Disclaimer: I own nothing from Seraph of the End and everything belongs to their respective owners.

In the Past

Yoichi remained quiet as they started their trek to Shinjuku. He wasn't quite sure what to say. Kimizuki, Yu-kun, and Mitsuba weren't fighting, and Shinoa-san wasn't making jabs at anyone. The group was a bit tense, but it wasn't like it was unorganized. They were at least working together, and the brown-haired boy didn't want to ruin the strange peace that had descended.

His thoughts wandered back to his 'dream' the night before. He knew that as long as he kept part of his mind on following the others, then the other half could wander.

When he had fallen asleep last night, he thought he had been dreaming. Or more specifically, he thought he had been having a nightmare because of where the dream had taken place. He had become aware that he was standing in his sister's room in their house the moment he had succumbed to sleep.

He was sitting upright in the desk chair, eyes slowly opening as he tried to get a grasp at his surroundings. A familiar figure - one that he wasn't sure what he felt when he saw - sat on the bed a few feet away.

"Saotome Yoichi," his sister – no, it's the demon inside my bow – greeted with a small smile. She seemed a bit friendlier than their previous encounter during the Cursed Gear trials, if that was even possible. He liked to think that it was.

"Uh… hi?" he wasn't quite sure how to respond to the situation, wondering if she – was the demon really a girl or boy, or did it have no gender? – was going to take over him again. It wasn't a pleasant memory, but it seemed as though this time was different.

She tilted her head at his response, her features softening at what he was probably feeling. "I never got to properly introduce myself," her words surprised him, "my name is Gekkoiun and I am the demon who inhabits your bow."

"It's… nice to meet you again," he responded out of years of habit, trying to keep from angering the girl. It seemed strange, how she was acting. It was almost like she hadn't tried to possess him.

This might just be a dream, he thought, casting his eyes towards the small lamp the girl had been playing with during the trials. It was lit, filling the room with a small amount of light. The blinds were closed, which was an odd thing since they normally had them open.

"This isn't a dream, at least not in the sense that you are thinking of," her words caused him to wonder if she could read his thoughts. It could be possible; he didn't have much experience with demons and they hadn't learned much at the school. "We can communicate when you fall asleep."

"Oh," he nodded, understanding her words. It seemed strange, but he guessed they could at least become friendlier with each other this way. "Do I sleep at all or…?"

"It depends on what the demon does. We can simply talk, but some like to wear down their hosts through sleep-deprivation. I don't want to do that to you though; you've found a purpose that I can agree with, for now."

He let out a small laugh, finding her words almost like a compliment. At least she wasn't insulting him this time. "Thanks."

Gekkoiun moved from the bed, coming to stand beside him. He figured that he was awake enough now to be able to move, but she stopped him from getting up, placing her hands on his shoulders as she leaned closer.

"You know, I guess you aren't as useless as I first thought, but I'll still take over you if you get weak again," her words were double-edged, but he wondered why he was here in the first place.

"Why am I here? I can understand if you got lonely-" his words were cut off before he could finish.

"Why would I be lonely? There's no reason for me to be," the demon was defending herself, making him caught between believing her and realizing that she wanted to hide her feelings. "Either way, most first meetings happen once a host and demon have contracted, but we never got the chance to do that."

Yoichi remembered the immense headache he had once he had come to his senses. She had been right though; they hadn't talked afterwards and he didn't know her name until now.

"The power to protect those you care about and to destroy the enemies that threaten that," she mumbled as she leaned away from him, a mocking smile of her face this time as she quoted his 'request' for the power he had gained. "How you pull off the second part will be fun to watch."

Her words seemed to imply something, as if he would kill in order to protect. It was a strange contradiction: Yoichi didn't want to kill anyone, but knew he would probably be forced to. He would rather get away with resolving the situation more peacefully though.

She seemed to sense his thoughts as she reached out to grasp his hand. She led him over to the bed and pointed at it. "Maybe that's enough for one night."

The brown-haired boy nodded as he lay down, glancing at the girl as she went to sit in the chair he had inhabited moments before. He opened his mouth, almost hesitant to say the routine words. "Oyasumi, Gekkoiun."

Her gaze found his and, as his eyes shut, he couldn't quite tell if he saw surprise in her expression. He did know that she smiled, one that was comforting.

As his attention drifted back to the task at hand, he realized that he was falling behind a bit. No one had really seemed to notice (although Shinoa-san seemed to be keeping an eye on all of them) as he hurried to catch up. A realization stopped him though: Yu-kun was also falling behind.

As he stared at his closest friend, he realized that the other boy wasn't like his normal self. Yu-kun was fighting with anyone or going on about how he would kill the vampires. In fact, he didn't seem like he was paying much attention. Yoichi did the one thing he could think of; he made his way over to his friend, mindful of the distance between him and the others in the front.

"Is anything wrong, Yu-kun?" he felt concern run through him once he got closer. Could Yu-kun have been injured during their tests when Yoichi had been possessed?

"Hmm?" the black-haired boy made a small noise of acknowledgement as he looked over at the other boy. "Of course not. Why would there be?"

"You just seem a bit… different?" Yoichi suggested the word, but it didn't seem to fit. Something was off about his friend though. As he looked at the darker haired boy's face, he realized that his friend looked tired. Gekkoiun's words about sleep deprivation came back to him. "Did you sleep alright last night?"

"I got enough sleep," instantly, he knew the statement was partially a lie. Sure, Yu-kun might have believed that he had gotten enough sleep, but he was still lacking a bit on it. Yoichi could tell, but he didn't want to push the subject much further.

"Was it because of something I did? During the trials?" the brown-haired boy's word came out as a whisper, mainly talking to himself. His friend must have heard him.

"You came back before you could hurt anyone. Besides, I'm not sure you can cause much trouble with your peace-making attitude," the second part was a playful jab, making him laugh a bit. At least Yu-kun was feeling well enough to joke a bit. It was partially true though.

"Guren said that… we should forget our old families," the words came out of the younger boy's mouth unintentionally, causing the black-haired boy to become guarded. "I want to protect my new family, but I don't want to forget about my sister either."

"'There's nothing in the past.'" Yu-kun repeated the words Guren had said with scorn, anger burning in his eyes, "that's stupid."

"I guess it is," Yoichi wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to make his friend any more upset, but he didn't want to insult their instructor either. "If we didn't have the past, then we wouldn't be who we are now."

Unknowing to Yoichi, however, Yu was staring at him in hidden shock. Why do you have to be so much like him…? Like Mika… That sounds like something he would have said.

As the black-haired boy increased his pace to catch up to the rest of their group, Yoichi followed, glancing over his shoulder at the land that they had covered so far. 'In the past…' I want to spend as much as I can in the present, with my new family. For some strange reason, he felt afraid that his new family would be 'in the past' someday as well. It was soon forgotten though, swept away like the dust on the wind.

The anime didn't cover any 'introduction' scene for Yoichi meeting Gekkoiun (sorry if I spelled that wrong, saw another spelling of Gekkoin but wasn't sure which to use) so I figured I would add that in here as well. I feel like the characters in this were a bit more OOC than usual, so I apologize if that's true. Also, am I the only one who sees some resemblance between Yoichi and Mika in one way or another? Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

-AnimeWolfGirl9