The next morning when Sakura woke up, she noticed a pair of feet and an all too familiar tail sticking out of Haru's mane. She gently pulled Cilan out and held him close, petting his head. "Seems like he had a nightmare and wanted to be with us... poor thing"

Breakfast was unusual as well. Normally, Cilan would scarf down several plates of donuts, but this time he only ate three from the first plate. Something was wrong. "May I be excused? I don't feel well..." "Sure son, go on." Cilan then went back to his room and laid down some more. His parents were just confused about what happened. "What's wrong with him?" "I think he had a nightmare last night..." Haru gave her a skeptical look. "What makes you say that?" "I found him this morning lying in your mane" "oh he was looking for comfort... I feel bad we weren't able to help him..." "me too"

Sometime later, while his parents worked, Cilan looked around the house to explore for a bit, when he came across some photos of Haru and Sakura, with a Zorua. "this must've been their kid from before. I wonder what happened to him?" He decided to go ask, highly curious now.

Entering the cafe, there was no one seated at the tables except his parents so he was free to walk around normally. Must be their lunch break. The two zoroark noticed him right away and hugged him close. "Hi Cilan, are you feeling better? Want anything to snack on?" "I'm fine, mom and I'll just have a glass of milk." "Coming up!~" as Sakura prepared his warm milk, Haru noticed that Cilan had something on his mind. "Something wrong, Cilan?" "oh no nothing, I'm just curious about the Zorua in the pictures with you two." There came a cluttering of dishes behind them. Turns out it was a touchy subject. "Um yeah that's our only son, Ame..." "What happened to him?" "He had left to go run an errand for us and never returned..." "I'm sorry for your loss..." "It's ok... you know it's a funny thing but Sakura and I thought that you were our son, reincarnated after all this time. You both have a couple of similar characteristics." "Like?" "You're both very friendly to those around you and you both love eating." "That's a strange coincidence if I ever heard one... but can I tell you both something?" "Yeah, you know you can always tell us anything." "Well, I never told my brothers this, but I had been having strange reoccurring dreams about a Zorua spirit..." "That's interesting... what do you two talk about?" "We never got that far cause I would wake up." At this, Haru nodded at Sakura, who had went to the medical cabinet to fetch some sleeping pills. She then emptied the bottle in the milk and added vanilla flavoring so her son wouldn't get sus. For an extra touch she added whipped cream. "Here you go, Cilan, drink up!"

He drunk it down and thanked his mom for the drink and headed back to the house... he only took five steps before collapsing. Haru sweatdrops at how fast the pills worked. "That was quick" "let's get him to bed and just wait to see what happens"

In the dream realm, there Cilan was alone, and there was a lone spot light on him. What was going on? "Hello? Anyone here?!" There was no response.

Something did happen though, a strange blue orb escapes from his body, and in the process reverts him back into a human. The orb then takes the shape of a Zorua. "Who are you?" "I'm the son of Haru and Sakura, Ame" the voice had a slight echo to it. Cilan was shocked. "Wait, why were you in my body?!" "long story short, we sorta bonded when that lightening bolt hit you that day you fused with that fox, that fox was me you tripped over, in another body." The boy just stared hard. "Yeah it's shocking, I've been living in your subconsciousness this whole time, in a sense subtly possessing you. All the powers of a kitsune, including the ears and tail? That's me. That uncontrollable appetite? That's me. I must say you make a great garbage disposal~" "HEY!!" Ame giggles mischievously at his reaction. "I'm just kidding! You should be happy you get to eat a lot more than normal!" Cilan started to say something, but decided not to, cause the Pokemon had a point. "Ok so why do you live in my subconsciousness, besides being bonded with me?" "It's roomy here and even if I could leave, I can't. I'm kinda forced to stay here..." "Well that sucks... the part about you being forced to be here, that is. I wouldn't kick you out." "Heh, you're alright for a human."

The two chatted more, including what lead up to Haru and Sakura adopting Cilan. Safe to say that Ame was shocked. "So let me get this straight, your brothers were perfectly fine after you all had dinner right?" "Yeah" "then sometime late that night, they suddenly changed? I must've been conserving energy and was asleep when that happened. Normally I see what you see." "I don't hate them for doing that to me, I'm still just hurt about it... cause it came out of left field." "I'm glad our parents found you, cause I'd hate to think of what would've happened if they didn't..." "Don't remind me..." then something hit Cilan. "wait "our" parents?" "Yeah they adopted you, didn't they?" "Yeah, but I thought you would be jealous of me getting all the attention." "After what your brothers did, that would be heartless of me. Plus for a human, you make pretty good younger brother." "Thanks..."

Outside, Cilan was smiling in his sleep, which to his parents was a good sign. In the dream realm, Cilan found out about how Ame died. Turns out he was going berry picking with his parents and found a nice pretty one they could use but it was on a tree branch. He climbed up the tree and tried to get the berry, but branch snapped and he fell into the river and washed away. His body was never found... "you drowned..." "Yes, and after that day, mom and dad opted to go to the human world for berries." "I don't blame them. The spot where you drowned would bring back painful memories." "Speaking of berries, I see you like mom and dad's baked goods." "They're so good... especially the donuts. Those have to be my favorite. Mom sure loves giving me plate after plate of them." Ame laughs at this. "That's the thing about mom, she wants to make sure her children are well fed." "Well she's doing a good job, cause I can't get enough of them." "Are you sure you're not getting burned out on them? You only had three earlier." "That's because I wasn't very hungry this morning. I had a nightmare last night and it scared me. I couldn't get it together." Ame rubbed his back with his small paw. "it's ok, it was only a dream, just keep your human life to yourself and blend in, and no one will suspect anything. Mom and dad literally turn you into a Zorua through their illusion ability. They can still see right through it to what you actually look like, but no one else can. You are literally a Pokemon here." Cilan had to admit that Ame had a valid point. Ember and Sparks only saw him as a Zorua and nothing else. Seems like he does blend in well thanks to the illusion ability. "Plus you practically have said DNA within your system, so you should be able to use moves." This got Cilan all the more curious and he decided to as Haru and Sakura about it later.

While they had been busy talking, the light within the dream realm had slowly been getting brighter. Ame took notice of this. "Looks like you're getting ready to wake up soon." "How can you tell?" "It's getting lighter here." "I guess this is bye until another dream session." "Yeah and hopefully mom and dad won't drug you this time." "Oh that's what happened?" "Yeah, you're not mad are you?" "Nope. If anything it gave me a more relaxed sleep, just kinda wished mom had gave me a heads up beforehand." They both shared a good laugh. "Cilan can you do something for me?" "Yeah sure." "Let mom and dad know what we talked about, so they won't worry as much. I know they'll still beating themselves up over me dying." "Don't worry, I'll let them know" "thanks"

And with that, Ame phased back into his host's body, once again turning him back into a kitsune as the light got too bright...

In the outside world, Cilan had woken up. When he looked out the window, it was late afternoon. He was out for a long time. He looked around and noticed that he was in his room. "Well, look who woke up! Hope you had a good rest" "I did and I met my brother..." At hearing this, Haru and Sakura wanted to know everything they talked about and Cilan told them everything. When he got done, the two zoroark were quite stunned and shocked. "Well I'll be... seems like we were right about Ame being reincarnated..." "Well I wouldn't say reincarnated, dear. More like Cilan is his host, since he doesn't have a body of his own anymore." "Either way our boy is back and we have an adopted son to look after as well!" "I say we have the best of both worlds..."

That night the family had dinner. It was a curry recipe that Haru wanted to make and try. It uses different types of berries: some spicy and some sweet. There was a very pleasant aroma throughout the house. Meanwhile Cilan had gone through a small change. Normally his eyes are a nice green color, but as of right now they're a teal color. Seems like Ame has taken over. The brothers must've came to a agreement on who can be in control at times.

Soon they were all seated and eating the curry. Cilan, or rather Ame, really liked it and had two more heaping platefuls. "Whoa slow down son! It's not going anywhere" "but it's so good!" Neither of the parents recognized that was Ame, and assumed that Cilan was just scarfing food down like normal.

Sometime later, Ame was curled up by the fireplace, sound asleep, while his parents relaxed in the den with him. "Dear, that curry was great" "thanks I'll have to make it again one day." "Looks like Cilan also got enough" Sakura snickered, as she pointed to the chonky fox. "He looks kinda cute like that, hopefully he'll sleep good tonight."

End chapter