A Dream of Reality
a 'Here is Greenwood' story
by Lady Koneko
-Chapter Two 'The Truth of Reality'

Kazuya just stared at Mitsuru. "Do I really want to hear it?" he repeated quietly, giving Mitsuru a puzzled look. "I don't know what is wrong, but you know you have always confided in me." Across the pile of books and photo albums, Kazuya watched as Mitsuru's eyebrows jumped up in surprise. Then he watched as he sighed, picking up one of his journals and leafed through it.

"I have, hmmm?" Mitsuru sat the journal down next to the family photo and turned his gaze to the younger teen, his brother. "I have no recollection of that," he told Kazuya absently.

"WHAT!!!" Kazuya exclaimed. "Mitsuru, I know you haven't lost your memory, you have all but admitted to it..."

"Kazuya!" Mitsuru interrupted sharply. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Kazuya glared at his brother for a moment, then nodded, his lips pressed tightly together to keep from making any more sharp retorts.

"I have no memories of you being my brother, no memory of Misako being my sister," he waved his hand around the room, "no memory of living here or anything else that I have been told since I woke up in the hospital." He looked at Kazuya; he was staring at him. At least he wasn't saying anything. "I have no memory of the sixteen years Hayashi Mitsuru lived." Kazuya remained silent, waiting for his brother to finish speaking. Mitsuru sighed. "On the other hand, I do have seventeen years, nearly eighteen years of memory of my life, the life of Ikeda Mitsuru."

Mitsuru watched as Kazuya's eyes widened. He is not going to be able to keep from saying something after that. "Wh... what?" Kazuya sputtered, just as Mitsuru knew he would. "What are you talking about? Sixteen years of this, seventeen years of that, and what is this about your name being Ikeda?" He smirked. Knew it, he is so fun to tease, then became serious.

"Did you talk to Kazuhiro about what I said when I woke up for the second time?" Kazuya shook his head, but Mitsuru watched as the frown formed. He could not bring himself to call ~his~ cousin Hiro like Kazuya and Misako did. He went on as though nothing had happened. "I was confused, I thought what had happened when I first woke up with you, Misako and Shinobu in the room was a dream, and that I was in the hospital because I collapsed in my dorm room." Kazuya began to speak, but Mitsuru held up a hand, stalling him. He had to finish telling this, and without any more distractions. "When Kazuhiro came into the room, he began talking to me like nothing was wrong, but everything he said did not match what it should have been. He began to talk about Misako," Mitsuru closed his eyes, "and I blew up at him. Yelling at him that that couldn't be true," Mitsuru opened his eyes and locked them with Kazuya's. "That it couldn't be true," this was the moment of truth, "because Misako was a ghost, a ghost who had fallen in love with me, and was haunting me because of that."

"A ghost?" Kazuya gaped at his brother. He knew something was going on with Mitsuru, but something like this, he hadn't even imagined. "Are you sure you are feeling okay? Maybe I should call The Parents..."

"No." Mitsuru quickly said. "I am fine, and I am not crazy. This is why I am claiming amnesia, because something strange has happened, and I don't know what."

"You said you remembered me?" Kazuya questioned softly.

"Yeah, you are my kouhai at Ryokuto Academy and my next door neighbor in Greenwood, our dorm."

Kazuya blinked. "I am not your brother?"

"No, not in my memories. I was abandoned outside the Kouryu Temple when I was a baby. I grew up at the temple." Mitsuru gave Kazuya a thoughtful look. "I think... now that I look back, that I did treat you like a younger brother."

Kazuya propped his elbows on his knees. "Well, that is a relief. So lets see, you have seventeen years of memory, with Misako and I in it, but not as your siblings. And apparently the Ikedas as well." Kazuya's eyes grew distant as he thought. "We should see how what you remember matches what is real."

Mitsuru sighed. He was still not getting it. "Kazuya, my memories ~are~ real. I don't know how, I don't know why, but what I remember did happen. I know it did. It is not my imagination."

"A dream, maybe?" Kazuya offered hopefully.

Mitsuru shook his head in denial. "I dreamed up seventeen years of memory while forgetting my entire past life? I don't believe that is possible."

"Okay," Kazuya held up his hands. "Tell me everything, then we will try to figure out what is going on, okay?

Mitsuru nodded, and began telling Kazuya the story of his life. He started with the story that he had been told to him when he was a small child, about how his parents, the Ikedas, had found him in the basket under the Forsythe tree and had decided that he was a gift from Kami.

* * * * *

Kazuya was quiet during the three hours that Mitsuru told his tale. During this time, Kazuya had retrieved the tray from the desk and sat it on the floor within easy reach. Mitsuru ended up eating most of the sandwiches, rather surprising to Kazuya, as Mitsuru had always had a light appetite and had finished the breakfast that Mother had brought him. He listened most intently when Mitsuru started telling him about the dorm 'Greenwood', his life there and the people he had met.

Surprisingly enough, this was where his memories meshed the most with reality. Almost all the people he named they went to school with, and Kazuhiro worked at the academy as a nurse. It was rather unsettling to hear Mitsuru talk about ~his~ crush on their cousin's wife and how she had been oblivious to it. One of the two things that caught his attention the most though, was when he mentioned Midori, their son. When Mitsuru was in the accident, Sumire hadn't delivered yet, and the sonograph that they had done months earlier had said that they were expecting a girl. Sumire went into labor the day before Mitsuru had awakened, Midori born the very morning he had awoken. The Parents had been working; Kazuhiro off shift and with his wife, and he and Misako had gone straight to Mitsuru's room after visiting the nursery. There was no way Mitsuru could have known the baby was a boy, or what Kazuhiro would name it if what he was remembering was really a creation of his subconscious.

There were a few other discrepancies; Shunii and Ataku Midori were now both male in his memories, which they would have had to have been for them to live in an all male dorm. Shunii was still his best friend, and Midori-san was dating Iiyama Kanada, who was her roommate in Mitsuru's memories. The idea that the old lady across the street was the dorm manager was rather scary. And he could not believe that he had added Nagisa in his dream. That was the one person that ~should~ have been left out, instead of The Parents, who Mitsuru was adamant that he had no memory of. All in all, when Mitsuru finally finished talking, Kazuya had only one question that he was burning to know about, one thing that had jumped out and had grabbed his attention.

"Mitsuru, just who is Shinobu?"

* * * * *

Mitsuru finished his story and watched Kazuya intently. What would he say? Would he believe him, or would he believe that he had lost his mind. While watching Kazuya mentally review everything that he had told him, Mitsuru drank the last of the tea. It had grown cold, but he needed something to do with his hands, and even cold the tea did offer comfort. After several quiet minutes, Kazuya finally looked at Mitsuru, a puzzled look in his eyes. Mitsuru braced himself. Now he would find out what Kazuya thought.

What Kazuya said, however, was not what he expected.

"Mitsuru, just who is Shinobu?"

"Huh?" He had to have heard wrong.

"Tezuya Shinobu," Kazuya repeated steadily. "Your roommate, Nagisa's younger brother, who is he?"

Mitsuru was not following his line of reason. "What do you mean, who is he? Don't you know him?"

Kazuya rapidly shook his head, his burgundy eyes wide. "No, he is the only person in your story that I ~don't~ recognize. Everyone else I know, or know of. Everyone that you mentioned that lives in the dorm, we know. The people you were closest to in Greenwood are the people you are close to here; me, Misako, Shunii, Kazuhiro, Sumire, Sho, Miya, Aoki, Sakaguchi, Tochizawa, Furusawa, Yuuko, Tenma, Himatsu, Iiyama, Ataku, everyone else in Greenwood; all of them have made an appearance in your life one way or another. Shunii's cat Kone, the psycho Nagisa, even Misako's three friends appeared as ghosts. But your roommate, the person most closest and important to you in Greenwood, is unknown to me." Mitsuru just stared at Kazuya. Was this really him talking? "And you said that he was in the room with Misako and I when you woke up, that can't be true. Misako and I were the only people in the room. Nagisa tried to visit you at first, but she got so bad that The Parents arranged it so that only family members were allowed to visit you."

Mitsuru shook his head. "No, he was there. I saw him. He was standing behind Misako, by the window..." Kazuya had closed his eyes. "...and you didn't see him." Kazuya shook his head. Both were quiet for several minutes as they pondered what they had both heard. "Kazuhiro said that I said his name in the ambulance, before I fell into the coma." Mitsuru finally said.

Kazuya stared at his brother, but did not say anything.

"So, do you think I'm crazy," Mitsuru finally asked calmly. Kazuya jerked up and gave Mitsuru a startled look.

"Crazy?" he shook his head. "I don't know. It sounds like you dreamed the whole thing, but if what Hiro said is true... you called for him before the coma... I don't know." Faintly, they heard the sound of a door slam shut.

"Tadaima!" a familiar voice called out. Mitsuru shuddered in reflex. A moment later the sound of slippered feet running up the stairs was heard, then the door to Mitsuru's room was thrown open.

"Mitsuniichan!!" Misako yelled and bounced into the room with the force of a typhoon hitting shore. "How are you doing? Shouldn't you still be in bed? Oh look! You have all your photo albums out, do you remember anything?"

"Misako..." Mitsuru moaned. She is your sister; she is your sister. She is not in love with you, she is ~not~ going to trash the room if you tell her to leave and she starts crying. "Have you ever heard of ~knocking~ before entering a room?"

Both Kazuya and Misako blinked, a bit surprised. Mitsuru had never questioned Misako entering his room unannounced before. Kazuya moaned softly and dropped his head as he remembered what Mitsuru had told him about the Greenwood Misako. Misako herself started to sniffle, not understanding why her beloved brother had spoken to her so. With detached interest, Mitsuru watched as her lower lip began to quiver in a familiar manner, and he folded. He couldn't do it. He couldn't make her cry, even if she wasn't capable of wrecking the room.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you, just don't cry, okay?"

As he had half expected, Misako immediately perked up. "Okay." She collapsed on the floor next to Kazuya and leaned across the pile of books all serious. "So, how are you doing? Do you remember anything at all?"

Unlike telling Kazuya about what was going on, telling Misako anything would be a mistake. She would probably run straight to The Parents and tell them everything in misguided good intentions. "No, I don't."

She pouted, then reached over and patted him comfortingly on the hand. "Don't worry Mitsuniichan, I am sure you will remember everything. The doctors did say that familiar surroundings would help, so I am sure you will remember everything very soon. Oh!" Misako beamed at Mitsuru, "Sho said he would be by this weekend with all your missed homework, something came up at the temple today, and he wouldn't have any free time until then. You know that he couldn't officially visit at the hospital. He was very worried about you as well," her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as she gave Kazuya a sly whisper, "especially with all things considered. The Parents will be late, so I will cook dinner tonight." She stood up and brushed off her skirt, all business now. "I will fix all your favorites, and you had better eat at least one bite of everything, or I am going to be very upset with you!"

With that parting statement, Misako turned and left the room, both Kazuya and Mitsuru staring after her.

"I think I preferred her as a lovesick ghost than a sister."

Kazuya smirked at his elder brother; he didn't get many opportunities to tease him. "Don't you mean a lovesick ghost than a lovesick sister?"

Mitsuru froze, leveling a piercing stare at Kazuya. "Could you please repeat that," he said in a chillingly calm voice. "I believe that I must have heard you wrong. You _did not_ just say lovesick sister."

Kazuya stared back at his brother, all humor gone, worried and a bit scared. He had never seen his brother look at ~anyone~ like he had looked at him earlier, and his tone of voice... the way he reacted to Misako, the way he reacted to ~him~. A cold weight settled in the pit of his stomach. This was not the brother he remembered sitting across from him he realized. This truly was ~Ikeda~ Mitsuru, from Greenwood. And for the first time since Mitsuru had begun telling his strange tale hours ago, Kazuya believed him. Memory loss or not, strange dreams conjured by the subconscious; none of them changed a person's personality to such a degree. But he was still his brother, Kazuya knew. No matter what, Mitsuru was his niichan, and he would do anything and everything to help him.

"Umm..." Mitsuru was still staring at him, expecting some sort of response, probably one of denial. "Yes... well... that is another thing that is the same here as at Greenwood. Misako is in love with you."

Mitsuru hung his head, not believing what he had just heard. She was still in love with him -always in love with him. And no chance for it to be returned the way she wished it. At least she wasn't capable of possessing cats to kiss him.

"But don't worry," Kazuya's voice cheerfully interrupted his moment of depression. "She said that she would step aside once you found a girlfriend..."

* * * * *

Mitsuru continued to look through his journals until Kazuya had come up to tell him that dinner was ready. He had made good headway, covering up until his fifthteenth birthday. The last one had hinted strongly of Misako's crush on him, and how 'he' thought it was kinda cute. There were two more journals left to go through, and he was going to wait until another day to go through them. The last five had been a strain enough for him, reading about a life he did not know, one that echoed of the life he did remember, and all the differences between. Dinner was going to be a welcomed time-out.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as he had planned. Despite Kazuya's advice Mitsuru decided that he would join everyone in the dining room. He was not up to spending time alone in his room when his only ally was eating below. Besides, he was curious about his parents, The Parents, as Kazuya and Misako called them. They were referred to by that phrase in his journals as well, but didn't know why. Being the only people from this reality that he ~knew~ but didn't ~know~, he could not place actions with the words that had been written years ago. How could such a simple desire go wrong?

Dinner itself was perfect. Misako had indeed fixed all 'his' favorite foods for dinner, showing that he at least liked the same foods here as he had in Greenwood. He hadn't even considered until he went down, with Kazuya following behind out of concern, that his taste in foods might be different. After all, it seemed that everything else was. The Parents had walked in from work as he stepped off the stairs, and his mother nearly had a fit. Her darling, delicate child should be upstairs in bed, resting. He shouldn't strain himself by climbing down such a long flight of stairs. Mitsuru quickly protested that he felt fine, and that if he lay in bed any longer, he would go stir-crazy. Kazuya had moaned softly, a sound that carried only to Mitsuru and he winced mentally. Apparently this wasn't how 'he' acted, but neither his 'mother' nor 'father' noticed any abnormal behavior on his part. He gritted his teeth, and swore that at the most opportune time, he was going to ask Kazuya just ~how~ he acted.

It seemed to Mitsuru that no time had passed until the five of them were seated at the table, a European style table, and not traditional Japanese as he was use to in the Shrine, and Misako was bringing out platefuls of food, more food that five could seemingly eat, their father had joked. He glanced at him, but most of Mitsuru's attention was focused on the veritable feast laid out before him, his stomach growling embarrassingly. The meals provided for him at the hospital were prepared well enough all things considered, but what he considered decent food and what the hospital considered suitable food for a convalescing coma victim were two different things. The Parents went on with dinner and talking about work, oblivious to what was going on around them. As he watched, he started to come up with an idea or two of why they did not rate much in his remembered memories. He had not noticed that Kazuya and Misako had been watching him since he filled his plate -with enough food to feed two people. They barely touched their dinner as they watched their brother, neatly and politely; polish off all the food on his plate in record time and start on seconds. Misako's eyes had widened in shock and Kazuya's jaw dropped in astonishment as they watched him finish off that as well and smile at Misako.

"That was wonderful Misako." Mitsuru was suitably impressed. He had no idea that Misako was such a great cook. There was a small pang of pain in the region of his heart. How much did he not know of his sister? His journals only held so much information; 'he' had only used them to note special things, not to list daily events. His personal knowledge of Misako the Ghost was very limited, he only knew that she loved him, wanted to spend her life with him, and had been killed by a runaway truck...

"Yes," Hayashi Harakuri looked away from his wife and smiled at his youngest child, unaware that he was breaking Mitsuru's train of thought. "That was quite the feast you prepared for us, right Miyako?"

Their mother beamed at Misako, who basked in the attention, and then turned to her eldest, "Yes, and Mitsuru dear, you cleaned your plate! How wonderful! You must continue to eat well to regain your strength. Misako dear, would you like me to serve dissert?"

At this, both Misako and Kazuya realized that they were the only two who hadn't finished their meal. Unsurprisingly, The Parents didn't notice. As one they both stood. "Let me help dear," Harakuri started to help his wife clear away the plates, Kazuya and Misako stuffing food in their mouths as fast as they could before their plates were removed. As soon as The Parents left the room, Kazuya and Misako turned their eyes to their older brother.

Mitsuru arched an eyebrow at the two staring teens; Kazuya was staring at him in amazement and Misako in flat out disbelief. What had he done this time?

"Mitsuniichan, is everything alright with you? You ate so much, and so fast! They didn't starve you at the hospital, did they?" Mitsuru and Kazuya turned to Misako. "I know how horrible hospital food can be, especially compared to a good home cooked meal, but Hiro assured me that everything was going fine, but I can't believe you ate so much! I know I said I wanted you to eat a little bit of everything, but I never expected you to try to eat everything on the table!"

Mitsuru exchanged a look with Kazuya, but was saved from answering by the return of The Parents. He mentally made a note that while he was making Kazuya tell him why The Parents were referred to as such, to have him tell him what 'he' was like. Homemade apple crumb cake and vanilla ice cream was served up, and Mitsuru was glad he left room in his stomach for desert. This was not something that he wanted to miss.

* * * * *

Later, after he, Kazuya and Misako finished the dishes -Kazuya and Misako both insisted that that he do nothing but watch- he collapsed onto his bed. He wasn't all that tired, he hadn't done anything all day after all, but he was just a bit. His body was still recovering from his three-month coma.

Starting tomorrow, I am back doing my katas. He had to get back in shape. The idea of not being in peak physical condition bothered him greatly.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Kazuya entered. "Mitsuru, how are you feeling?" The redheaded teen closed the door behind him, flicked the lock so that they would not be disturbed, and came across the room to sit on the foot of the bed.

Mitsuru sighed. His brother's burgundy eyes met his amethyst ones, and the two teens stared at each other. Several minutes passed before Kazuya wearily broke the silence. "You know Ikeda, getting answers out of you is like pulling teeth with a pair of tweezers. Very unproductive."

Mitsuru jerked up; surprised at the name Kazuya had called him. "What?"

The redhead shook his head. "You keep going like this, and even The Parents will realize that something is wrong. They are an oblivious pair, but even they will realize something if you keep acting so strange in front of them. Now tell me, because there is no way I can help you unless I know what is going on. How are you feeling, and I am not talking about physically either,"

"Ahh..." How to answer that? He had never really talked to anyone about how he felt about things, ever. His parents, the Ikeda's, always seemed to know how he felt and let him work through things with steady support. Shinobu would leave him to do the same, until it reached a certain point that only Shinobu himself knew of, then he would step in and subtly set things up so that he was forced to deal with whatever was bothering him, with Shinobu smiling catlike in the background watching him.

He missed Shinobu.

"I... I still need to think things through Kazuya." Mitsuru finally said. He was not ready to talk to anyone who was here right now. "I need time to get things straight in my mind." And some free time without anyone with him to check out a few things. He absently noted Kazuya nodding in an understanding way. "I will also need you to tell me what 'I' was like before," he gave Kazuya a sly smile, "so I won't be acting so different." Kazuya grinned and proceeded to spend the next couple hours telling Mitsuru about his brother.

(to be continued...)

=^._.^=