"You're overdoing it again, Subaru-kun." He shook his head and pressed forward, toward the infected area of the boy's psyche. The further he walked, the less grass he had to tread through; whatever was making the horizon black was also killing the vegetation.

As he moved forward, he stepped his way around large rocks, across flinty pebbles, and then, finally, only ash-gray dust. There was poison ahead, something killing and choking off fragile forms of life… That's what the blackness was.

Seishirou considered the fact that this toxin was coming from his own meek prey, and grew uneasy. He had not thought the Sumeragi capable of destruction. Something, then, must have pushed him to this… What could have this kind of effect? What kind of nightmare? Seishirou knew, however, that he wouldn't be able to know without seeing the boy's dreamscape, and that space was forbidden to all but dreamseers... He would have to be content with the bleak, dying innerscape. Somehow, he'd make it work. 

Ash turned to barren gray mud, and cursing, Seishirou lost his shoes. He continued, more slowly, feet swallowed by the terrain with each step. His pants would be ruined, but fortunately, they weren't real. 

He paused, looking around. There wasn't much to see.

"Subaru-kun, are you here?"

It seemed he'd come to the epicenter. The sky above him, the mud below him, and even the air around him was black. Everything was inked out. It drew the conclusion that Subaru would have to be around here, somewhere.

His eyes caught a sliver of whiteness, and he turned, expectantly.

Sumeragi Shikifuku? Decades of self-discipline prevented a gasp. Subaru (or rather, the nine-year-old boy Subaru had once been) was submerged in tar-like, enveloping sludge up to his elbows. The white formal robe was stained beyond repair where the muck had splashed up to his shoulders.

The boy was staring down, not at himself submerging, but as if he were blind, seeing nothing at all. It really was the child he had made his bet with: long eyelashes on porcelain skin, hair fluffy and feminine. Doubtless his eyes were the same piercing, empathetic green which had toppled his guard the first time.  

"Subaru-kun!" he called in effort to get the child's attention. "Can you hear me? Look at me!" Seeing his nine-year-old figure again made him more desperate to save him, but he wasn't sure why.       

But the child didn't respond; he could have been deaf as well.

Seishirou turned, and with a great deal of energy, began closing the roughly ten meter gap between himself and the child, careful not to get sucked in himself.

He decided to test a theory of his.

Thinking, I"I don't deserve to leave here,"/I he felt himself submerge to his knees as the glue-like mud softened under his feet.

He reversed it. I"The world outside needs me."/I The substance re-solidified, and he stopped sinking.

The sludge must be responding to emotions and wishes. That is, if you didn't want to be a part of the world, it would swallow you. And Subaru was already up to his shoulders. He couldn't waste any more time.

"Subaru! Subaru-kun, listen to me. Do you recognize who I am?"

The eyelashes fluttered twice, and the liquid green squinted confusedly as he looked up toward the source of the sound.

"W-who are you?" The young voice sounded bruised.

"You don't know me, but my name is Sakurazuka Seishirou." 

"Oh." The boy considered. "I do know you."

Seishirou was intrigued.

How much did he know, he wondered. If he remembered their last meeting, under the tree within his Maboroshi, then he would be accepting. And if he remembered their other meetings, he would be flustered. That is, if the memory guards leaked like they seem to have.

Seishirou decided to ask. "How do you know me?"

"I remember you… you've come…" he bit his lower lip, his head tilted to the side. "You're the person who hurts me."  Seishirou blinked. This was a little unexpected. It was only under the identity of 'Sakurazukamori' that he'd been invasive, uninvited, threatening.

To have his guileless 'Seishirou' persona rejected by such an innocent face… he felt somewhat insulted.

"Please, go away, Seishirou-san."

"But Subaru, I'm here to help you. Do you want to be helped?"

The small brow furrowed. "I said go away!" There was anger here, perhaps created by the dream, perhaps resonated by it.

The unexpected strength of the tiny plea cut Seishirou; he hadn't expected to be rejected once he reached the core of his prey's self. It was disconcerting.

"Subaru!! Trust me." He softened his voice. "Just trust—" but a slice of pain, like jagged glass, from the pentagrams suddenly slid through his body, cutting off speech. He knew he didn't have much longer before his resources were depleted.

"A-are you alright?" called the tiny figure. He seemed to have stopped sinking, slightly. He must not be thinking so much about his own pain.

It wasn't much, but it was a step.

Seishirou took a deep breath. "I want to help you. I'm here to help get you out of there." He waited for the boy to respond, but he didn't seem to understand yet. "Do you know what it is?" he asked, inquisitively.

At this, Subaru blinked. "This stuff?"

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Ahhh… a little. It's always here. And sometimes, when I'm not careful, I fall in." Seishirou was patient, letting Subaru continue. "But-but it's really hard to get out… by myself." Green eyes looked ready to spill over. "…I can't get out this time, I don't think."

"Then, do you want me to help you get out, this time?"

"I…" Subaru had stopped sinking, but he was up to his neck. Any further, and it would have been too late. He looked up towards Seishirou, who beamed down with a gentle smile.

"Seishirou-san… you promise to keep me safe?" He looked disbelieving.

It was an odd question to hear, but certainly worth addressing. Not now, though; he filed it away to contemplate later… For now, he would say what Subaru wanted to hear. "Yes, Subaru-kun. I promise that I'll protect you as best as I can."

Subaru smiled, then nodded. "I think I want you to help."

He sunk his hands into the muck, sliding them under the child's arms to lift him. Seishirou stood, carefully, then instructed Subaru. "Put your hands around my neck, alright?" One of Seishirou's arms supported the child's back, the other his legs. His shirt was ruined. Both of them were smeared with black paste that stung a little like acid. But suddenly, the pain from the pentagrams disappeared.

As they carefully made their way away from the black center, Seishirou asked a question that was intended to sound offhand to the boy.

"Subaru-kun, what do you need?"

"Need?"

"So you don't fall into that black stuff again. I promised to protect you." Seishirou tried to sound sincere as he searched for more information regarding his prey's mind. "Do you need to be loved?"

"Yes… No. I don't know. Maybe. But Hokuto-chan loves me already. Obaa-sama too."

He looked into the mud-smeared face of his prey, thinking carefully before he phrased his next question.

"Do you need someone to take care of you?"

Hair fluttered as he shook his head. The boy's lips folded in thought. He opened his mouth once to speak, but closed it again, unsure.

"Yes?" Seishirou prompted, warmly.

Wide green eyes scanned the face of his rescuer. He leaned in, resting his head on a solid shoulder. After a long minute, he whispered into the ear above.

I"Be my friend."/I

Something else unexpected, to file away and analyze later… friendship was something alien to Seishirou, but if it was important to the Sumeragi, it was worth consideration.

The ground solidified below them, and Seishirou deposited the form, even wiping a streak of dried mud from his baby-soft cheek. "I promise," Seishirou vowed to the tiny clan leader, "to become your friend."  

He placed his palm on the pale forehead. "Sleep now," and the emerald eyes fluttered closed. 

Seishirou withdrew himself from within the young Sumeragi, careful not to disturb the spell he'd cast. Now that the pain was gone, it was easy enough to erase the memory of his presence. He decided not to strengthen his spell, even though emotions and impressions seemed to leak through the usual memory blocks he left. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing if he wanted to trust a certain Sakurazuka Seishirou.

After all, they'd be meeting very soon.

Seishirou decided he had all the information he needed… and he had two promises to keep. It would be rude to keep Subaru-kun waiting.