Topsy Turvy

I'm back! Thanks to the poking prodding, and possible threatening nature of the reviews I've received! J/k about the threats by the way... Sorry once again for the long wait! I've just had a lot going on lately, and I've been working hard on my novel! And if you'd be interested in reading part of it I have a link to the first 10-11 pages of it on my profile!

Thanks once again to all of my lovely reviewers! Special thanks goes to Fireflower19, Sapphiet, Anonymoose13, and my anonymous reviewers, Jazmine Princess Of Fangirling Cats, Tama-chan, Imtoolazy4anaccount, and the one who didn't leave a name! Thank you all so much! (:

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The next morning Yumi found Satoshi waiting alone at the place they all usually met to walk to school, "Where's Krad?" she looked around for the angel.

"I had to leave him behind, he's been getting up later and later lately and you know how I feel about being late to class." Satoshi shrugged.

"I wonder why he's sleeping in, he's usually so punctual." Yumi started heading down the street.

"Its probably from the nightmares." Satoshi followed her, "He's been having them almost every night lately and I don't think he's gotten a good nights sleep in over two weeks."

"Really?" Yumi stopped suddenly, "That means everyone's having these nightmares, providing you and Dai are still having them." She gave Satoshi a thoughtful look.

Satoshi stopped as well, "I'm not sure about Daisuke but I've been having them, I can't ever remember anything but they always leave me uneasy."

Yumi ruffled her hair, "Another mystery to add to our situation. First the Silent Reaper, then the angel's odd behavior, and now everyone's having nightmares. What's going on?"

Satoshi shook his head, "I don't know but I'm sure it's tied into what happened when I got sucked into the painting." He crossed his arms.

"Why do you say that?" Yumi asked; she hadn't really heard much about what happened to Satoshi when he'd been in the painting. Actually the only person he'd really told anything to about it was Shadow.

"When I told Shadow about what happened she seemed surprised. Apparently there wasn't suppose to be anyone else with me in the painting but there was a woman there."

"Really?" Yumi looked at him quizzically, who else could have been there? Shadow had made sure it was safe, and getting past her safeguards was almost impossible.

Satoshi nodded and was about to explain further when the clock started chiming.

"Were going to be late!" Yumi started running in the direction of the school. They'd lost track of time as they'd been talking and completely forgotten about school. Satoshi followed her quickly and soon they ran breathlessly into their classroom.

Just as they ran in the bell rang signaling the start of class. "Made it." Yumi smiled as she slipped into her seat she looked around to see if the others had made it there. She spotted Dark apparently asleep at his desk, Krad looked like he'd just made it to class as well, and Daisuke was chatting with Riku by her desk, everything seemed as normal as it had been lately but something still felt off to Yumi. She couldn't place her finger on what it was though, and she was sure it was going to bother her throughout the day.

By lunchtime Yumi felt like she was going to go crazy from not knowing what was wrong and resolved to ask her friends what was up when they all sat down together to eat.

Even with all the fighting and tension lately the whole group still managed to get together to eat during lunch. They did it mainly to keep the Harada sisters from knowing anything was wrong. But even with their efforts the girls still figured them out quickly, though they didn't ask many questions about what was wrong.

Yumi looked around at her friends, they were all separated out into little groups unlike how they had been mere weeks ago. She sighed to herself missing those days. How did things change so quickly? Was it really because of all these silly nightmares? Or is it something more? Yumi thought to herself.

"So, Dark, how are things going?" Yumi asked turning to the thief, he was seated with Risa. They had both been eating their lunches in silence.

Dark jumped at the sound of Yumi's voice like he'd been shocked by it. When he looked up at her she could see the bags under his eyes and the strain on his face, tell tale signs of no sleep. Which meant everyone was still having nightmares.

Why? The question wouldn't leave Yumi's mind, she just couldn't figure out who would want to tear them all apart like this, or who would have the power. Kei was the likeliest choice but Satoshi believed he had nothing to do with it, which left them back at square one.

"Things have been fine." Dark said after a moment's pause.

Yumi wasn't sure if he was trying to get his thoughts straight or if he was purposely hiding something but it would do no good to try and force it out of him so she left it at that nodding at him, "That's good." She said then turned to Krad who was seated next to her, they too had been eating in silence until she'd broken it to talk to Dark, "How about you Krad, how have things been with you? It feels like forever since we've spent any time together." She asked him. It was true, since this whole dream business had started up Krad had been almost avoiding her. And since then she'd been trying to convince herself it was just because he needed some time alone to figure out who was behind this whole mess.

Krad seemed more alert than Dark but when he turned to Yumi she could see the bags under his eyes as well. "Things have been kind of rough." He said rubbing the back of his head.

At least one person is telling the truth. Yumi was happy Krad had come right out and said how he was doing instead of covering it up. That meant that he still trusted her at least a little bit, "So have you been having nightmares too?" she asked, if he'd been willing to say he was having a hard time then maybe Krad would be the one to talk about his dreams. If she could only find out what was happening in the dreams, what kind they were having that might just provide the clue that they needed to find out who was doing all this.

Krad jumped up as if he'd been burned by her question, his whole body tensed, and his eyes grew cold. He glared at Yumi as he snapped, "What makes you think you have any right to know whether or not I've been having nightmares?" his voice was colder than ice as he said it, "Who do you think you are, asking such questions?" At that he turned and stalked away from the group leaving Yumi sitting in shock.

"Yumi are you ok?" Daisuke asked gently.

Pressing back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her Yumi nodded at Daisuke, "I'm fine, he's just stressed that's all." She said willing herself to believe it, they were all stressed from no sleep. That was why Krad had snapped and that had to be the reason she was getting so upset. It had to.

Daisuke gave her a look telling her he didn't believe her but he let the issue drop, he didn't want her bursting into tears if she didn't want to.

The rest of the day seemed like a blur to Yumi as she focused solely on trying to figure out who was messing with their dreams, she wasn't going to let her thoughts slide to Krad. She didn't want to think about it at all so she kept her mind firmly on the mystery that was threatening to ruin all their lives.

She ended up walking home with just Satoshi and the two walked in silence for a while until Yumi spoke up, "What were you going to tell me this morning when the clock interrupted us?" she asked him.

"Oh! We were talking about the woman in your painting right?" Satoshi thought for a moment, "I was going to tell you her name, it was Aura." He told her.

Yumi nodded, "Aura? Interesting…" she said. There was something familiar about that name but she couldn't figure out where she'd heard it before.

As she walked into her house she expected to find it empty, her parents had just left on a business trip and would be away for a few weeks and Shadow was never home anymore. So she was surprised when she went into the living room and found Shadow sitting on the couch watching the television.

"Shadow? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised.

"I do live here." Shadow raised an eyebrow at Yumi, "How have things been? Have you been able to figure out anything about the Silent Reaper or the nightmares?" she asked.

Yumi shook her head, "Not much. We've been able to rule out Kei as a suspect and Satoshi thinks it has something to do with the girl in my painting. The rest is a mystery."

Shadow stood up, "Well I've got to keep searching for the answer then." She said.

"Are you leaving again? Why not stay here and help us?" Yumi asked, "Or have your fights with Dark and Krad gotten so bad that you don't want to see them." She asked and almost regretted it, but she didn't she had to know where at least one of the angels stood with the others.

"I'm not fighting with Krad. Dark on the other hand." Shadow shook her head, "He seems to have gotten it into his head that this is all my fault. I can't reason with him. So in answer to your questions, yes I'm leaving again, and yes my fight with Dark is bad enough that I can't be around him. I don't want him doing something stupid." She said heading for the door.

"Shadow, wait." Yumi called out to stop her, she wanted to talk to her about Krad. She had to talk to someone about it. And Shadow was the best one for Yumi to talk to, she was her closest friend in the whole world.

"Yes?" Shadow stopped and turned back towards Yumi.

Yumi paused not knowing how to start, "Krad…went off on me today when I asked him about his nightmares." She said at last looking at Shadow for support.

"Why are you worrying about that?" Shadow asked, "You should be worrying about who's causing the nightmares, not what there causing others to do." She said.

"But, Krad really seemed like…" Yumi didn't get to finish as Shadow interrupted her.

"I'm sorry Yumi but can this wait? I'm really busy." Shadow said heading back for the door again.

Yumi was shocked, Shadow was just brushing this off? She couldn't believe her best friend would do that to her. That Shadow would be so nonchalant about her feelings, about a serious issue Yumi was having. "Oh, ok. See you then." Was all she could manage in a reply. Yumi was scared if she said anything else she'd truly ruin their relationship by saying something equally hurtful. Though Shadow probably didn't even realize she was being so cruel.

Yumi sighed as she watched the angel leave, since when had she become so emotional? It had been a long time since she'd been in this kind of state and suddenly just a few words from the people close to her had brought her back down to what felt like her lowest point. She just wanted to cry her heart out at the events of the day. She'd gotten nowhere closer to finding out who was messing with their dreams, Krad had outright rejected her, and Shadow had practically betrayed her.

Yumi walked over to her window and stared out it looking at the side of Daisuke's house, was he having these kind of problems with Dark? Probably not, the two of them got along like peanut butter and jelly.

She sighed again, she was doing that a lot these days. She noticed a movement at Daisuke's window. Instinctively she ducked down out of sight as the red head jumped out of the window and down onto the grass. Where is he going? She wondered and let him move far enough that he wouldn't notice her following him. Then she slipped out of her window and followed her friend down the street and through the town. When he reached what looked like an old abandoned church she waited for him to make it inside then went in herself.

Satoshi glanced at Krad as the angel came in from outside. He didn't know why it had taken him so long to get home, it wasn't like he had art room duty or anything but Satoshi didn't mind the delay had given him some time to think about how he was going to approach Krad about his behavior earlier today.

He decided to just ask Krad outright instead of beating around the bush, "What was with you earlier?" he started, "You were really mean to Yumi."

"She shouldn't have been butting into my business." Krad answered heading straight for his room, "You would be wise to do the same." He said turning just long enough to give Satoshi a 'you-got-that' look before continuing to the stairs that lead up to his room.

"Why?" Satoshi asked suddenly angry with the angel, "Are you going to go off on me too? Yell at me or worse?"

Krad spun around to face the bluenett, "Do you want me to?" he growled, "Would you like me to 'do something worse'? Because I can Satoshi-sama you know that better than anyone." Krad used his old title for his tamer to emphasize his point and stormed up the stairs to his room.

Satoshi just stared after Krad unbelieving that the angel would even stoop so low. Of course he'd started but, Krad didn't have to go that far. Opening up wounds only recently healed, Satoshi couldn't stand it. He pulled a book off a shelf randomly so he could have something, anything, to pour himself into to get his mind off the argument. He couldn't let himself dwell on it, That would only end up making things worse. Everything would be better in the morning. It had to be.

Only it wasn't. The next morning Krad wouldn't even speak to Satoshi. The angel stormed out of the house practically before Satoshi was out of bed. And when he made it to the usual meeting spot no one was there to walk with him, maybe Yumi had started sleeping in now too.

School wasn't any different than the day before, slow, boring, and tense with all the stress in the air between the friends. Satoshi was relived when the final bell finally rang and they were released from class. He managed to get out before anyone else and was shocked to find Shadow waiting by the entrance.

"I have something I need to ask you." Shadow said as soon as he reached her.

"Nice to see you too." Satoshi said, he was kind of hurt that she wasn't being a little more friendly; he thought they'd been a lot closer than this.

"Yumi mentioned something important to me last night, that you believed our current issues have something to do with the painting you were trapped in right?" Shadow said cutting straight to the point.

"Yeah, I think there connected." Satoshi answered, "Why?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, but I just needed to hear it from you." Shadow said, "Do you know why they may be related?"

"Only because of the creepy woman." Satoshi told her.

"I see." Shadow said, "Thanks." She turned to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Satoshi asked, "Where have you been these past few days? Your never around anymore, I've been really worried about you." He said.

"I've been really busy, I'm trying to figure out this whole mess just as much as you all are." Shadow said, "I'm really sorry but I have to go now, we'll talk more later ok?" she said then turned and left blending in with the crowd seamlessly.

Satoshi was shocked for the second time in less than 24 hours. How could the two closest people to him betray him like this? Shadow had just left, with out hardly a word to spare for him, it was unbelievable.

"Satoshi!" Yumi came up to him, "Hey, I have something I need to show you, will you come with me?" she asked grabbing his arm.

Satoshi nodded letting her pull him away from the school and down the street. Eventually he pulled away from her and just started walking next to her, "Where are we going?" he asked.

"It's a secret." Yumi told him mischievously and wouldn't say any thing else about it as they walked. Eventually Satoshi gave up asking and just followed. Soon they reached an old abandoned church. Satoshi hesitated for a moment but followed when he realized Yumi wasn't going to wait for him to follow her in.

When they got inside She quickly led him to a huge room. Inside Daisuke was waiting for them. He turned and smiled, "You found him great! She'll be so happy."

Yumi nodded and smiled back at Daisuke.

"I'm so glad you came dear! Now that were all finally here the real fun can start!" As the sound of the woman's voice carried through the room both Yumi and Daisuke seemed to light up with joy. Satoshi turned to face her and gasped at what he saw.

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That's it for this chapter! I know I'm sorry! Everything will all become clear next chapter I promise! Just stick with me ok? Oh and forgive any crazy errors in this chapter it was written at 2 am. ^.^ Hope you guys liked it! As always read and review!

~Dawns out!