Chapter 22: Kan Yume- The Dream World

Here is chapter 22, hope everyone enjoys. I updated quicker foreveryone!

His footsteps echoed as he walked around. Kazuma glances at the glassy walls and then pulls himself back, leg back slightly farther then it would normally be in a standing position. He cocks his left arm back and thrusts it forward as hard as he can. The glass instantly cracks and vibrates, sending the energy from his fist throughout the entire wall as if it were an earthquake. As Kazuma draws his hand back, the glass walls regenerate to a form that showed it as if it had never been broken. He blinks and presses his hand against the smooth surface of the wall. Looking down, Shishou sees the same glass the wall is made out of, embedded in the ground he was standing on. "Something tells me if I fall…I'll break something…" Kazuma says softly and then kneels down; the sensation of pain was still surging through every inch of his body, hardly taking up anytime stopping.

He heaves out a sigh and watches his own breath form into a glazy puff of ice and drop to the ground, shattering without even harming the glass floor. Kazuma's eyes explained more then enough about his amazement, he was wide eyed as he gazed upon the ice-styled floor watching it stitch itself back together. "What is this …" Kazuma mutters, looking around cautiously, his mind was playing tricks on him, he was able to see people from the Sohma family he knew were dead. Straining his eyes as he looks at the wall once more, Kazuma sees a figure walking towards him. A woman was walking elegantly in his direction, yet he didn't seem to believe that she existed and just rubbed his eyes, falling back a little to sit down. She continued to walk towards him and finally, the woman stopped and stared at him from a mere thirty feet away. For some odd reason though, Kazuma couldn't make out the face the person was bearing, yet something about the woman made her seem familiar to him.

The woman touches the wall and he stands up hesitantly. Kazuma couldn't believe it. The wall wasn't like a normal one, it was so transparent that it was obvious you can find a way around it, but unclear as to where the opening was. "Who're you?" Kazuma asks just before the girl lifts her head, her long, dark hair falling away from her eyes gently. "Rin…" he gasps lightly and stares at her in utter disbelief. "Akito… it's said that she killed you. But I can see you… Rin… tell me, where are we?" As he spoke, he noticed that the visible parts of her body were almost completely bruised or covered with small cuts and slices. "What happened to you?" Shishou asks finally, his hand pressing against the transparent wall.

Rin looks down again and whispers softly, "Apparently this is a world of disfigured dreams, or as most would call them: nightmares. The things you wish wouldn't happen are all brought here to make your life a living hell. A torture chamber! Do you understand why I look like this…. if it means escaping eternal pain… I'll kill myself!" She shouts, her head lifting up as if she were energetic. Kazuma-dono looks at her just scarcely. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Isuzu continued on, "I don't want to see Haru being killed in front of me each and every time I open my eyes. Don't you get it! I see him being beaten right behind you! But since it's my nightmare -meant for me- you can't see it even if you tried." She sighs lightly and looks at Kazuma more calmly now, "In truth, Kazuma-dono, we're already near death. It is only a matter of time before we are driven off the deep end. This white, clear room, is meant to make you go insane," Rin lifts her hand and slides it through her hair to keep it out of her eyes, " It reflects the horrible things that your mind produces and shows them to you. That's how we died in the first place! Akito captured our very will to live by forcing us to repeatedly watch someone we deeply care about…die… or watching yourself be killed brutally over…and over… and over again!" Pain was clearly filling her voice and she closed her eyes as fast as she could and dropped to her knees. She was mumbling something, but Kazuma was sure that she was having a hard time even understanding herself. "I hate you Akito! With all my dying heart! I hate you!" Those were the only things he could really comprehend after a while, and that was probably only because she kept repeating it constantly.

Kazuma-dono gets up and looks down at Rin who was still on the other side of the wall. How much pain was she really feeling? It was definitely clear that she wasn't going to allow anyone she knew –probably not even Haru- to see or to listen to how badly she felt sometimes, maybe even all the time. As fast as his body allowed, Kazuma ran to his left and kept one hand on the wall, awaiting the feeling of an opening. The icy-cold sensation that the wall gave carefully began to burn at his skin, making his entire body become colder and colder. He could see his breath even more now and it became globs of ice even quicker than it had when he regained consciousness. How heavily Kazuma was breathing. It was quite amazing that he was still alive after all the running he was doing. But finally, he slips to the side and hits the ground hard, gasping for air almost as if he had lost it all in the fall. He had at last reached a point where there was an opening between the ice. Kazuma crawls all the way back down to where Rin was in what felt like hours and drops himself beside her. In a raspy voice he asks, "Is there… anyone else here?" He took in as much oxygen as he could without allowing his throat to burn from taking in too much defrosting-ice air.

She looks at him for a moment and replies after a shortwhile, "Plenty of…" she clears her throat momentarily, "things are here …" Rin finishes, sounding quite calm for a person who has been in pain for over a month, even after death. "I don't know what some of them are…but I believe they're the vengeful spirits. The cat's true form roams around almost every day… restlessly…" Isuzu stands on her own and looks down at the weakened Kazuma. "Be careful not to take too many breathes, once you've taken enough to nearly paralyze you, your nightmares will begin to come… and quickly." She sighs and walks off alone, not even bothering to help Kazuma up or make sure he'll be safe for a little longer.

The dojo master pulls himself to his own feet and inhales deeply, This should solve the too many breathes problem for at least a little while, Kazuma assures himself, swallowing an ounce of air that was stored in his mouth every minute. Apparently it wont last too long… he tries not to sigh about this and staggers along, looking for the vengeful spirits and other people who've been transported here through the mirror. Suddenly, Kazuma spots a yellow light in the distance, a bright one that illuminated almost everything. He runs towards it, taking breathes much more frequently now. I need to reach it. Maybe…it's a way out. I can warn Kyo not to be stupid and try to come here! By saying this to himself, he gained motivation and began running faster then his aging body would usually allow. But, because he was running so fast, he took even more deep inhalations then before.

The pieces of light began to fade as he got closer and closer. They were forming something, from bottom to top. A figure was gradually appearing as a shadow. Kazuma trips up and hits the ground. He glances up at the forming figure and his eyes grow larger in shock. Kyo? His mind mutters but he completely ignores it, knowing very well who it was. "Don't come Kyo! Get out of here! Don't give in to her!" Kazuma pulls himself back up and hurries over to him. By the time he reached him, Kyo's figure was completely formed, but the details weren't yet there. It was obvious who it was by just looking at the hair, which was the brightest part of the figure; clearly, it was trying to explain that his hair was orange or a color of some sort that isn't dark. Kazuma hears something, and then listens more closely, steping nearer to the figure that will soon be Kyo. Someone was screaming Kyo's name desperately… in tears. "Tohru-kun!" He gasps and puts his hands on the figure, pushing him back to where he came from. "Get back in there Kyo! You have to make sure Tohru is okay! Don't let her be harmed by Akito!" Kazuma urges, almost as desperately as the voice he was hearing.

XxX- Akito's House

Kyo opens his eyes and glances at Tohru who was standing at the front door, screaming his name. He looks back at Akito and thrusts his fist forth with whatever energy and strength he had left. The contact that's made forces Kyo to shout in pain, and fall back, rubbing his knuckles. Around him, Shigure and Kureno ran to the hallway and peek around it as if something bad was about to happen. A cracking sound fills the ears of everyone in the room; even Akito heard it and she didn't want to. "No!" Akito screams, looking at the glass part of the mirror, watching it crack all over the place, like a raging underwater earthquake forcing its way to the surface of the ocean.

Haru and Yuki run in and bump into Tohru, forcing them to transform into their respective jyunishi animals. Kyo looks at them quickly, yells, "You idiots", and then watches Tohru hit the floor from being bumped into. He slaps his forehead and hurries over to her, even though he was on his hands and knees. He puts his hand on her back and whispers, "Are you okay?" though his voice was full of aggravation. She nods weakly and looks at him, a gentle smile on her face as always. A poof is heard and Haru shuffles his clothes on quickly. He looks at Kyo and grins. "Not without me your not…" Kyo gets to his feet after saying that to Haru.

The ox laughs softly and looks at Akito, full of anticipation. Kyo gets up and looks at Akito with him. They both charge her and as Kyo begins to pull his arm back to punch Akito, he sees Haru slam against the ground out of the corner of his eye, blood spurting into the air for a split second. He stops and looks down beside him only to find a dagger in both of his arms. Kyo stares at him and his fist begins to shake, almost uncontrollably. He looks around and sees Kureno and Shigure both holding small sheathes that once held daggers. "You bastards!" Kyo shouts ruthlessly, running at them as fast as he can.

Out of nowhere, Yuki pulls Kyo out of the way and they both hit a wall, and duck from another dagger. Yuki was clothed and all and for some reason, his transformation didn't exactly last long. Now, it was both Kyo and Yuki standing, eager to go 2-on-1 vs. Akito. A grin forms across Kyo's face. "Mark my words you he-she… I'll make sure you feel as much pain as Haru, Rin, and Shishou felt combined. And if you lay a single finger on Tohru I'll personally make your life a living hell!" Kyo's voice was clearly filled with rage and his hands were tightly balling up into fists. Tohru blushes after hearing what Kyo said, and Yuki sighs on the inside, knowing that Kyo will always love Tohru more then him.

"Let's get this over with Kyo…"

"Sure thing…" Kyo responds almost in annoyance at Yuki's readiness. He kicks a chair into the air, catches it, and flings it as hard as he can at Shigure and Kureno. It makes direct contact with their heads knocks them unconscious. "How do you like your god damn banquet now!" he yells roughly, going towards Akito without even telling Yuki to go with him.

Blood slashes across the air and hits the wall in dots. A thump is heard and someone was lying on the ground. Yuki stood wide-eyed and Tohru had her eyes covered, praying to not see that it was Kyo on the floor.

I updated quick this time! And guess what! Since its winter break, I'll be typing more often! w00t! Okay. I'm sorry that I ended this chapter with a half-cliffie but I need to make this story as long as I can for you. And how do you do that? Lol, Cliffies. Currently, I'm leaning towards 25 chapters, and hopefully… I'll end it without getting yelled at about ending a story with a cliffie. Maybe that'll happen again…maybe it wont. Ya never know!