The Dream Shifter

Chapter 95

The flashes that he was receiving felt like they were each placing weights on his chest making it impossible to breathe. He knew what he was seeing, but he could not admit it. He would not admit it. "I said I promised I wouldn't fight anymore!" Ayumi held her words simply staring at him leaving Yuki to the pressures he held. "So now you know…" Yuki began to move back to the door with the expectation that he would be let go.

"Who?" asked Ayumi after a long silence from her. The distance between them seemed to be growing in spite of it not physically changing.

The question came as a strange one for Yuki as he did not know the context. All he did was tilt his head back towards her. "Huh?"

"Who?" Her question was repeated with the same tone as before to Yuki.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your promise. Who did you make it to?"

The room returned to his sight once more making him blink. A frail hand was reaching out from the bed towards him beckoning him, calling him forward. Only the head and shoulders of the person in the bed could be seen weakly looking at him. '…Yuki…promise me…'

Yuki jerked away from the vision snapping back to reality. He was caught staring at Ayumi being left with nothing but to answer her question. "…it was…my mother's last wish…"

The ice faded away from the room returning it back to how it had been. Ayumi allowed Yuki to leave the room. He was quick in reaching the door, wanting be freed from the atmosphere of the house that was condemning to memories that he never wished to remember. The house's door was open and Yuki half way down the sidewalk before Ayumi stood in the threshold. "You'll end up dead holding on to that promise."

Yuki stopped in his step, but refused to face her. "I thought it was your job to protect me so I can save your people."

"They're your people too. You don't belong here."

"I don't even know where they are. They aren't my people." He started to walk away out to the street, but was stopped once more by Ayumi voice. It had not been the words that halted him; it was the weakness that trailed through her tone. Everything froze for him. He felt emotion coming from them like he was not familiar with from Ayumi.

"How can you say that to them?!" Ayumi shouted back at him nearly choking on her words looking like she was on the verge of tears. "They're suffering! They need you!"

He had become compelled to turn face Ayumi. When he saw her face it left him stunned in shock to actually see her in such a state. There was never a moment that he had seen since he met her that he could feel such passion and emotion in her voice. "A-Ayumi…I…" Yuki had to pause just to collect his words not certain what he should say. "I don't know…my family, I can't leave them."

Ayumi came running down the sidewalk falling into him looking into his eyes. The pained looked of rejection was reflected in her eyes that stared at him. "How can you say that?! You belong with us, we're your family!"

Yuki did not know what to do any more with how hysterical she was acting in front of him. It was so out of character for Ayumi that Yuki was left paralyzed and started to have empathy for her. "But Ayumi…they—"

"They aren't your real family!" Ayumi shouted in desperation no longer able to keep from crying into Yuki's clothes.

Hearing Ayumi say that would have upset Yuki, but he could not be angry with her seeing her now. He could only hold on to her in silence feeling so empty at that moment as though he was guilty of being uncaring and heartless.

Across the neighborhood between the light of the streetlamps a darkened figured walked away. When they had finally stepped into the light it could be seen as Demosthenes. He casually left the neighborhood not looking back. "…Eudokia… This could be more difficult than I thought…"

The walk back from Ayumi's house was short, barely a minute, but the thoughts that were spinning through his mind made it feel like an hour. Yuki was no longer certain what to think. It had not been the first time that he had heard any of it, but there seemed to be more weight in the words when he heard it this time. 'I haven't seen Ayumi like that before…she's usually so serious and composed…' The softness in the clothes where her tears had soaked in made him recall the feeling of her being so close to him and seeming so frail.

When he finally reached the house a new weight dragged at his arm. It was the bag of food that he was supposed to get. Through everything it had managed to survive and still end up in his hands. The door was opened nearly on its own as he stepped. He left his shoes there at the door while he walked through the hallway.

"Yuki?" called Momoko from the kitchen with an underlining tone of annoyance.

"Yeah, it's me…"

"What took you so long, its nearly an hour!"

Yuki sighed to himself thinking to the assassin and how he had nearly died once again. 'Verge of death and yet…coming home it's like nothing happened…' He had not heard Momoko walking out of the kitchen into the hall towards him. Yuki was still so out of it that he nearly ran into her before snapping partially out of it. "Oh…here's the things you asked for…" he said presenting him in an empty manner.

Momoko uneasily had taken them from him while still staring at him in silence trying to figure out what had happened to Yuki. The mood he was setting made her even more uncertain. She plopped her hand down on his shoulder roughly enough to get a jerk out of him from the sudden contact. Once he was finally looking at her a playful smirk drew across her lips. "My poor, poor brother…"

"Eh?!" Yuki was woken up by the strange tone carrying in his sister's voice. The look that she was giving him was not helping to ease his confuse either. "What's wrong, sis?"

Her grin was nearly turning into a laugh, but she was holding herself back, not nearly for his sake. "I know you've been growing your hair out, but I didn't know you were swinging that way."

She had started to sound nearly creepy to Yuki making his face begin turning blue until he caught her last words. Then his entire face light up red glowing faster than he could get words out, though he was choking on his own breath at that point. "Mo-mo-mo-Momoko?!" A moment later he followed her eyes that were pointing arrows down at him making him remember what he was actually wearing. In an instant Yuki changed through three completely different expressions before ending in panic and denial. "This isn't what it looks like!"

The way that Yuki was reacting only seemed to fuel Momoko further as her grin grew wider. "So you're into cross dressing then?"

"No!"

"Though I guess I can't blame you. You clean up pretty well, it's almost embarrassing."

Yuki nodded in agreement with her having remembered when he looked at the mirror. However, as he had before he snapped himself out the path he was being pulled down. "Stop that!" He had thrown his arms down starting to get angry with his sister's teasing at this point. Unfortunately for him, it ended up making Momoko laugh loudly due to the image that it created in her mind (actually looked cuter).

After Yuki had calmed down a little and Momoko could look at him with a little more of a straight face, he began to explain what had happened to her. "I bumped into Ayumi on the way back and got my clothes ruined. Ayumi felt bad about it and insisted that she clean them. However, I had to leave to get you the food you need so she gave me this to wear…"

It was almost too much for Momoko as serious as she was trying to listen to Yuki calmly explaining the situation. "And she gave you a dress?" giggled Momoko before she broke into a full laugh once more.

The vein on Yuki's forehead was pulsing with anger wanting to leave immediately, but he had to set things straight with her. "She said she hadn't done laundry yet and it was the only thing she had…" However, Momoko was too far gone for him to reason with her anymore and he turned away. He began to stomp off as the laughing from her ruffled him. "I'm going to change!" Yuki disappeared up the stairs to his room.

He was fortunate to avoid his little brothers and closed the door behind him quickly. The dress was the next thing that left him landing on the bed unceremoniously as he pulled out a pair of blue jeans. As he was pulling out a plain green t-shirt his thoughts caught up to him. His eyes had been pulled away towards the dress making him think of her, the image of Ayumi held up against him. '…Ayumi…'

'They aren't your real family!' she shouted in his mind making him pull back dropping his shirt on the floor.

Yuki dropped his glance to his desk where a very old photo of his family, when they were still a whole family, rested in a dusty picture frame. A reminder of the past that he was never able to throw away, but also the only possession from then that he kept. It had been the only thing that he could not erase as much as he tried. 'Not real?' He could not believe that he had heard it from Ayumi's lips. It was something he could not accept.

'Exactly. The Hayashi family adopted you from your true father for reasons that even I couldn't find. All I know is that they knew each other somehow and you became part of their family instead never telling you the truth.' Ayumi had told him that he had been adopted on the first day that they met.

'Adopted…me…' When she had told him he had not been able to take it. It was quickly ignored with everything that had she as being a cruel joke that she was playing on him at his expense. However, the truth of her words came out soon enough for him. Yet despite him starting to accept what she told him, his family was one thing that he could never believe.