The Dream Shifter

Chapter 28

"Well I wouldn't be making a mess if you had decided to help," Ken said as he spilled out rice across the cooking table. It looked more like he was trying to make a point with the mess rather than doing it innocently.

Yuki gasped a little seeing him wasting the food and picturing Momoko's reaction in his head. The thought made him turn blue for a moment feeling fear throughout his body. "I'm here now. Jun and I will help you clean this up and make something to eat." Yuki let Jun down on the countertop and walked over to Ken in order to halt his progress.

Ken did not want to move out of the way, but Yuki found that it took very little convincing as he handed everything over to him. While Yuki began to clean up the spilled rice and other bits of food that Ken brought out Ken went over to Jun. He helped Jun down off the table and gave him a mischievous grin nodding to him. Jun returned with a silent half vacant conspiratorial nod back to Ken. The two children darted around the kitchen pulling out things for a snack.

Yuki had finally finished with the food clean up when he saw a whole new group of things in front of him along with eager eyes staring up at him. "You planned this didn't you…" There was no use fighting the two. He gave into their plotting and between the three of them managed to put together something that would hold them over until Momoko came home.

When the snack was over Yuki left them going to his room to think quietly. A long morning proved itself to be a perfect prediction of what the rest of the day was going to be like for him. 'Maids and fairies…samurai too. And there are things that Ayumi aren't telling me. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. There are a lot of things she hasn't told me, but why doesn't she want to talk about it?' Yuki closed his eyes while resting on his bed. He still had a while before Momoko was back from classes at college.

'She said that she'd teach me how to use my power, but what does she want me to do with it? She said I'm the heir to her people, but does she expect me to take overrule or something? I can't do that.' There were still too many things that Yuki did not understand. The power that he had was the worst of them. He had been safe during school for no outbreaks, but he did not know how long he could keep it up. It was exhausting for him to keep his mind as empty of thoughts as possible. 'I don't know if I can keep this up. Maybe I should stay out of school, just in case.' He could feel the black void of fear surrounding him leaving him alone and scared. This was more than he wanted. The power was beyond what he could control.

He felt his leg slip on his bed suddenly but pulled it back thinking that it had somehow wandered off his bed. Once again his leg fell away and he pulled on it. A third time made him lift his head and open his eyes to find that there was a large dark vortex in his bed that his body was slowly sinking into. His body jumped around struggling against the darkness that was like quicksand and holding like tar. He grabbed his legs with his hands when found that his muscles in his legs were not doing enough. "What's going on?"

The circle expanded further encompassing more than half of his bed preventing his escape and leaving little room for him to hold on. His futile struggle with his legs only made them be devoured faster losing everything below his hips to the black that was threatening to eat him whole. He quickly retreated his hands back out while he still had him to take a hold of the nearest solid object, the frame of his bed. Soon after he found his anchor he lost his waist bringing him firmly against his bed and the vortex. His head and chin rested against the edge of his mattress as his back up the line of defense to support his hands. "Did I…create this too? What is this?" Yuki fought against what felt like inevitability dragging him down. His eyes darted around the room looking for something that would save him.

The edge of the expanding black circle had something written on it clearly labeling it for what it truly was. It had caught Yuki's eye as he searched. He read it out to himself, "Black Void of Fear, trademark…really? You've got to be joking." The almost ridiculous nature of what was eating him laid out in a nearly comedic manner would have made him laugh if it was not him being swallowed. "My own worries are literally trying to eat me." Yuki found a little extra strength to begin pulling back some of his body, but the substance of the void was clinging tightly on this uniform not willing to let him be free. 'Can my own power really kill me? I've got to get…free…'

Yuki's hands were sweating badly and tiring out from the constant strain to keep himself from being taken while pulling himself free. He could feel his fingers starting to slip free from his hold and pressure being placed on his chin as the void took back what he had freed and some extra. 'Is it really going to eat me?' Yuki's mind was starting to spin around trying to think about what was going to happen to him. The fear was setting in no longer panic. His strength was failing him and time was not lasting for him. Yuki closed his eyes struggling to keep his hands from coming free against the increasingly eager void. 'What do I do? I can't stop it. Am I going to die?' His fingers were coming free suddenly as the pull against him rapidly increased.

He could not keep his hold any longer as his right hand lost its hold quickly followed by his left hand. Yuki scrapped the bed to hold on longer, but his fingers could not take hold. His face slid roughly across his comforter making it burn. 'I can't let it…' A last futile effort from Yuki stopped his progress for a moment. He dug his teeth into his bed covers barely keeping from ripping the threads. However, his covers were not tightly held to the bed and he cursed his failure as the void won shortly. His chest was swallowed up quickly dragging in his head and arms.

"Yuki! Yuki, are you asleep again?!"

"Momoko?! She's home and going to see everything! She can't know. But…" The door to his room was already being turned and panic returned to him pushing away the fear and the void that had been eating him. He needs to hide it all from her but knew that he could not. There was nothing that he could do to prevent her and the door was opening. He closed his eyes not certain how long he had left before it ate him accepting what was coming and the screams to follow.

"Hey, Yuki! You got to help me with dinner." Momoko grabbed Yuki's arm up to get his attention seeing that he looked half-dead on his bed.

Yuki pulled back taking his arm from her in shock that his secret was found out. He drew across his bed sitting up quickly staring at her. "Momoko I-I…can…wait…it's gone." In the panic of Momoko coming into his room, he did not realize that he had been freed from the void that was eating him. It had disappeared oblivious to him during the moments just as quickly as it had come. He did not know what to think but sigh heavily against his wall.

"Gone? What's gone? You lose something again?"

"Huh? N-No. Everything's fine. Anyway, you needed help with dinner?" Yuki jumped up from his bed and went to his door leaving it behind quickly. The terror that he had created would keep him up all night. He needed to get some distance between what he did. He ran downstairs heading to the kitchen leaving Momoko staring blankly at his empty room.

"Hmm…"

After dinner was over Yuki went to the closet in the living room. He pulled out his white jacket with blue stripes down the sleeves and put it on. Momoko called out to him before he made it to the door. "Where are you going? I'm leaving to the bookstore soon."

"I'm just going out for some air." Yuki grabbed the doorknob quickly and opened it trying to get out of the house before any more questions were asked. He knew that Momoko was suspicious of his actions since it was rare for him to leave the house at any time.

"Where are you going?"

"You sound like a broken record. I'm going out!" He rushed out of the house closing the door behind him and ran into the street. He did not stop until he made it down in front of a house, the old Kitayama house. Yuki took a breath from the running and stood up straight. He stared down the house not knowing what he was going to be getting into. 'I must do this. I can't worry about trusting her. I need to learn how to control my power.'