The Dream Shifter

Chapter 33

Her hand was forced out of the rock barrier leaving her unable to break through to him. She was running out of quick ideas that would not cause more problems than solve. 'I've got to reach him. Break his concentration somehow. I just need a little more.' Ayumi pressed her hands against the barrier again ready to break the rocks down when she had done enough. "Yuki! Can you hear me? Yuki!"

"Don't come near me!"

"Yuki! …You… Yuki…" Ayumi paused seeing that she was not making any progress and at a loss. She changed her tone back to her school and public persona hoping that it might hit a chord with him. "Yuki? Are you in there? I can't see you!"

"…Ayumi…"

"I tripped and hurt myself. Can you let me see you? Yuki?"

"…Ayumi? I…"

'That's it. There's enough interference for me to breakthrough.' Ayumi forced her hands in again seeing the waves of light from the barrier flashing in protest, but no longer able to hold her back. "Yuki!" she said continued to speak to him keeping up the disruption. Her entire body puts weight against the barrier feeling the struggle to keep something so large out. Every time that she would speak to him a little more of her was let free to go in. Once she had reached the other side she found Yuki unconscious on the ground speaking to her unknowingly. 'This is going to be harder than I thought. I can't knock out someone already unconscious.' Ayumi went to his side keeping her softer persona speaking to him. She lifted him into her arms letting his backrest against her body holding him tightly. "Yuki… I'm here for you. You're safe now. You don't need to be afraid anymore."

The soft voice from Ayumi eased Yuki's mind washing away the pain and wrinkles on his face. A calmed expression showed through the fog of fear in Yuki. "…Mo…ther…" The barriers came down quickly returning the room to the original shape and the neighborhood above as well. All of the people staring in disbelieve turned their confusion away and went back to their normal lives.

Yuki had eventually woken up on the hardwood floor looking around the room no longer certain where he was or what was happening. The last thing he remembered was the fight between Ayumi and him, rather the attack by her. However, he could not see her anywhere in the room. When he looked down at himself he saw that he was no longer bleeding, though his clothes were worse for wear. He jumped up in surprise at how ragged they looked. "My clothes! They're all torn and destroyed. How am I going to explain this to Momoko?!"

While he was panicking about his clothes Ayumi heard the noise that was being created and walked down the stairs to the underground room. The steps appeared and disappeared into the ceiling from her entrance. "You always make a racket." She approached Yuki with her arms crossed staring at him with no-look in particular.

"Ayumi! My wounds are gone, but look at my shirt!"

"Yeah, I healed you up. Would you have preferred that I left you to die, but fixed your shirt?"

"Well no…but this is supposed to be a secret. What do I say to my sister?"

Ayumi looked away talking to herself. "I didn't, because I can't fix clothes. Sewing is not my expertise."

"What did you say?" he said leaning in with a questioning look.

"N-Nothing." She pulled her hands out in front presenting him with a fresh shirt that was clearly not his, but it was wholly unlike his own. "Here. Take this."

"Oh! Thanks, Ayumi!" Yuki pulled at his shirt to take it off but found that it fell off on its own. It had been held together by merely being on him that the stress was too much for it. "Heh…Ooops…" he said laughing sheepishly at the sight. The leftover pieces were quickly removed from his body and he took the new shirt in hand. He pulled it on over his head finding it to be a little tight, but it managed to fit him (a little too well actually). Yuki looked down at the red shirt with the English word "Fancy" written on it. "Umm…Ayumi?"

"Yes?"

"Is this one of your shirts?"

"Of course, I don't own boy's clothing."

Yuki tried to smile and nod not saying anything more to her about it. 'I must look like one of the weird male pop bands. How can she wear this? It's so tight.'

"Well, it's almost midnight. You should be getting some sleep for class tomorrow." Ayumi started back to the center of the room calling for the stairs to slide back down for them.

"What?!" shouted Yuki panicking running over to Ayumi quickly. "Did you say midnight?" Ayumi nodded to confirm her last statement for him. "Momoko'll kill me anyway for being late!" When the stairs were just hitting the floor Yuki sped on past Ayumi making it back up to her house. He rushed for the doorway not certain what direction it was in looking in every hall and room. Yuki came to the living room where he saw his sister sipping tea. "Momoko, hey! Momoko?! What're you doing here?"

Momoko politely set her teacup back on the table before she stood up to face her brother. "What am I doing here? What're you doing here? I come home to find that you're still not home and Jun and Ken aren't in bed!" She stood over him casting a heavy shadow over Yuki making him stutter profusely.

"M-Momoko I-I can explain!"

"I don't need to hear it! I already talked to Ayumi!"

"What?! You did?" Yuki saw Ayumi walking into the living room looking as innocent and polite as she ever did. It was enough to make him fall over if he was not being yelled stiff.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner, but I couldn't reach anyone," Ayumi said extremely apologetically nearly coming to tears.

Yuki was about to shatter from the act that she was playing, but Momoko turned around smiling to her reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. I'm glad to know he is safe. Though he looks in pretty good shape for being beaten up by street thugs again, apart from the…shirt…" She stared back at Yuki inspecting him, specifically the shirt that he was wearing.

"Oh, the shirt is one of mine. I'm sorry again, but it got damaged so I gave it to him. Please forgive me!"

"Don't worry about it. Well, I think my brother's caused you enough trouble. Say good night to her." Momoko grabbed Yuki up dragging him out of her house after he said his meek words. She pulled him back to their house and sent him upstairs after another yelling about responsibility and not fighting with punks. Yuki was not certain if he should have felt like he got away with what he did or not. He did not question the matter and went to sleep not feeling any better at controlling his powers.

The morning came for him uneventful and a little late, but nothing strange happened to him when he woke up. He left his house for school leaving behind Jun and Ken in time. He was able to relax on his way to school but stopped when he got to the gates. "Where's Saki? I don't think she had practice…"