The sound of children playing. Men and women laughing. A feeling of contentment. Then the tranquility of the moment is shattered by screams for help. Shrieks of terror. Rushes of white and red all around him. Flashes of his closest friends being cut down. The sound of a baby's scream. The sight of an infant being jerked from a woman's arms. Rushing, only to slid to a halt when a sword goes through the baby. Anger rising, then pain. Wetness rushing from his chest. Looking down to see a blade being pulled from his body, before falling forward to the ground.
Gasping as he jumped up Susumu's eyes were wide and his breathing was hard. The dream was the same as always before. But this time he was in the place of the man he saw that looked just like him. "I wonder if it has anything to do with…." Then his eyes went wide as he heard the door downstairs open.
"Hello! Are you in here? We just….."
"Otohime stop being so nice about it. We don't have time!"
"She is right this time Otohime."
"Hey! My name is Kishiko Shima. I know you. And I know from that deer in the headlights look that you gave me last night you know me too. You no doubt dreamed about me last night. And Otohime and Kisuke. You have to come out and we have to leave now! They are here!"
Opening a door with his sword drawn Susumu made his way down the stairs quietly. "They who?"
Turning with a glare Kishiko crossed her arms. "I see it. You know who we are. They…..they are the things in our nightmares. With white hair and red eyes."
"Those things are just a fig…"
Everyone's eyes went wide when they heard the maniacal laughter from outside. Susumu looked at the other girl and how she shook with fear and latched onto the other girl. His eyes narrowing he turned. "This way. Come on."
Kisuke grabbed the girl's hands and rushed up the steps and slammed the door shut just as they heard a window bellow break. "Why are we going up? Shouldn't we be trying to go out a back way or something?"
Shaking his head Susumu ducked in a door and grabbed a bag that he slung over his shoulder and tossed a sword to Kisuke. "I have known for a long time that my dream is something more than a dream. Seeing you three yesterday comfirmed it for me. You don't need to spend time here trying to convince me about it. I know a way out of here and the city. I have used it before."
Otohime's eyes went wide as she looked up at him. "You mean they have been here before?"
"They have. Come this way."
Susumu lead them up the rest of the building and to the roof. Once their Otohime froze when she heard the screams of people that were being slain. "Kishiko!"
"I'm right here. What way Susumu?"
Though he started to turn Susumu turned with wide eyes to her. "You said my name."
"You told us."
"No I didn't."
"You had to have!"
"Kishiko he didn't."
With a smile Suzumu turned so that his back was to them and looked over his shoulder. "Further proof that my dreams were so much more than that. This way!" Then he reached out and grabbed Otohime's hand and lead her, Kishiko behind her, and Kisuke taking up the rear. At the back end of the building there was a small plank that crossed over to another vacant building. Without warning her he lifted Otohime into his arms and rushed across the plank. Kisuke doing the same with Kishiko. Pulling screams from both girls.
They quickly made their way down the floors of this building and out a back door into a rural neighborhood. "Come on."
"How do you know where you are going again!"
Looking down into her tear filled eyes Susumu smiled. "I used to live here up until about a week ago so I know where to go."
As they ran past the house his mother lived he stopped and glared. He heard the fighting. The slap. "That bastard!" Then he let go of Otohime's hand and rushed into the house knocking his father out again. He bent down next to his mother and smiled at her. "Mother you have to trust in your son. I know I caused you grief but you must trust me. Go sit in my room. You will be safe there." Then he glared at the door as the feint sound of the laughter could be heard again. "Please."
Hearing the crazy laugh and the worry in her son's face she hugged him. "I love you Susumu. I always will." T hen she fled up the stairs and to his room while he ran out the door, once again grabbing Otohime by the hand.
Otohime looked up at him once they got away from the house. "What happened?"
"Taking care of someone who stood by me when the world was against me. Since they started."
Finally after what seemed like forever they stopped in the middle of some woods. Susumu held their knees as they hung their heads trying to catch their breath. Otohime and Kishiko falling to the ground laying on their sides. "If we didn't loose them then I don't know what the hell will."
"Agreed."
Susumu stood up then gasped as he, without thinking about it drew his sword and rushed forward with Kisuke and ran two of the creatures through the heart. "Damnit!"
Kisuke fell back to stand over Otohime while Susumu stood over Kishiko. Looking to the taller man Susumu glared. "What do we do if there are more of them? I can handle five but….."
"I didn't even know I knew how to hold a sword so I don't know how much help I will be to you."
They kept their stances for a while then finally they were satisfied that there were no more monsters after them. Falling to lean on a tree Susumu sighed. "These are different."
Looking up at him as she finally sat up Kishiko glared. "Different? This is only the second time in our lives that Otohime and I have seen them save our nightmares."
"I see sometimes one sometimes more. They never go over five though. Each time I see them I somehow know how to kill them and doo. But until today they all attacked at full night. They did this time at dusk."
Kisuke shook his head. "No. They had been at the hotel across the street. We went to get something to eat then we were going to come to the warehouse to find you when we heard them. In the middle of the afternoon."
His eyes going wide Susumu looked at him odd. "Just like….."
"In the dreams."
With a groan Kishiko pushed herself up then crossed her arms. "So since you know this area you know where we can make a camp right?"
"Staying in the woods would be too dangerous. We must make our way back to the ware house."
With a glare Kishiko threw her hands on her hips. "Hell no! You heard the death screams and don't tell me you didn't. What are we going to do? Stroll up and say I ran when the killing started and killed the two monsters that turned to ash so I am coming back to go to bed? Get real! Or we will all end up back in the mental ward!"
"Mental ward?"
"Not going to talk about it right now. I am tired, I wanna find something to eat. And sleep that is all I and I refuse to do it back in that damn town."
Kisuke sighed. "You might as well give in Susumu. There is not fighting with that one."
Blinking then sighing. "There is a clearing not far from here that we can go to."
X
Glaring Keiji stood on the roof of the hotel. "How the hell did they get away from them? I know they are dead but how?!"
"I told you that you should not have let them go. They remembered things they hadn't remembered before when they found Yamazaki."
"What?!"
Smiling at the red eyed glare that he was getting from Keiji Kodo crossed his arms. "I tried to tell you when they got away from you at the clinic that you should not let them get away. But you did not want to listen to the reason."
"I am listening now. Spill it."
Stepping up next to the young boy he smiled as he watched the warehouse where young Yamazaki was last living at burn to the ground. "The curse that was put on them has a loophole and I would be willing to gather that Kishiko has figured it out."
"She is a woman. What does she know?"
"She was the smarter of the two. That is why Sanosuke and Tozhizo trained her to fight. She caught on faster and wasn't as trusting as Otohime was. That way at least one of them would be able to fight and would be able to live until they got to their sides. I am sure she no doubt has figured it out that the more they meet from their dreams the more they remember, and the stronger they become."
"Okay you seem to know so much about them and the guys they are looking for. So where are they going to be going next?"
Smiling as he walked toward the back of the hotel. "I have no clue on that one. But they know how to find them. The look. Though I have a hunch they know more than we know right now."
"You always talk in riddles you old bastard?"
"Of course."
"I am shocked that my father didn't cut you down."
"Your mother was a willing yet unwilling partner for him. He did end up falling in love with her at some point. And she still wished to 'save' me. He did not do so to keep her at least some what happy."
"Keep being a bastard and I will do what my father was not strong enough to do."
"We shall see. We shall see."
