The Dream Shifter

Chapter 151

'This isn't good… I need to snap him out of it!' Saki lifted Yuki up from the ground effortlessly. There was still no response or even a flinch from Yuki. She did not expect it to do anything, but she had hoped that it would have before she had to do anything further. "Yuki! Wake up!" Another fruitless effort that she knew she was wasting, but she was delaying herself. Saki's hesitation reached a frustrated boiling point with Yuki. "Damn you, Yuki! Wake up so I can scold you!" She started slapping him across the face pausing between slaps long enough to know if she was getting somewhere. After both sides of his face were flashing red Yuki began to come around.

The first thing that he felt was the stinging in his face followed by being held up off his feet. He cautiously looked around him trying to figure out what was happening to him. "What's going on, Saki?"

Seeing that she had finally reached through to him she set him back down on the ground. "Glad to see you're back to normal."

"Hey! You slapped me again didn't you?!" accused Yuki, when he began to put the pieces together.

Saki leaned in a little taking offense to his tone. "I wouldn't have had to if you'd stopped being so selfish and keeping all of your problems to yourself! You know you might feel better if you actually told someone!"

"How can I tell anyone when it affects everyone I know?!"

"What are you so afraid of happening?!"

"I don't want to lose anyone important to me!"

The two paused from their yelling to stare at the other. Saki had managed to get a little out of him and could see the pieces starting to fall into place. However, she could see that there were still things that he was holding back on. 'So selfish…' She had let out a heavy sigh starting to feel her heart and breathing return to her control. "Well I'm here as I said before and you're already part of the way there. Besides, how long have I been with you now? We're still friends despite everything that has happened over the years. You won't lose me."

"No you don't understand what I mean—"

Saki raised her hand to his face to cut him. "I know what you meant. It wasn't lost on me. I can watch out for myself." Her hand changed into a single finger pointed at him demandingly sharply as the tone changed. "Now spill!"

Yuki gave her a crooked eyebrow looking a little surprised by the way she was acting. However, he knew that she was right in that he was already started and it would be wrong to stop in the middle. There was a certain comfort and release that he had felt just from the little bits that he had said. It was not much, but it seemed to give him the reassurance that things would be better in the end for it. "As I said before the matter is about whether I should go with Ayumi back. I had no interest in going back with her no matter how much she pushed me. My place is here and not with people I've never seen before."

"But that's changed now?"

"Yes… The attempts on my life had me worried and as I've been thinking about it more I realized that Ayumi was taking most of that burden upon herself. She says that she's my guardian and that she's going to protect me, but I don't want to see her hurt or killed because of me. I don't want to lose anymore friends, one is too many…"

"So you think that leaving and going back to Ayumi is going to stop the attacks? They'll just attack you there instead of here!"

"I know that! But at least you'll be safe from them. They won't try to use my friends to get to me!"

"But that's not solving anything! We don't need to be protected, Yuki!"

"But!"

"You've got to stop blaming yourself for his death! It wasn't your fault!"

Yuki stepped forward at Saki throwing his arm out in an arch in front of him till it ran parallel with the wall behind him. "He's dead because of me! Demosthenes came after me and went through him to get to me!"

"So you think the answer is to leave your friends and family behind? Are you honestly going to just leave Momoko, Ken and Jun alone?!"

"No!" He flipped his head to his right. "Yes!" He snapped to the left in confliction. "I-I don't know!" Yuki fell back against the wall seeking to retreat once more. Saki saliently reached out with her hand to interrupt him before he plummeted. It was enough to jar Yuki keeping him lucid.

'So this is where the problem lies…' Saki keenly remarked to herself. "So you hate your family that much you can easily just ignore their feelings?"

The accusations had spurred Yuki into anger to defend himself. He was not about to let Saki get away with thinking so coldly of him. "Never! How could you even think that of me?!"

"Then what? You're planning on abandoning them here!"

"I don't want to do it! But…I'm not…" Hesitation had returned back to his lips. His mind was gagging his words to be filled in with heavy emotions. They were emotions that he could not lift from his heart still twisting it.

Saki knew that she had pinned it down. The pieces were being dragged stubbornly out of him. She had to just keep pressing him not giving him ground to retreat or think. It needed to come out. "But what? If you're not going to abandon them, what is it? What do you think you're doing?"

"But I'm not their real brother!"

"So?! That doesn't really matter!"

"Did you just hear what I said Saki?" he questioned incredulously. He had thought that she might have just not been listening with the pace that they were going at.

"Of course I heard you! It doesn't matter!" Saki kept the room between them tight not giving him any quarter. "You've known them all of your life! They have been there for you the entire time. Who else are they but your family? Blood doesn't matter!"

Yuki turned his head away from Saki having difficulty looking into her eyes. She had pressed against the wall penetrating into the deepest areas that he had refused to let go of. He wanted to keep a hold of the little bit that he could, but it was fading from his grasp. "…d-don't…don't you think I know that…why do you think it's so…hard…" Yuki slid down the wall losing the strength in his legs.

Saki followed him folding her legs to almost kneel down at his side. "So what's the problem?"

"It's not…as easy as you make it sound! How can I leave them in a world like this?! But I'm needed… Ayumi says her people are going to suffer if I don't do anything! I can't let them be hurt because of me, but…" He dropped his head down into his knees. "…if I wasn't their brother…"

She gently placed her hand on his shoulder having already seen the picture clear enough. "You thought that if you could convince yourself you weren't their brother it'd be easier to leave them behind. But they are your family even not through blood. And in the end through all of the crap that's in your head that's one thing that you've never forgotten."

"What am I supposed to do, Saki? If I go I don't think I can come back…but if I don't go…"

"Well if you're the King as Ayumi claims then you can do anything that you want!" Saki gave him a warm smile trying to comfort him. "Right?" She helped him back up to his feet as he seemed to be feeling better. "Besides, do you have to be King to save your people?"

He looked back up at Saki a little surprised by her last question. The simplicity of it had completely gone over looked by him. He had been so focused on the problem that it never occurred to him that there were other options available to him. "I guess you're right, Saki!"

"Right!" she punctuated, agreeing with him. "So when do we leave?"

A few thoughts ran through his mind for consideration. He knew that he was running out of time according to Ayumi. He did not even know where he had to go to reach the homeland or how long it was going to take. 'It's been about two weeks since she said I had a month left. So I don't have much time left. I don't know what happens in a month that's going to cause the chaos that Ayumi foresaw, but I should probably go soon so that there's plenty of time. They'll probably send even more assassins after me before I do what I need.' Yuki gave it enough thought and looked back at Saki. "I want to finish the school, but I think that'll only take another day. So the day after tomorrow…"

"Alright! School's still out for now so it'll be easy for me to get away!" Saki had already begun making preparation in her mind for what she was going to need to do.

There was a brief nod from Yuki as he did not fully comprehend what she had said. "Yeah! I'll—" The moment had finally arrived that he realized what he was agreeing to with Saki. "Hey! Wait a minute! Why are you saying 'we'?" When Yuki started to question her words Saki gave him a firm glare that said more than words could even manage. "B-But it's dangerous, Saki!"

"I've already faced down an assassin with you! I can take care of myself! Besides, it is dangerous and you can't go alone in to enemy territory with only Ayumi! I'm going too!"

He had wanted to protest further with Saki, but it was already a losing argument. Saki had already made the decision in her mind for what was going to happen and there was not going to be anything that he could do to convince her any other way. "Fine, but it's just us. We leave in two days!"