Thanks for pointing out my mistake. In the last chapter, I left a paragraph out that I didn't realize was missing until I got a review. It kind of just sums up why Yosuke is back (It's a lie o.o), he says he needed a day off. If you want to read one paragraph of almost nothing, it's the third paragraph down in chapter 11. Sorry for being an idiot and trying to bake cookies and write a fanfic. -.-
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Chapter 12; With or Without You
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The group reassembled by the TVs in the electronics department in Junes. Even though Rise had been emotionally unwell for a while, she had somehow managed to return to her normal self.
"Let's go get her, guys!" she encouraged, throwing one of her fists into the air.
"Indeed, it'd be best to eliminate the problem before we have another case on our hands." Naoto said calmly.
"I'll give it everything I've got!" Teddie, who was now wearing his bear suit, exclaimed.
As the teammates yelled out words of encouragement, the blond moved his hand down to grip his boyfriends hand. He laced their fingers together gently, squeezing his lover's hand in his. Souji smiled, looking to the younger male happily as he realized they could do things like this in public now.
Kanji pulled his boyfriend away from the group, waiting until they were out of sight around a corner to turn and face his mate again. "You be careful..all right?" he said to the smaller male, using his hand to brush the silver hair away from his boyfriend's eyes.
Souji nodded, blushing a bit as he looked up into his lover's eyes. The taller boy cupped the other's rosy cheeks in his hands as he leaned down to kiss his leader. He pulled away, a smile on his lips. "I love you."
The other boy moved his hands to rest on top of Kanji's. He moved closer and pecked the blonde's lips lovingly. "I love you too."
Kanji moved in for one last kiss, capturing the other's lips with his. He pulled away completely and stared at the boy in front of him. "I'll never forgive myself if you get hurt." he said quietly.
"It wouldn't be your fault." Souji insisted. "I'm the one who made you stay behind."
The blond shook his head, "Please..just let me go.." he pleaded.
"You can't. You'll get yourself killed trying to protect me." the silver haired boy said sadly.
Kanji sighed, looking down. "What if this is the last time I get to see you?" He brought up the possibility that his boyfriend might not return from this mission.
"It won't be, I promise." the smaller male said, trying to wipe the thought away from his lover's mind. He gripped the younger boy's shirt in his hands gently.
"If I lose you..."Kanji looked back up to his mate's face, shaking his head a bit. "If you die..I'll do the same.."
Souji's eyes began to become moist with tears as he realized what his partner was saying. He didn't want anything to happen to the other boy. He tightened his grip on his boyfriend's shirt. "Don't say that!" he demanded, blinking away the tears that were about to overflow. "If anything happens to me, you better damn well live until your 99!" he said in a somewhat angry tone. "If you don't, you better believe you'll be going through hell."
Kanji stood still, a slightly shocked expression on his face. He laughed softly after a moment, knowing that Souji wasn't really angry at all, just concerned.
"All right, all right. Don't get so worked up, I'll live until I'm 165 if that's what you want." he wrapped his arms around the small frame of the other boy, hugging him close. "No matter how long I live though, I'll never find another like you."
The gray headed boy blushed, burying his face in his mate's neck. He closed his eyes, tightening his grip on the other's shirt.
"Euphoria." Souji said gently. "It doesn't come close to describing how I feel."
A squeal came from around the corner. "Aww! I had my doubts at first but how could I not approve something this cute?" Rise's voice came from the side.
"Shut up!" Yosuke said, moving his hand to slap the back of Risette's head. It was too late though, she had blown their cover.
The two boys quickly looked to the side to find the whole gang peering around the corner at them. Souji pulled away from the larger male, looking away as his cheeks turned red.
"You guys heard all of that?" the embarrassed boy asked.
"Yep! Senpai disappeared and we decided to look for you, and since you looked like you were about to score we decided to just watch!" Teddie said as he grinned.
"I outta knock the snot outta you guys!" the blond said, a bit angry that they had been sneaking around and had witnessed his emotional side. He walked towards the others.
Souji grabbed his partner's arm , "No, it's fine." He figured that if his friends wanted to snoop around and watch them, he might as well give them a show. He stepped in front of his partner, smiling wickedly. The smile made Kanji's stomach turn a bit
He watched as the smaller boy leaned up and kissed him. He found it difficult to kiss back knowing that the whole team was watching.
The older boy refused to pull away until his mate kissed him back. He moaned gently through his closed lips, sending vibration onto his partners lips and teasing him. He moved his tongue out of his mouth, running it over the other's soft lips.
Kanji gave in, opening his mouth a little and letting their tongues meet. He felt the gray headed male's hand traveling down to rub against his groin. His eyes opened wide as he realized the others were still watching. A blush covered his cheeks as he felt himself grow hard due to his boyfriend's touch.
Souji pulled away with a smirk, "that'll give you something to do while I'm gone." He winked playfully, walking passed the group of somewhat shocked teens. "Let's go." the leader commanded.
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Souji led his group down the path they had taken the day before. Teddie talked to Rise about various things that he didn't understand, leaving Naoto and Souji to chat.
"So, you knew the whole time?" Souji asked nervously.
She nodded, "I was actually informed of his feelings long before you were." she looked over to him, "I assisted in writing that letter he placed in your locker."
"Seriously?" the gray haired boy chewed on his bottom lip.
"Indeed. It was his idea to create the doll, he just need help in putting his words onto paper." She looked back ahead of her, running her thumb over the trigger of her gun carefully.
"What else do you know..?" he asked, blushing a bit.
"I know about your uhm.." she looked away, becoming a bit red in the face also. "Your 'relations'."
"W-why?" the gray headed boy questioned, embarrassed that someone else had found out.
"Well, Since I helped out with quite a few things in your relationship and gave advice, I suppose Tatsumi believed in my trust enough to share that information."
The leader looked back to the blue haired androgynous girl, "Don't tell anyone, please." he almost pleaded.
"I will not, you have my word." she said.
The three chosen teens followed behind their leader, cautiously approaching the area where they had disappeared last time. There had been no sign of the girl who had been hidden in the fog yet. They took it as a good thing and pushed on further.
Once they passed that point, it wasn't much farther along that they stumbled upon what looked like a tall fence. It looked like it was made of old iron that that had been worn down by the weather and age. The fence consisted of vertical bars that were set in between two very long horizontal ones. They would have been able to see right through the fence if it were for all the fog.
Directly in front of the teammates stood an entrance where the fence didn't meet, the only thing conjoining them was a tall archway. Souji looked at the fence observantly, images of Saki rushing back. He recognized the fence as the one that the girl had been standing in front of before she ran off.
"This is it." the silver headed boy said, looking back to his nervous team. They nodded, indicating that they understood.
The fog suddenly began to clear, alarming the group a bit. They got into their fighting stances, looking around cautiously. As the air became clearer and clearer, the first row of tombstones were visible. Souji started to walk forwards slowly as more and more graves were revealed. The other three looked at each other before following him.
"I'm sure your all aware how dangerous this is." Souji reminded them before walking through the opening. "Be careful, all right?"
He stepped off of the paved path and onto the dew ridden grass. Almost as soon as the sole of his shoe hit the moist blades, a flash of light temporarily blinded him. He dropped his baseball bat to the ground, his hands shooting up to his stinging eyes. He rubbed them, terrified that he had permanently lost his vision. When he moved his hands away, he could see again but something was different. He couldn't see colors.
He gulped lightly, keeping his eyes ahead of him as he bent down to pick up his bat. Even though his vision was impaired, he knew running back now would do no good. He continued to inch forward, not even bothering to turn back when he heard Rise's shriek of terror.
"You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?" The girl said.
Souji looked around, trying to find her. "Show yourself!" he demanded.
She giggled in response, "Look up."
The gray haired boy tilted his head upwards, looking into the tree that was at his side. On one of the thicker branches sat the blond girl. Her back rested against the trunk of the tree, her knees hugged to her chest.
"Why are you here?" Souji questioned.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm Saki's shadow. Where else would I be?"
The leader glanced back to see where his team was at that moment. To his surprise, they had joined him again, just as composed as they had been before entering the TV. He turned his head, moving his eyes back to the girl who was seated in the tree.
"Saki's dead, so aren't you supposed to be gone?" he asked.
She giggled again, "How naïve." she carefully rose to her feet, reaching up to wrap her small fingers around a branch above her head to help her keep her balance. He blond locks blew with the gentle breeze. "I killed her."
"How does that make any difference?" Rise exclaimed, "You don't deserve to be able to stay!"
A twisted smile appeared on the shadow's lips. "Oh, but the actuality is that because I killed her, it's only natural to be rewarded by being able to stick around."
"If I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying you are able to remain here due to the fact that you murdered the real Saki?" Naoto interrogated.
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" she tilted her head to the side a bit.
"How can you possibly live off of Saki's hidden feelings if she's gone?" Souji kept his eyes on the girl.
"I say what I know she would be thinking if she was alive. After all, I am her." she took a few steps along the branch, "So I think I'd know what she'd be thinking."
"So that's it? You get to remain around because you exterminate another being?" the leader asked, getting a bit angry.
She nodded, "I'm trapped here though, along with all of the other shadow who killed their real self." she frowned. "I mean, it's a vast place .. and I can see anyone who approaches this area, but there's nothing to do and your the only one's who ever approached."
"You deserve to be trapped here!" Rise blurted out.
The shadow shook her head. "Your just like everyone else. All you do is judge what I've done. Why can't you just be happy for me?" she grinned, "I guess I'll just have to get rid of you."
She laughed maniacally as the ground began to shake. The team struggled to stay on their feet as the ground jerked forward violently, a thick purple fog engulfing them. A loud thud sounded as the laughing stopped.
When they were able to see again, shadow Saki stood before them. It resembled the creature Kijimunaa (A/N; one of the most famous of Okinawa's magical creatures. Only those who have pure hearts are said to be able to see it. It represent the spiritual power of trees.) and didn't look like a threatening opponent. It's skin was brown and looked as if to have the same texture of tree bark, which was different than how it was described. It was also much taller than it had seemed when people talked about it in mythology, it's arms bent like tree branches.
On one of it's shoulders sat what appeared to be a ragged old doll.
"This one's not that strong, we can win this!" Rise informed the others. Souji looked to her and nodded as if to thank her for her information. He turned back to the shadow, realizing it was his turn first.
He looked at the creature, trying to analyze it. He gripped the card, smashing it in his palm to release his persona; Black frost. It used burudyne, which looked as if it would connect. Instead of causing damage though, it was mirrored off of the tree like creature and back at Souji. He absorbed the hit since he was using Black Frost.
Next up was Naoto, who wasted no time in calling out her persona. She shot the card to deploy Sukuna-Hikona. It spun in the air a few times before hitting it's opponent with Gale Slash. The attack did the same as Souji's though and didn't connect. It was blocked by the tree.
"Physical attacks won't work!" Rise said after the attack, realizing that the tree was immune to physical attacks.
Souji looked to Teddie, "You can't use and ice attacks either, so use this." he handed him a ball of lightening and instructed him to hit the shadow with it. Teddie used all of his strength to toss the ball and hit the creature. It sent a jolt down the tree, doing a little damage.
The tree got it's revenge though, spinning around as it charged it's attack up. It took an extra turn, hitting all of it's opponents with a powerful attack.
It was Souji's turn again. He stood hunched over, left near death with his injuries. He stood up straight as he summoned Black Frost again, this time trying a fire attack. It did the same as his ice attack had done.
Since all of Naoto's attacks were physical, she guarded, not wanting to become weaker than she had already. Teddie tried his best to heal everyone, though it didn't restore their health to full.
A laugh came from the girl who sat perched on the Shadow's shoulder. "You should have listened to my warning." She continued to laugh as the tree like shadow swung it branched through the air, using hysterical slap.
The leader felt himself falling as the hit drained him of health.
"No! Senpai!" Rise screamed, that being the last thing the leader heard.
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Kanji sat nervously outside of the TV, hoping that any minute his boyfriend would be back and in his arms again. He scratched his head, a bit fidgety due to his worrying. The amount of time that the others were gone had just passed two hours.
"Let's go!" Chie commanded.
"Give it more time, they'll come back." Yosuke insisted. Chei gave him an agitated look.
"How much more time do you need? We were told to go in after two hours and it's been two hours."
"It just hit the two hour point! We can't just go in if they're about to return." he crossed his arms.
"What if they're hurt?" Chei asked, not aware that Kanji was listening. He frowned as he heard her say that, knowing it was possible they weren't going to return.
"Oh fine...let's go..." he looked down, "but I swear, if we get in there and they're about to leave I'm going to be mad."
"Yeah yeah, just get in." she said, pushing Yosuke into the TV before entering herself.
Yukiko was sitting on the floor across from Kanji, her legs crossed. She looked at the blond, seeing how distressed he was. She knew it's only be right to try and comfort him.
She got on her knees, crawling over to sit next to the boy. He looked over to her, a frown still on his lips. She smiled, resting her hands on her lap. Her fingers played with the ripples in her pleated skirt.
"They'll be fine." she insisted.
The male just shrugged and looked down, "I hope so.."
She kept her eyes on him, "We've had some pretty long battles in our days. Remember the battle with Adachi? We had to use all physical attacks so we'd have enough energy for the battle right after his. That took a long time, didn't it?"
The blond looked to the girl, nodding a bit.
"Well, that's probably what's happening. It took a while to get there and now they need to fight the shadow. The battle is probably just dragging out for a long time." The smile stayed on her face as she tried to reassure the boy. He smiled a bit, looking to his lap.
"Yeah, I guess your right." he nodded.
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Souji opened his eyes a bit, the first thing he saw being wooden kegs. They were in color, so he knew that meant his vision had returned to normal again. His eyes widened as he realized the kegs were filled with liquor, and the only place he had ever seen them was at the liquor shop. He shot up, scrambling to grab his baseball bat.
"It's about time you came back." The brunette's shadow smiled. "I've been waiting to finish what we did last time."
"No! Just let me leave again!" the older male insisted, rising to his feet.
The shadow stepped closer, Souji's grip on the bat becoming tighter. "Why would I do that? Why don't you just stay here with me?"
The silver headed boy backed up, "Don't come closer, I swear I'll attack." he warned.
The shadow laughed, "You wouldn't hurt me, your best friend, would you?"
Souji backed up into the wall as the shadow came closer. "I'll do it.." he said nervously.
"You'll do what?" The yellow eyed make asked, playing dumb.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" the leader yelled, getting angry with the shadow.
"Why don't you just kiss me?" the shadow asked as it got close to the smaller boy. It looked down at the other's soft lips. "Kiss me." he hissed.
Souji looked at the shadow timidly before leaning up and pressing his lips to the shadows. As he occupied it with the kiss, he thought about a tactic of escape. He forcefully drove his knee up into the shadow's groin, causing it to pull away. Once it was off of him, he swung his bat to hit the shadow several times.
"Idiot!" it screamed angrily, grabbing the bat and ripping it from the silver haired boy's hands. Souji flinched, afraid as the tables were turned and the bat was swung at him. It hit him in the head with the first strike, a blood curdling crack sounding as the Louie ville slugger made contact with his skull. He fell to the ground, holding his head in his hands. The shadow brought the bat down on his body, hitting him repeatedly. "This is what you deserve for doing this to me!" it yelled at the silver headed boy.
The boy felt so much pain he couldn't even stand to breathe. A small puddle of blood started to form under his beaten body. He curled up, slowly slipping into shock before falling unconscious.
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Souji's eyes shot opened. This time, though, he was in Junes. A large pair of arms were wrapped around his body.
"He's awake!" a voice rang, causing everyone to move closer to see him.
"Hey partner." Yosuke said with a small smile as he placed his hand his leader's shoulder. Souji ripped himself from the arms he was in, scrambling to his feet. He backed away from the group.
"Don't touch me.." he said quietly in fear, having a difficult time separating reality from what had happened in the TV. He knew that if Yosuke's shadow was willing to beat him to death though, then Yosuke was capable of doing the same.
"Souji..?" Chei said almost questionably.
"Don't come near me.." he said, looking up at Yosuke. "I don't want you to touch me anymore!" he turned away fro the group, tears forming in his eyes.
"What are you talking about..?" Yosuke questioned.
"In the TV! You almost killed me.." he replied, wiping his eyes.
"I saved your ass!" the brunette yelled, getting frustrated with his friend. "I helped kill that shadow and then dragged your ass back here! Is this how you repay me? Making up stories?" he shook his head, clenching his teeth together.
"You mean it was a dream?" Souji asked himself quietly. "If it was..it was so real.."
"Just shut up. I'll stay away from you." he said , trying to hold back his anger. " Bye Seta. Have a great life with this prick." Yosuke spat, beaming a glare in Kanji's direction.
"Who are you calling a prick?" Kanji asked angrily, getting up quickly.
"Your the only one I see here, so it must be you." he rebutted, shoving the blond.
"Your asking for it now!" the larger male yelled, gripping the brunette's shirt violently.
"Stop it!" Rise yelled, too afraid to try to pull the two apart.
"Fighting will not accomplish anything!" Naoto added.
"Maybe he should learn to keep his damn mouth shut." Kanji kept his eyes on the smaller boy.
"Maybe your little whore of a boyfriend should quit making shit up!" Souji dropped to his knees, trying to stop the tears from forming.
"Seriously guys..stop it!" Chei demanded.
"Your making it worse!" the red headed girl added.
"we've had a long day, let's just cool down a bit and meet up again tomorrow." Yukiko moved closer, thinking about pulling the boys apart.
" We've had a long day my ass! All he did was sit around all day!"
The silver headed boy rubbed his eyes. He knew it was his fault that Kanji did nothing, and that his mate was now getting punished for it.
"Stop it!" Souji yelled, picking himself up and facing the group again. "Come on, Kanji. I'm leaving." he informed the others before turning and starting to walk away.
Kanji released his grip on the brunette and sighed, jogging to catch up with the other. He walked with the smaller boy, wrapping one of his arms around the older boys shoulders.
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That was like two chapter in one. Sorry this took me so long to type.
It was Dallyn who made me use Kijimunaa as the creature behind Saki's shadow since he knows a lot about Japanese mythology, so thanks to him if you liked that. ;D
Also, spring break has finally started, so I'll be able to stay up late and type out more chapter. Woot.
Yeah, so um...review so I know how bad I did.
Thanks.
And remember, only you can prevent forest fires.
Or,(as Johnny would suggest) just stay gold. Thats easier.
Aha, bye.
