and therefore, the same of X, Clamp School Detectives and Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders. However, since Yuko can also travel between dimensions, this is unknown.

CLAMP in WonderlandEdit

CLAMP in Wonderland 1Edit

In CLAMP in Wonderland, he appears in both ages. As a teenage onmyouji and as an adult Dragon of Heaven. In his first appearence, he is shown with other CLAMP characters which worlds appeared in chronological order, throwing his ofuda. He is then seen with Seishiro Sakurazuka, about to tell him that he is the killer, the Sakurazukamori, has been hunting him for years. He is then interuppted by a catgirl Hokuto who appears from behind with a giant mallet, smashing Seishiro and saving Subaru. He then appears with the other Dragons of Heaven and Earth at the Tokyo Tower gazing at the horizon, before being interrupted by the Magic Knights on their Mashins.

In CLAMP in Wonderland 2Edit

In CLAMP in Wonderland 2, he and Hokuto are marveled when the weird Mokona Modoki breaks into Seishiro's consultory. After the assasain vet tries to malefically sting the strange creatures with injections, they escape, leaving Seishiro dissapointed, Subaru relieved, and Hokuto very excited.