The Dream Shifter

Chaoter 96

He knew that she had to be lying and never gave it another thought, until now. '…could it be possible? But I've seen baby pictures of me. They even showed me pictures from the hospital. I remember…I remember… No!' As his thoughts tried to find the fallacies in her words the past was threatening to invade him once more. Yuki shook his head bringing everything to a halt. It forced him to catch his breath pressing his hands into the blanket covering his bed. '…have to keep focused…'

Under control of his thoughts, a slow eased release in the tension came over him letting go of his grip on the blanket. Yuki backed away and dropped himself nearly slouching in desk chair. The soft cloth backing on the chair gently soothed his bare back. His hand stretched out for the wooden frame allowing him a closer look at the photo. '…family…' The picture had been taken back when he was only seven with his father and mother standing behind him at the ends of the picture holding Jun and Ken still only one and two years old themselves. Next to him was Momoko, eleven, and smiling wide like he had forgotten. Even though she smiled these days Yuki could tell it was no longer the same one that she had from then.

'…mother…father…you're my family…' He stared with a distant look at the picture. There was certainty in what he believed, but Ayumi had managed to hammer a nail in his wall creating a small c***k inside him. The c***k was started to grow in size the longer that he stared. '…no…this is my family…'

Yuki placed the picture frame back on his desk and got up. He had to keep his certainty removing any doubt from his mind. The shirt on the floor was waiting for him to pick it up. '…got to stop thinking about it…' He bent down taking hold of the shirt and put it on finally. His fingers ran through his uneven hair that ran down to his chin while keeping off of his shoulders. The ruffled mess of his hair sorted itself out falling out smoothly showing off the dark blue color only in the highlights of his hair.

'We thought there were no heirs, but I found that was not true. You are in fact the only true heir to the throne of my people.'

Another echo rammed into him knocking him into his door making him start to sweat with his breath going shallow panting. Ayumi's voice would not leave him alone. His hand pressed against his face and forehead trying to keep himself together. '…why…' It was causing his heart to pound for a reason that he could not explain. Nothing was in his control as everything in his body seemed to completely out of breath as though it had been sucked out of him.

'No! Stop it!' Yuki clung his hands to his head sliding down his door folding up against it at the floor. The pounding in his chest was becoming an aching pain that bound him. It was too much for him to withstand. '…could it? Possibly?'

The tension was growing tighter threatening never to release him. Sweat moistened his palms from him building panic. Small doubts were being allowed through the hole that had been made inside. '…S-Stop…they're all…I…' In a fit, he threw Ayumi's dress across the room. It slowly floated down as he was left on the floor in pain. However, there was a noise that alerted him as the picture frame on his desk was dragged down by the settling dress. It was half buried, but Momoko and his mother with Jun could be seen.

Yuki's eyes grew wide as it snapped him out clearing his mind and relieving him. It was gone. He stood up and going back to the picture placing it back on his desk. '…thanks…' Yuki turned away carrying a determined look in his eyes as he stepped out of his room.

Momoko was still in the kitchen working with the food that Yuki had brought back with him. She was chopping on the cutting board with the sharp thud from the knife leaving her to not notice that she had company. It took a pause in her chopping to get the feeling that someone was behind her making her nearly drop the knife seeing how close they were. "Yuki?! What's going on?"

"Nothing much!" he said with a pleasant smile on his face.

She could not help but tilt her head and eyes finding the look to be a little suspicious. "…Right, I see that you're not cross dressing anymore," she commented with the expectation that he would snap on her about the comment.

The reaction was completely to the contrary though as he just simply laughed and nodded to her. "I'll return Ayumi's dress later once we've cleaned it." He took another step forward standing next to her with Momoko only being a little taller than him.

Seeing the way that Yuki was acting made Momoko narrow her eyes with confusion. She had seen him act like he was around his friends and away from family, but he usually dropped his guard for her. "You feeling alright, Yuki?"

"Huh?" said Yuki stared over at her next to the counter with an expression nearly mistakable for being innocent.

"You hit your head upstairs or something?"

"No?" he said elongating the word to drag it out as he stared up to Momoko a little confused himself now.

She pulled the knife back up to the cutting board returning to her chopping to look like everything was normal. "So what you want?" she demanded from Yuki.

"I want to help you with the lunches for tomorrow!"

Momoko skipped a beat in her chopping throwing her rhythm off causing the knife to cut her finger. She yelped in surprise pulling back to look at the cut. 'What's with him? He's never willingly offered to help me with anything!' As the wound in her index finger was starting to bleed a little Yuki ran off to the other side of the kitchen searching for bandaids.

"Found them!" he exclaimed holding the box up in his hand. In Momoko's shock, Yuki was taking over control of her hand to clean it before bandaging it.

It had taken her until Yuki applying the bandaid to realize what was happening. She was just going with the flow not sure what was wrong with him. 'He's acting so strangely. Almost reminds me of how he was before father…' The thought made her freeze for a second feeling like she was looking backwards through time. "…Yuki?" she said slowly reaching out her free hand to touch his face. There he was in front of her a six year old Yuki grinning back at her.

Even when he spoke it was filtered through time to sound younger. "Sister?"

It had been so long since she had seen him that she did not want the illusion to end. Her memories were breaking her protection that kept her strong to look after her family. She wanted it to be for just another second reaching out as everything faded away before her eyes. Snapped back to reality, Yuki's puzzled face was looking up at her. "What? Yuki…thanks," said Momoko having to sniff a little as she put herself back together. The hand that he was holding pulled back as she turned back to the counter. On the board sat the knife reflected her eyes back at her as she stared down seeing them being partially red. "Why don't you finish cutting, Yuki."

"Sure!" He willingly stepped into the space that she emptied when she went over to the one of the cupboards taking out a pan that she needed for the rest of the meal for lunch tomorrow. They worked together quickly finishing up the lunch and packing it away so that it was ready to be taken in the morning. Throughout the entire time Yuki had never gotten mad or upset, even when Momoko was making requests of him he took everything without complaint. It had left it difficult to concentrate at times for her making childish mistakes that she had not in years.

Momoko took a seat in the chair kept in the kitchen near the entry. After they had finished Jun and Ken seemed to have had perfect timing grabbing Yuki and dragging him off in the living room wanting to play. In keeping with the strange trend, he went along with them allowing him to be pulled. She watched her brothers playing bringing a smile to her own face. Yuki would get exasperated with them frequently, but he was always kind to them. However, she could tell it was different just like in the kitchen. She did not understand what was going on with him.

The change that she saw reminded her of the sudden personality shift in Yuki after their mother had died and he began speaking again. He had gone a month without speaking to anyone looking like an empty shell that simply was existing in a life that was completely automatic with no will or interest in another. He would attend school and eat, but anything more was too much. Yuki had just locked himself away in his room. Momoko did not know what to do with both of their parents gone and left trying to know how they would keep going. So she allowed Yuki his time thinking that he needed it to grieve. However, when he came out that one night acting so cheerful and excited like he had never lost anything it had nearly broke Momoko to watch. She did not have the heart to say anything to him and it seemed to end his constant fighting. 'It's just like back then…so different…'

She stood up feeling the urge to walk into the living room to join them. It was the first time that she felt like they were a family again. She had always wanted to see them like this once more, but thought it was impossible, accepting it as the way life was going to be. Her leg began to move, however there was a sudden thought that sparked through her mind that frightened her. '…it's like he granting my wish as though it was some parting gift… Yuki, what's going on?'