The Dream Shifter

Chapter 154

Fumiko nodded in agreement with Yumi. "Considering how much of a mouth she had on her and antagonizing others. Showing weakness or caring what happens to others is not something that she would want to expose."

"A denial to protect herself," thought Yori out loud. "Even still, we don't really know what he's gotten himself into." Yori looked over at Seiji recalling what the fairy had quickly thrown out during the brief conversation. He had not made much of it at the moment, but realized there was possibly additional information within the group. "You know something about the trouble he is in don't you?"

Seiji was still pretty reluctant to actually address anyone after the ordeal with the fairy. He kept looking away from everyone until it became clear that they were not going to take being ignored as a solution. "I don't know much, just what Yuki told me when I asked him. It didn't seem like he knew much about it, some girl named…Ayumi told him all of this." When he caught the knowing looks of a few of them he realized that they actually knew who Ayumi was. "I take it you've met her. From what I understand Yuki is the heir to some place that lost their leader. A group that wants control of the country for themselves are sending assassin to remove Yuki from the picture so there's no one that can take over. So I'm guessing that Yuki's going to face them and more than likely take the position."

Panic struck Yumi upon hearing Seiji's words. 'He's leaving and not coming back!?' She did not think that he would have made such a decision to leave everyone that he knew behind. He had not given any of them any sort of goodbye or explanation. Yumi took a step forward at Seiji with her eyes lighting up with fire light. "He's planning on leaving us behind and everyone he knows and not tell anyone? How could he do that?!"

The demanding stare from Yumi set Seiji off balance a little trying to figure out what she making it seem like he was the cause of it all. "Hey look! I don't know what's going through his head! I'm just figuring that if he's going there he's probably going to be staying! There's not a lot of point going there if he's not planning on staying around."

"Not necessarily," Yori said stepping into the conversation. "If he stayed behind he'd still be attacked by assassins if they saw him as a threat to their power grab. So he could be trying to go to source to stop the attacks and hand off his position to someone else."

'Could he just be doing it to end the fighting? And he's planning to come back?' A hopeful light grew inside Yumi clinging tightly onto Yori's hypothesis regardless of how possible if could be. She could not think about Yuki leaving them all behind.

Fumiko joined the group realizing that they still had a problem. "Regardless of what Yuki's planning on doing we don't know where he's going to be leaving from or how he's getting to wherever he needs to be. The fairy didn't give us that information."

"I know where his house is," spoke up Seiji. "We can just get him there."

"If he's determined to go this alone without telling anyone then it'll be too easy him to just lose us at his house."

"We can follow him then until it's too late for him to say no."

"With this many people?"

The debating going on behind Yumi had finally reached her ears and broke through her own worries. She turned around to face them directly to settle their concerns. "I know where he'll be! We just have to wait for him to arrive and force him to let us come!"

"How do you know? Did the fairy tell you earlier?" questioned Seiji leaned towards Yumi. He still doubted her after her early claim, despite the fairy having proven her to be correct. It was the fact that it was something so unreliable as a feeling. He could not trust it, even if she did speak with certainty in her voice.

She shook her head at him. "I've known somehow for a while. I can't explain it, but I know where he'll be. There's still some time before morning. We should take care of anything that we need to before then and meet back here at five in the morning. It'll take some time to walk." Yumi figured that everyone was going to need to sleep and pack anything that they might for the trip. None of them knew where they were going and there remained much to consider.

Chiharu shifted forward unnervingly for everyone like a shadow just appearing when a new light is shined. "What makes you think we're even going? You're making assumptions that we even care about that weakling."

The approach for the young girl made Yumi pulled her spine back a little surprised by how in her face she was being. There happened to be the fact that she was also acting very callous about Yuki as well, that she did not know how to take it. However, despite the confrontation Yumi stuck her ground. "You're right. I didn't mean to assume. There's still time to make your decision on what you're going to do about what we've been told. Anyone coming can meet here at five."

A slight begrudged nod was returned by Chiharu before she stepped down. She had not expected Yumi to handle her so smoothly as to fix and avoid the conflict all in one sweeping motion. Chiharu did not like watching the frail girl acting like she was in charge. She hoped to expose the weaknesses that she saw in her as a poor leader, but found that she was forced to retreat to her corner.

Everything seemed to be settled with the group. No one else objected to what Yumi had set out for them. She nodded to herself mentally checking that all was right before joining at Yori's side. "We should be going now before our mother finds out that we've been out!" Yumi gave a quick wave to the stunned group and disappeared out of the light pulling Yori along with her.

The rest of the party could not believe that she was worried about being out late considering what she was going to be doing. Once they recovered from their awe and pulled themselves back together they began departing company in their own ways.

For Seiji, the decision had been made for him. He was the last to leave the mound and the first arrive (he never left). 'I had my suspicions before I left… This simply just confirmed it for me… Besides it'll give me time away from the old man and that annoying ghost…' Seiji pressed into the grass disappearing a little in its height and closed his eyes. The starry sky offered more than enough for him. 'Yuki, are you going to start fighting again? I can't see Saki being very pleased about that…'

"I didn't think they would ever leave!" a young woman's voice said cheerfully. Aoi, the ghost woman that had taken a likening to teasing Seiji appeared in the light of the earth. Her previous haunting attire was no more. She wore a pure white evening kimono that would have been worn either for bed or prepared for bed as covering for less modest clothing underneath. The case for Aoi would be whatever it took to get some fun out of Seiji.

Seiji's eyes held tightly shut with his eyebrows shaking a little as he tried desperately to appear like he was sleeping and never heard a word from the ghost. The unfortunate matter of his fear kept it from actually being very convincing with the excessive amounts of sweat gathering on his skin.

Aoi's lips caught a playful grin seeing the initial response that she got from him. Taking it another step further, she floated in passing through the grass silently to lie next to him. The mere proximity of her had him turning blue and red fighting over shades only to decide on a compromise of purple. She pressed towards his ear whispering delicately to him. "You don't have to pretend for me!"

The woman's voice sent a chill down his spine making him vibrate all around before his eyes shot open. If the tree had been closer to the ground Seiji would have latched onto it like a startled cat as he leapt into the air easily clearing his full height and then some. He managed some cat-like reflexes to land on his feet left staring at the ghost. "H-H-How-how…how…how…"

She giggled with glee in her entertainment before her. "You never get boring, sweetie!" Aoi gave the frightened teen a little more room, but that did not improve his speech any. All he could form in his mouth was 'how' and even then it was hard to understand at best. "How did I find you?" she finished for him, since he was unable to do so for himself. "That's quite easy! I just followed you! You seemed so focused on your letter that you never even realized it!"

"Y-y-y-y…F-Followed?!"

"There, there… It's best to stick to one word for now." She patted him on the shoulder providing mocking comfort to him. Aoi could see the hint of the fear starting to bleed out of him and return him to balance through the sheer annoyance of being so openly mocked. Her tone changed quickly shifting the mood serious having had her fun, for the time being at least. "Are you planning leaving your family behind without a word?"

"The old man'll be fine," Seiji said soberly. He had been glad people were no longer visiting so frequently. If they continued he did not know how long he would have lasted, though a part of it was the cause of the ghosts showing up. Many of them could not trust going back to the shrine fearing it had been corrupted like everything else. "The business has slowed down."

"What about Shoji? He depends on you!"

Seiji strolled across the small mound putting his back to Aoi. "It's not like he needs a problem child like me around him being a bad influence on him."

She could not believe what she was hearing from him. She quickly glided around him to look at him in the face. "You don't honestly believe that crap that your Grandfather spouts? Do you?!"

"What the hell do you know?!" shouted Seiji leaned in at the woman. He was not about to listen to her talking like she knew him. "You're just a stupid ghost that has nothing better to do than screw around with me!"

"It doesn't matter if I'm a ghost or not! I can see well enough as I am!"

"It's not like I'm going to be gone for that long anyway! I'm coming back and I'll drag Yuki back with me if I have to! When I get back I can apologize to Shoji…" His voice trailed off as he began to look away from her. He knew what he had decided and could not let himself falter. 'If I see him I don't know if I could leave if he asked me not to go…'

Aoi read Seiji for a minute frustrated by his stubbornness. She wanted him to just say goodbye to his little brother. It seemed like a strange thing to her not to want to say something so simple to his family. She could see in him the determination that he had fortified and another reason behind his eyes. The look was not something that she could figure out, but it gave her enough to give up the fight. "…fine…" She began to float away no longer wanting to be around him.

"I can't stop you from telling him anyway once I'm gone…"

The ghost paused hearing the words and the surprising subtext that was held within them. It made her grin a little feeling reassured. "You're right… We'll be waiting for your return!"

"It's a promise!"