The Dream Shifter

Chapter 273

Saki thinned her lips watching Yuki. She was not blind to her words, but knew Yuki needed to face reality. She wanted Yuki to survive and survive without more emotional baggage. 'I know him well enough to know how he dumps everything on him. He takes responsibility for things that out of his control, thinking he could change them. It's the part of him that hasn't changed through everything. He's still trying to protect everyone but himself.' Focusing back on Yuki, she leaned over to close with him some. "Yuki, I made you a promise. I'm not about to break it with you now. Even if I have to be a little harder on you."

The word 'promise' snapped Yuki up from his thoughts to connect with Saki. His mind traveled back to when she made the promise with him. He shook his head a little trying not to think about it. The weight of the promise still bothered him. "You don't have to anymore. I don't want to keep holding you back from doing what you want because of your promise."

She crawled over to Yuki and flicked her finger at his forehead. Considering her strength, despite holding back, it still stung a lot. He clutched his forehead from the eventual bruise to come. "I didn't make that promise with you on a whim. This is what I want to do. So you don't have to feel bad about it." It was difficult to see, but Saki saw her words reached him a little.

Yuki slowly lowered his hands no longer focused on the pain. He caught sight of the warm smile from Saki. A small sigh came from his lips as he resigned his position. "Yeah, you're right," he replied, still a little melancholic in tone. Like all the times before, she forced him to relent on it. He looked back at Ayumi and suddenly remembered something else. "We seemed to have traveled from the original topic."

"Oh you remembered? I guess I didn't do well enough of a job to distract you." Saki gave him a bit of a smirk.

"So that was your plan?" He went along with the pace she set. "That's pretty mean of you. Toying with your best friend's feelings by drawing up old memories."

A bit of guilt suddenly surfaced in Saki as she saw how cruel she was. She tried to back pedal away from it. "I was only trying to make a point."

Summoning up some crocodile tears, Yuki rubbed his eyes working up the emotions. Saki sputtered failing to reach her words, caught in Yuki's trap. He quickly dried his eyes. "I guess I'll call it even then," he said, with a grin.

Annoyed, Saki pulled back to fall on her feet with her legs folded up. "I just wanted you to understand the situation." She crossed her arms not completely agreeing with Yuki on things being even.

Yuki's face quickly turned serious along with the atmosphere. "I know I can't have everything, but I still don't agree with it being done behind my back. If you want to do something to change the plan tell me." He got a nod from Saki and looked over at Ayumi's back. She gave him no answer, but he still waited. Once it appeared she was not going to give an answer he spoke up again. "Agreed?"

The silence kept everyone a little curious if Ayumi's stubbornness surfaced again. Saki walked over trying to see her expression. She hoped to mediate the issue. However, Saki came to a stop when she looked at Ayumi's face. Saki looked back over at Yuki. "She's asleep."

"What?!"

"Hey, hey! She's probably more tired then you. Don't raise your voice too much."

"…right…" Yuki felt a little slighted by Ayumi even though he had no answer from her. Nothing was truly resolved between them. He unfortunately had nothing left to do. Saki insisted on him sleeping, after wasting part of their time. Yuki gave into her nagging, already knowing how exhausted his body was from the walk.

The hour passed swiftly and brought them back to their feet promptly, at Ayumi's insistence. They resumed their march barely feeling revived. In the short passage of time, the night sky turned shades of pink, red and yellow as the sun's light painted the bottoms of the clouds. It did not take long in their travel for dawn to arrive finally.

Unfortunately, the light brought another arrival on the horizon. The group came to a stop discovering figures in the shadows of the morning light. They stood in their path, as though expecting them. Out of the darkness, one figure revealed himself to the teenagers. Vangelis held a dark expression with a violence-craving look in his eyes. "You gave us a lot of trouble! But now it's time to have ourselves a little a fun!"

The hour passed swiftly and brought them back to their feet promptly, at Ayumi's insistence. They resumed their march barely feeling revived. In the short passage of time, the night sky turned shades of pink, red and yellow as the sun's light painted the bottoms of the clouds. It did not take long in their travel for dawn to arrive finally.

Unfortunately, the light brought another arrival on the horizon. The group came to a stop discovering figures in the shadows of the morning light. They stood in their path, as though expecting them. Out of the darkness, one figured revealed himself to the teenagers. Vangelis held a dark expression with a violence-craving look in his eyes. "You gave us a lot of trouble! But now it's time to have ourselves a little a fun!"

Not even sensing the mood in the air or perhaps not caring about it, Yuki took a step forward to meet gazes with Vangelis. A bit of a smirk came across Yuki's face. "You know you're missing a little something that really sells it." Yuki waved his hand not to completely dismiss him. "Don't get me wrong, you've got a good stock line, but you forgot something important to really tie up the package nicely."

Smirking in kind, suddenly taking a real liking to Yuki, Vangelis stepped forward. They both remained meters apart, but their expressions made it seem like only centimeters distanced them. "You have me curious now. What sort of critique do you have?"

"You left out my name," noted Yuki. His index finger lifted up to point out the fact as he recalled the dialogue. "It just doesn't have the same impact without the name. It leaves out that personal note to really drive through the weight of your words. And I know you know my name by now, since I gave it to the last person I fought. So there really is not an excuse at this point not to be using it."

A small bit of laughter came up from Vangelis. He started to really enjoy the kid. Yuki drew him in further with their chatter. "You would be right if I wanted to make a personal statement. However, I'm not just here for you. I'm here for all of you. Leaving out your name delivered it to all of you and didn't diminish the impact."

"I see." Yuki scratched his chin a little considering it. "That might be the true, but you can't ignore the fact there was something lacking in it. You had that look down and everything."

"I'm pleased you think so. However, don't you think it's a little cliché, like some stock villain to be directly challenging you with coming out saying your name. We haven't even been introduced yet."

Yuki's eyes widened a little reacting to Vangelis. "You mean you aren't stock villains? Sure you guys have names, but you've been out of the picture for a while and likely won't be seen again once we're done here." The smirk on Yuki's lips grew wider as he ended his reply.

Vangelis gave a rougher, more abrupt laugh through his lips. "You're a funny kid." The expression on Vangelis' face turned darker appearing to be provoked by Yuki.

Wanting to calm things down, Saki grabbed onto Yuki's forearm. "Do you really think you should be taunting the guys trying to kill us?"

A little absentminded in his face, Yuki looked back at Saki over his shoulder. "This is just some lively banter before the fun starts." Yuki moved his eyes back at Vangelis, meeting him once more through the corner of his eye. "Right?"

"I like your attitude, kid!" Vangelis started to laugh loudly breaking rank a little. It took most of them by surprise. However, Yuki joined in with him equaling the heartiness of the laugh. Everyone lost them for nearly a minute to their odd laughter before it finally came to an end. "But you're right, kid. A little foreplay before the fight makes it that much more pleasurable." The violence-loving grin returned to Vangelis' face almost as if he felt what he preached.

The sight made Saki take half a step back, unnerved by his presence. "…I think I'm too young to be listening to his conversation…" She looked over at Yuki to gauge the next action. More than Vangelis' creepy face, Yuki's expression unsettled her even more. It almost made her afraid of what she saw in his face. 'It's that look again…like the old days…where he craves the fight more than anything else…' Saki felt him getting out of her reach once more. She tightened her hand around his arm for security. 'I was afraid the seal would break if he came here…he's…' It could not happen again. "…Yuki…return to me…"

Whispers from Saki turned Yuki's sight back. "Huh? You say something, Saki?" The confusion in Yuki's eyes did not last for long. His eyelids lowered and the features in his face hardened suddenly. "She's gone!" Yuki pulled himself around to get both Haruo and Saki in his vision. He could not find her anywhere. "She did it again."

Everything moved too fast for Saki to follow Yuki. The sharpness in his voice snapped her out of her distance thoughts. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Yuki turned around to address their opponents. "Pardon me for a moment. We've lost someone. Don't be too alarmed." A ripple from his feet broke through the earth and sped away from him. Flowers popped up everywhere in sight as Yuki's field activated.

Vangelis barely reacted to Yuki's displayed, but the rest of his team became unnerved quickly. They did not even have to have their fields on to see the different. Around Vangelis' his field maintained its presence, but that did not bother them. The range was what shook them to their core.

"I can't even see an end to it!"

"This is even more than the reports say!"

"Who is this kid?"

"This might be on par with the King!"

"How is that possible? The Rite of Succession hasn't even begun yet!"

"Enough complaining," barked Vangelis, keeping his steely eyed look locked on Yuki. "You already know reports aren't everything. Besides, I told you before he's mine. All you have to do is stay out of the way of his field." A thin trail of sweat dripped down his temple. 'He's even more than I could have hoped for…'

Yuki ignored the low chatter and focused his eyes on the horizon. 'There's the guy's field, but she's around here somewhere. She didn't get out yet. I know my field is larger than what she can cover.' He kept looking for something very specific. Saki tried to get something out of him, but he raised his hand to stop her. Yuki did not even connect to her to give her a reply.

Confused and wanting answers, Saki stood next to Yuki. Her eyes lazily went around the horizon trying to understand where Yuki looked. Nothing surfaced. 'What's he doing? She's turned herself invisible, we won't find her until she wants us to.' She was already gone.

Breaking the silence, Yuki's arm snapped up to an empty point in the distance. "She's over there! Saki!"

"Huh? I can't see her." Saki leaned forward with a step trying to figure out what he saw. All she was flowers continuing without end.

"Just go! You're the only one fastest enough to catch her in time!" The tone in Yuki's voice made it clear held no doubt. He was certain of what he found.

Saki saw Yuki's eyes long enough to know she did not need to question him anymore. She disappeared quickly from everyone's sight. A torrent of flowers kicked up in the wake of Saki's speed. 'I can see an end to the flowers!' As she approached what she thought was the end of Yuki's field, she saw another side of the flowers in the distance. 'Wait…this isn't the end…Ayumi!' Saki immediately understood what Yuki did.

Her feet broke through the last of the flowers and returned to the grass of Atlantis. She did not stop charging with more purpose than before. Saki scanned the area measuring out the center of the circle. Once she felt certain, she appeared from nothing and grabbed out at the air. Her arms found something solid. "Don't try to struggle with me, Ayumi! I'm stronger and faster than you. So unless you want to feels some G's, come quietly."