… The Boy Who Went To Sleep.

As promised, no more than a week between posts.

Enjoy:

"How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams."

― Bram Stoker, Dracula

Tsukune felt the warmth of the sun's beams bear down on him as the sun rose past the dark-colored trees before him. He idly wandered the hallways of the mansion, then the courtyard, followed by the gardens, the adjoining forest, the patch of dirt roads that went to and fro the imposing building that stood a as giant among the sea of green foliage. Sleeping, though awfully tempting, never took him that evening; he was far too preoccupied with the enigmatic way in which Akasha responded. He gathered that the physical contact permitted a transfer of sorts, that light touch was what brought forth the warning the elder monster had passed on to herself through the boy; however, her disappearance thereafter was unexpected to say the least. The slight push of the breeze on his mask persisted as the cold winds refused to be rebuffed by the nascent day. He was unsure what to expect; having played over the faithful where the two should meet again, under the banner of the Shuzen mansion, there remained the one thing he never could plan for back in Hong Kong. Try as he might, the idea of seeing her again, pleasant as could be to a weary spirit such as his, came frightfully close to unraveling into an obsession. Were he to dare think over the matter in any great detail, he found he would lose his appetite and barely sleep at all. He could recall several nights where Akua, whether it be from worry over his health or fear that he might run away after coming this far, stayed up to keep him company when it was painfully clear her every fiber cried for slumber. After a time, he learned to distance the anticipation of this day from himself as much as possible; sparing a few brief moments to contemplate how to go about the next step was all he allowed himself. Alas, now that the fated time came and went, the usual insomnia returned to him as an old friend.

"Oh jeez, you look terrible. Did you even see the bed you were supposed to sleep in?"

The boy smiled and chuckled lightly, he could always count on Akua to be around to scold him, "I did, it looked very comfortable. But why would I sleep when I could go out for a stroll?"

He continued to walk upon the paved pathway that encircled the aged edifice like a noose to a hangman, the atmosphere was austere enough for him to draw that comparison. The soft clicking of her expensive shoes followed suit, never once breaking the rhythmic harmony that his heavier frame set as it stayed on the path. "You're hopeless, you know that?" she reproached with a smile of her own.

"Maybe, but that's what makes me lovable, right?" He joked as the two steadily began to move away from the residence; deep into the thick brush of verdant forest so closely knit that the sun never fully shined through, even in these waking hours.

"You have no idea," she muttered, mostly to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Akua replied flustered and embarrassed, "never mind."

Unaware of why Akua's mood shifted so drastically, he promptly ignore her last remark as requested; it was most likely some witty retort she was ashamed saying. It was odd, he thought, he could distinctly hear the pebbles and dust on the path slide across the ground as the duo shook the earth for these minuscule specs; and yet, on occasion, he could barely hear Akua's muttering under her breath. An ingrained sense of decency, rooted deep into his subconscious, must have been at work here. Or perhaps he could simply not resolve himself to understand what it was she did murmur when she assumed he did not pay attention. In any case, it was not Tsukune's sleep-deprived mind to know: wondering about the future of the world, and of the Dark Lord he sought out, took some measure of precedence over some suspicious comment his partner made.

"How's Jasmine adjusting to all this? I can't imagine it'd be easy for her," Tsukune said, hoping to veer away from the uncomfortable silence that set in.

"It's all very new to her," Jasmine's self-described big sister and guardian admitted, "but it looks like she'll fit in just fine. I'm glad she got the chance to experience what a real family is like."

'What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you fitting in alright? "

There was a slight pause. A wayward bat, on its way back to the caves beneath the Shuzen property, circled above in the hopes of finding a last morsel it could eat before hiding from the abrasive rays of the sun. They stopped and admired the creature as it went about its search for food; he went from trunk to trunk, screeching in the hopes of detecting a lost strangler hiding among the trees. Finding no such prize, he batted his wings and disappeared into the fading darkness.

"This feels like home already," the young vampire said. Apart from the bat being a favored companion of vampires, she felt a sort of bond with the fleeting creature. It would have been wishful thinking than to imagine the creature returning home and finding a family it cared for, she knew that much. But somewhere deep down, dreaming of that scenario made the moment she spent in the dark forest idyllic. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, she was somewhere she felt comfortable, safe. She belonged in the proud and unwavering mansion that stood in the distance, every inch of her being felt at ease there. Consequently, her tongue was a bit looser than it otherwise would have been, "I feel close to all of them, my sisters. I don't know why but the second youngest, Moka, she reminds me of Jasmine a little bit." The boy inwardly grinned as he witnessed the prelude to what he knew would grow into a sister complex the likes of which the world has never known. It was obvious now that certain events were decreed to happen, one way or the other; he only prayed the impending doom wasn't one of those things fated to occur. "By the way," Akua's face darkened, "a couple guys whose boss I killed a while back picked up our trail in Hong Kong. I think I got them all, but be careful."

"So that's what you and Moka were doing when you skipped out after the fight," he knowingly stated, much to Akua's embarrassment; coming from the future certainly had a few perks he enjoyed making good use of.

"Social gatherings bore me."

"Me too."

Akua hoped that, with his lack of sleep, she might finally uncover what it was he considered so important he absolutely had to make it to Japan in the first place. "Did you get a chance to talk with whoever you came here to talk to?"

"More or less," came the cryptic reply. She sighed, she knew he wasn't going to tell her anything now, seeing as how she made the mistake of pressing too hard. These enigmatic answers only ever came up when he was on the defensive, unwilling or unable to elaborate any further on the topic.

"So, I suppose you'll be heading out now."

"Honestly, I don't know what to do now."

"You? Without a plan to keep you obsessed? Oh jeez, it's the end of the world!"

Did Akua really think he was that serious? Always a goal to strive for; a destination to hurry towards. It was reasonable of her to assume as much, he did cross two countries and an ocean for a chance to meet someone, after all. It was strange, he pondered, that most of his other friends would have said the complete opposite of him. He was told he resembled a carefree spirit more than anything; supposedly, he was an endless well of optimism and good humor complemented with a selfless mentality. He didn't see himself as such a noble figure, truth be told, but he presumed it was because of different, less troubled times. He yearned to return to those happy days where bickering among friends was the highpoint when it came to daily excitement. As incredible an experience it was to fight his way across an airborne enemy base that then went crashing down into a populated metropolis, he would like to pass this time around.

The two walked a ways further. Time practically flew by as they happily conversed with one another; so much so that they were immensely surprised when they looked up to notice the sun nearing the zenith. At this point, they were back in the main courtyard, covering their eyes as the light shun a little too brightly for their enhanced sense of vision. Seemingly on command, clouds, the byproduct of some spell that encased the Shuzen property, formed in front of the celestial body, shielding the vampires from the majority of its rays. The greyish clouds expanded ever outward, becoming a thick sheet of condensed vapor that blanketed the region. The darker horizons allowed Tsukune the luxury of using the entirety of his superior senses to look around. One of the things he noticed, much to his surprise, was Akasha's silhouette standing at one of the windows that looked into the courtyard; she beckoned him to come meet her. With a new purpose to satisfy his need for direction, he excused himself from the pleasant present company. Akua also saw Akasha invite Tsukune to come see her; she'd already known that this was the mysterious figure Tsukune came to meet thanks to a simple process of elimination: she doubted he came to see Gyokuro and he did not seem at all eager to speak with her father, which left only a single candidate to be considered. There was something in the way the distant form slightly bowed, the head was hung too lowly for this to be merely a harmless chat. The First Ancestor was going to ask something of the brown-haired boy the prodigal assassin swore to protect, something she did not want to ask. This did not bode well at all.

"Sure, but can you promise me something?" She cautiously asked, her gaze was set upon the boy with a great enough intensity to make him feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Alright…" he slowly worded, she was worrying him with the borderline abrasive cut hidden in her words.

"You'll come back to me. No matter what happens and who gets in the way, if you need to leave the mansion, you'll come back to me."

He did not grasp the full meaning of her words, he was rather clueless in that aspect of life. A simple request only ever sounded like a simple request to him; he was not capable of distinguishing simple friendship from blooming affection, and it was the latter that Akua's words carried. It was a promise that he would never leave her; it was a sworn oath that Akua Shuzen would always have a soul mate by the name of Tsukune Aono roaming the world, from now until the end of time.

And he threw himself right into the line of fire.

"Of course," he assured without a second's hesitation. Truly, he was blind to the intricate strings that made up the heart of a person in the throes of love.

She contained herself as best she could. He said it! He told her he would always come back to her! A small part of her was aware that he potentially did not fully grasp the extent of what she'd asked of him, a part that annoy her to no end. She conceded to her conscious in that respect. It was a certainty he did not understand; however, now, Tsukune had one more ally in the world who would do nothing short of setting the globe on fire to keep him safe: they both had a lot to gain with this new arrangement.

"Thank you," she warmly smiled before scampering off to parts unknown of the gargantuan mansion. Thus leaving Tsukune with a date with destiny; a form of destiny that did fancy herself more beautiful in a purple dress than the Academy's winter uniform.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It feels like it's been a long time…" Akasha softly spoke, watching as the brown-haired youth nodded his head.

"Yeah. Like it's been a couple years or something."

They both chuckled at the thought. Technically, it had been a few years. The question was in which direction had time flown since their tearful separation. It was a bizarre feeling to see her again like this. She wasn't quite the same girl he fell in love with back at school, but that was not to say that he saw nothing that reminded him of her. It was the burden of memories, remembering what had come and gone, what they experienced and done together. Somehow, the chirping sound of her voice, once a source of everlasting comfort to his ears, sounded different coming from a woman who lived and loved in the past. The silence went uninterrupted, neither monster, despite all the power they wielded, knew how to deal with the elephant that figuratively trampled across the room. They each recalled every single detail of the life they did not yet live in this timeline. Unfortunately, she also remembered that she wasn't Moka Akashiya this time around. The noise that Moka and Kokoa made as the one sparred and the other was pushed into a brick wall was a far cry louder than any sound they emitted.

"Look… I…" he stopped in mid-sentence. Whatever it was that he planned on saying, it no longer sounded like the phrase that should break the sentence.

Akasha gazed around her room, hoping to find some inspiration that would revive the conversation. "You know," she began, "I wonder what the guys are up to right now."

The boy was surprised at the thought. Now that it was mentioned, he hadn't even wondered about that yet; he had been so preoccupied with coming to Japan with the two prodigal vampire girls, there hadn't been so much as a split-second he could spend trying to find out how his friends were doing. The only thing he could do was hazard a few guesses and see if they sounded correct.

"Kurumu is with her mom right now; Mizore should be at her people's village; Yukari: with her family; and Ruby…"

Their eyes met as a mental picture of the mature witch who'd done so much for them came into view. Their eyes widened in dread realization as they inwardly tried to piece together what their good friend was doing as of this moment; in the last few hours, if they were correct in their shared assumption, a defining tragedy just befell the raven mistress.

"Oh no… Ruby's parents…" Akasha's lips quivered and a drop rolled down her cheek, she could not bring herself to say it aloud.

They both calculated the horrendous accident to have taken place less than a day ago.

"It happened last night…" Tsukune's voice was barely a whisper, a distant faint echo of a mind that tortured itself over its inaction.

He could have saved her from that fate. If he took the time to think a little more about his friends and less about himself, Ruby wouldn't be suffering as they sat here in disgusting opulence. If only he'd taken the time to think a little about his friends, she wouldn't be forced to deal her parent's death. He felt sick to his stomach, what a pathetic excuse for a friend he was.

Akasha was no stranger to her best friend's train of thought, she knew how Tsukune was connecting the dots and why his hands were clasped into reddish knuckles. "You couldn't have known," she tried to comfort him, to no avail.

"I did know," he replied, still reeling as the full eight of his mess up came crashing down on him. "I knew and I didn't lift a finger to help her."

She could see the tears forming in his eyes as he processed it. Poor boy, he carried everyone's burdens, it was his kind-hearted nature that did this. Certain events cannot be altered. Sending him back was a risky bet, but the world's continued survival hinged on his success. Trying to do it again, regardless of whose life could made the better for it, was not an option. She despised herself for being so rational at a time like this; alas, it had to remain as it was. All that could be done from this point on was meet her at the Witch's Knoll and be as good a friend to her the second time around as they tried to be the first time they saw her up on that crow-infested building. This was tearing him apart, and another insidiously pragmatic idea came to her. Tsukune would likely contest the plan if she laid it out to him plan as day, her only option was to convince him to take the next step without grasping the plunge he would have to make.

"There might be a way to set things right…" she worded with the utmost care. She might lead to do something; but as distasteful as what she did was, she would not ever lie to him about something so grave.

The youth took the bait hook, line and sinker. His face brightened as the promise of a better outcome came on the horizon. "How?" His voice was coarse, his eyes burned with renewed fervor as another chance to fix the wrongs that plagued his friends was presented to him.

"I need you to find your younger self. Once that happens, I'll be able to cast a spell to reconnect the two of you into a single person. Then everything will work out,' she promised him.

Within the minute, he was already through the door and running down the hallway, eager to take the first limousine he could back to the neighborhood he grew up in. Akasha just sat there, wiping a guilt-induced tear from her eye. It was proceeding as planned, it was all she could take comfort in.

"It seems all the pieces are in place." Issa remarked as he entered his wife's parlor room.

"Yes." Akasha replied as she felt the boy's aura grew fainter by the minute. "Promise me you'll keep an eye on Jasmine while I'm gone."

"You have my word, she won't leave my side."

"Good, Gyokuro can't find out or it's all over."

"Agreed. Do you want to go by the Academy later on?"

"No, I'll take care of that. Thanks, Issa."

"As you wish. Moka is waiting for you downstairs, something about Kokoa not able to get up."

At hearing those words, the last bits of sadness vanished, replaced by the concerned mother who speedily ran downstairs. "I told her to be nice!"

As for the patriarch, he stayed in the room, contemplating the barrage of information he was forced to absorb at an ungodly hour. Down in the courtyard, he could see his eldest, now home where she belonged, walking about with a certain air that the leader of the Shuzen clan sensed was overwhelming joy. It did not need to give the matter much thought, he knew precisely what it was that inspired her with such a positive attitude. The reason had just strolled out of his home as though the mansion's hounds were on his tail. It was him who would later incur within his third oldest that very same bout of affection.

"Tsukune Aono…" He said to no one in particular. "You love my daughter, eh?"

Try as he might, the anger that those words brought was difficult to contain. He might have saved the world, but was he truly deserving of his precious Moka? He thought not; and when came time to train the boy, he would be sure to hammer that point home at every turn. There would be no need to hold back at all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The young human was happily roaming around the park, pleased that he managed to shake his older cousin so that he may enjoy the short time he could while the adults were unable to supervise him. He explored the bushes, crawled beneath the park benches and climbed atop any tree that he get a footing on. All of this, and more, was being observed by the masked vampire hiding in the shadows. What a content child the younger him made, not a worry aside from his next meal. He continued to observe, unsure of what he should be doing. Akasha failed to indicate what the signal for the merging would consist of. In fact, he didn't even know how the fusion of the two was supposed to work. Time was a delicate thing to play with, sure, but which of the two would retain his memories? Again, he dove into a mess while forgoing any sort of strategy.

Elsewhere, Akasha closed her eyes and watched as the two Tsukune's were in the same vicinity. With a gentle whisper, she called out to the younger one to look behind him. The child, curious at the mysterious voice's provenance, turned back and was met face-to-face with his older self. He was about to say something along the lines of "quit following me, you old weird man" when the mask the silent visitor wore broke, revealing a shocked and older version of his own face. He again tried to speak up but was unable to, he felt himself gently drift off as his mind fell into a deep trance.

The older Tsukune was still completely aware, and surmised that Akasha was behind his mask sudden destruction. He looked down at the two pieces of his anonymous persona, now resting on the grass. It was then that a voice resonated inside his head, he knew that voice all too well. She continued to repeat the same words over and over: I'm sorry. He did not understand: why was she apologizing?

He looked down and watched in horror as his skin turned progressively darker until it was as dark as night. His flesh ripped itself into pieces; oddly enough, he felt no pain. It continued to tear and ripped along predetermined sections of his body, his clothes had long since melted into a puddle of black goo at his feet. And all at once, the torn form of Tsukune Aono burst into a swarm of bats, all of which flying about in a cloud of disoriented animals, desperately trying to uncover where to go. The gentle sounds of Akasha;s humming soothed the flying creatures as the now fragmented parts of Tsukune's mind recognized her as a friend. Her voice disappear from within the collective hive mind the animals that made up the teen vampire possessed, the humming now seemed to come from the entranced child.

Without a moment's hesitation, the bats flew towards him screeching as the made contact with the young Tsukune. One after another, they were absorbed into the human boy's body. When the last one was assimilated into its new host, Tsukune snapped out of his reverie and looked around in alarm.

"What was I doing?" he asked himself, the soothing voice had vanished as did the remnants of the bats. "Oh right," he recalled he was trying to evade Kyouko's hawk-like watch over him. He quickly ran off to another part of the park, eager to experience as much as he could while he was still able to.