Fading Light

The bed creaked from the weight of Yuki’s body to being tossed on it. He had just gotten back from Ayumi’s house having received her new intensive training. Being called ‘New Training’ (Ayumi’s words) was an inaccurate term according to Yuki and more important his body. His only progress came from accidents. It felt like they activated more frequently than ever.

Would it ever end?

He stared up at the ceiling trying not to think about his body, since it only made it hurt worse. ‘How long will I be able to keep this up?’ Yuki wrapped his arms around his head and rolled on his side. ‘Then there’s the fact that I only have a month left. She’s expecting me just to leave all of this… How can she expect me to become a leader of a place I’ve never been to?’ The echoes of Ayumi’s voice whispered to him forcing him to remember.

He wanted to remember what normal felt like.

Chapter 50 – Fading Light

“Yuki!” Momoko's voice carried through the house and his closed door.

Exhausted, Yuki rolled out of bed and scattered a few of his books. “I’m coming!” He quickly fixed the stacks and checked that he didn’t accidentally fold any covers. They were safe. He reached downstairs where she stood waiting for him. “What’s up…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a little tired from the day. What did you need?”

I need you to pick up a few things from the store. We ran out.” She handed over a list to him.

“On it!” He put on his shoes and light jacket before stepping outside. The cool evening air made him drop his hands into the jacket’s pockets. It would be a long walk down to the neighborhood store to get what he needed, but it was a quiet night.

Across the neighborhood Saki stared at a textbook and paper with a pencil in hand. Her family’s apartment was fairly quiet with only the neighbors making a muffled shouting noise. However, the homework in front of her remained incomplete due to her mind wandering away. Yuki occupied much of her thoughts.

During class he had been his usual self. The events at Mi Hana lingered for her. Each time she saw him after, she kept asking herself questions. The sight of him sent doubts through body.

She tilted her head back against her chair looking behind her. ‘I can’t concentrate… Yuki is normally like this so why should I be so worried? It’s how he deals… But still to be reminded of his parents…’ Saki raised up her hands planting them in her hair becoming frustrated with herself. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Yes, mom?”

Ever since the kidnapping, she dealt with frequent checks. However, this time was different. “The strange man from the other day just called you.”

“Strange man?”

“From that rich family that you stayed at on Saturday.” The whole incident with Chiharu stirred up fears. It took some time that night to calm her down.

It only took another second for Saki to connect the dots. She jumped out of her chair. “The Chinens?!” Her mother gave her a slow nod, still looking a little shaken. “Was it about Chiharu? Mom?” The slow drawn out words from her mom only furthered her tensions. “Is she awake? Mom, please tell me!”

The desperation that appeared on Saki’s face made her mother step back. “The man said that she had regained consciousness.”

“That’s great news! Thank you, Mom!” Saki jumped up and hugged her mom tightly leaving her a little confused.

“…yeah… He said he knew that you’d want to know…”

It had taken some time for Saki to recover, but she backed off. She looked a little embarrassed by the display of emotion. Her mind suddenly felt clearer and focused. “Crap! I need to finish my homework! Thanks, Mom!” Saki darted back to her desk leaving her mother looking even more confused before walking away slowly. A smile crawled onto Saki's face as her eyes focused on the paper.

Yuki walked back from the store having gotten everything that Momoko had on her list. It was only a few things, mostly for breakfast and lunch. The quiet walk pleased him as it kept his mind focused. Even his soreness started to be something that he could manage. A stray thought came to him as he shifted the weight of the bag in his hand. ‘I wonder what Hiroshi wants?’ It pulled his mind back to lunch on top of the school when they were eating together with everyone.

Their lunch group had grown a little with Yuki having hunted down Haruo and insisted that he eat with them. Yumi and her friends decided that they would accept Ayumi’s invitation. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves talking and laughing with each other. Yuki smiled to himself while listening when Hiroshi suddenly leaned next to him.

“Hey Yuki…” Hiroshi spoke softly so that only Yuki could hear him. There was a surprisingly stern, serious expression in his eyes. It gave him little trouble swallowing his food.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

There was a long wait in Hiroshi’s next words as though he was having difficulty saying them. “You got some time to talk after school?”

“Not today, but I can tomorrow. Is that alright?”

“Yeah another day shouldn’t really matter.” Hiroshi motioned dismissively to Yuki. However, he had caught the suspicious attention of Saki.

She pointed her chopsticks at Hiroshi staring at him. “What you whispering to Yuki?”

Hiroshi quickly flipped expressions to nervous and then to an uneven smile. “Just a joke that I heard, right?”

Yuki looked back and forth between the two of them, getting a strange look from Hiroshi. “…yeah…” The pained look from Hiroshi at Yuki's poor convincing agreement went by oblivious to him. Yuki returned to eating his lunch and Saki quickly gave it up.

The memory faded away, still leaving him with a question. There had been an unusual seriousness in Hiroshi that had himi a little confused. Delaying it made him wonder if he was making a mistake. ‘It sounded important to him… Maybe I should just have listened to him…’

A sound of something breaking trailed down the street from somewhere out of sight. It made Yuki’s thoughts stop and bring his focus to the street. There was no one on the street that he could see and in the evening hours there were few people out. However, he heard another noise that hurried his feet to move. ‘Is it a car crash?’ Yuki ran towards the sounds he heard increasing in frequency. ‘Can’t be an accident…’

The clashing of metal came from around a corner sending him away from his house, but curiosity would not let him go. It became stronger and clearer leaving an uneasy sinking feeling to develop in his stomach as it understood sooner than him. ‘The temperature…why is the air so cold…’ He felt the crunching underneath his feet that revealed snow covering the street concrete. Yuki had his answer. ‘Ayumi’s fighting!’

His eyes were able to confirm it for him a moment later as Ayumi came sliding through the snow evading several projectiles. She countered immediately, charging forward. Ayumi threw out her chakram attachment, grabbing the enemy’s arm in the connecting chain. Her sword followed through piercing the man through the chest. Once the sword pulled free she removed her Field and began cleaning the area with a new Field.

A slow staggering Yuki walked forward not expecting to find her fighting. “…Ayumi…was that another assassin?”

“Yes, I was able to intercept him before he reached you.” She finished her work and turned to walk away from the scene. Yuki was left without any words to say as she came towards him. When she passed by him she said something to him lowly. “Rest.”

Yuki tried to take it in, staring down at the empty street. ‘She stopped the assassin before he got to me… She’s protecting me… That’s what she said she would do, but…’ He faced away, but knew that Ayumi was within range of his voice. “Was that the only one?”

Ayumi stopped for a moment to answer him, not looking at him either. “No, nor the last.” She began to walk away reaching the street intersection.

“Why?!”

“I’d think that was obvious, Yuki.”

Being cryptic wasn’t something new for Yuki, but he wanted a straight answer. He turned around staring down the poorly lit street at Ayumi. “Explain it to me.” His eyes narrowed and face wrinkled in frustration. “Why aren’t you telling me about these fights?”

“Would knowing change anything for you? Would it make you train harder than you do now? Would it make you more serious and committed?” She finally turned her head to look back at him.

He answered with silence. Some canned cliché lines came to mind, but they felt empty.

“Your powers are random and unfocused. Luck has been your only constant and that’s no way to fight. So I keep the threats I can at bay.”

Yuki jerked back feeling stunned by Ayumi’s words. This wasn’t the first time she berated him about this ability, but it felt different this time. It felt less restrained. ‘She’s been taking on the assassins? Is that why there hasn’t been very many? All this time…’ Her eyes fixed on him making him feel uncomfortably warm.

Her words echoed through his mind harder. Every encounter he relied on desperation to carry him. Things worked out in the end, but never the way he wanted. And always it was Ayumi carrying him or someone else. All he did was survive.

He shook his head to clear his mind. ‘No! I don’t want this to be the way it is…’ Yuki stared down at Ayumi searching for his resolve. “If this keeps up one day you’re going to be killed because of me! I don’t want that!”

“Then get stronger. Control your power. Otherwise you’re going to keep being helpless.”

“I’m trying…”

She read the changes in his expression. He was unusually transparent tonight. “I can teach everything I know, but that’s not going to give you what you want. There’s something that is still holding you back. I don’t know you well enough to say, but I’m pretty sure it’s whatever you’ve been hiding from for the last year.”

“I’m not hiding…”

“Yes, you are. It’s textbook. If you were actually seeing a therapist like you should be about your trauma, you’d realize that.”

“They weren’t any help! They don’t understand! You don’t understand!”

“I don’t because you haven’t opened up to anyone about it. You’re just running away. You’re being a child.”

‘Mother!’ That had been the last straw for Yuki. Yuki ran through the street towards Ayumi with rage filling his eyes. All Ayumi did was stare at him with the same uninterested, nearly bored, expression that she kept the entire time. Never once did she raise her voice at him almost like he wasn't worth the emotions. It only made him angrier as he charged at her. “Damn you, Ayumi!”

He raised his fist up only to get a flash of Saki to replace her. It locked him up. His body froze completely staring at Ayumi. ‘What am I doing?! No, that’s not me!’ Yuki turned away, his body shaking.

“Still running away.” Her unflinching eyes stared at his back. When he made no further action, she marched down the street. Quickly, she disappeared into the night.

Once she left him Yuki snapped out of his shock. It made him go wide in shock and panic dropping to his knees. ‘…Saki…Ayumi…What’s wrong with me?!’