Chapter 9

'We love you too much too let anything happen to you.'

Raito woke himself to the sound of someone bustling around. He heard the phrase but he didn't knew who could had said that to him. It held warmth and unconditional love that made him giddy. He contained the giggling that almost burst forth from his mouth. He turned his head to the side and saw Narumi tidying his room.

"Narumi." He whispered hoarsely. She spun around quickly and widened her eyes.

"You're awake!" he flinched when she accidently raised her voice. She muttered her apologize. She brought him cool water to soothe his parched throat.

"What happened?" he asked after a while.

"I don't know. I just came back from the shop to see you unconscious on the ground." Tears filled her eyes. "Don't scared me like that again. When I see you like that, I thought that…" she sobbed and cried on his chest. He squirmed but put his hand on her back nonetheless.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm fine, see?" he patted her back uncomfortably. She nodded but still sobbed harder. He sighed internally and let her cried. Moments later she subsided.

"Sorry." She whispered hoarsely.

"It's fine." He shrugged. He tried to raise his body to sitting position but failed.

"Raito, what are you doing?" Narumi tried to prevent him from sitting up but he shook his head.

"I'm tired to lie in bed anymore. I want to sit down."

"But you…"

"I'm fine." He insisted and glared at her sharply. She stiffened and took a step back in fear. He softened his gaze when he saw her reaction.

"I'm sorry. But I don't like to be confine in bed. I'm going to walk around." He stood and took a moment to get his bearing.

"I'll come with you." She was half way standing up before Raito shook his head.

"No, please. I need time to sort everything out. Sometimes, I had dreams that do not match with what you told me. I need some peace and quiet to try to remember and make sense of the dreams."

"It's just a dream." She whispered softly.

"But dreams sometimes come from our subconsciousness." He retorted. "Or is there something that you hide from me?" He crossed his hands in front of his chest and watched her reaction. He saw her barely concealed flinched. He furrowed his brow and filed it in his mind to be contemplated later.

"Alright. But be careful, okay?"

"Don't I always?" He joked to diffuse the tense situation. Her smile looked strained. Before he walked out, he patted her shoulder once to indicate that he would be okay.

He walked slowly along the path to the park. He inclined his head when the people there waved him. Almost everyone knew he was Narumi's fiancée. There were not many people at the park at that time. He sat on one of the bench there and sighed when his ached muscles relaxed. He closed his eyes to enjoy the peace. But the peace was shattered a while later when the sound of a crying child snapped his eyes open.

He saw a little girl fell down and scraped her knee on the pavement not far away from where he was sitting. On whim, he stood and approached the little girl. He knelt down and inspected her knee.

"It's nothing. Don't worry, you will be fine." He shushed her. Without thinking, he hugged her and patted her back tenderly. He didn't knew but he felt it was a normal thing for him to do.

"Rina!" a woman's yelled snapped him out of his reverie. He saw out of the corner of his eyes, a woman hurried towards them. He released her and turned towards the woman.

"Rina. What happened?" that woman checked the girl to ensure that there was no other injury.

"Your daughter?" She nodded. "She fell down and scraped her knee. Don't worry it's just superficial." Raito said to appease the frantic woman. That woman thanked him profusely but he just waved it off. He watched the woman led her daughter home with a small smile. That scene stirred some buried memories from his mind. There was a flash of a woman tended to her wounded son. He wanted desperately to believe that she was her mother but the memories were too swift for him to make sense.

"You're very gentle with that girl." He turned around and saw a young man standing behind him. He watched the young man wore an orange oriented uniform with an acronym of GUYS. He furrowed his brow when the presence of the young man struck a familiarity within him. He ignored him and walked to the bench he was sitting earlier. It was silence a while before the sound of footsteps following him. He smirked.

He waited until the young man had settled beside him. "What are GUYS doing here?" He asked bluntly.

"Oh, we're searching for someone. He had been missing for almost a month now." The young man sighed dejectedly. "Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hibino Mirai." Mirai beamed happily at him.

"Tohsaka Raito." He told him his name. He was having a fight within himself. Half of him wanted to be left alone but half of him wanted Mirai to stay and kept him company.

"You know, you reminded me of someone when you comforted the young girl just now." Mirai blurted suddenly. He glanced at him.

"Oh?"

"You reminded me of my mentor. He's the one who taught me when I'm little. He's always patience with me even when I've been a brat. Even when he's punishing me, he would always be gentle with it." He smiled reminiscently.

"Where is he now?" Raito asked curiously.

"Missing. He's the one who I've been searching. I miss him." He sighed and put his head on his hands. He didn't saw Raito had turned pale during that admission.

There was something in the tone of Mirai that sparked something in his mind. He faintly heard a voice in his mind.

'Master Taro, I'm going now. Will you miss me?' Someone asked cheekily.

'Yes, Mebius. I'm going to miss your tendency to get into trouble.' The other replied fondly.

'Taro. Mebius. Who are they?' Raito gripped his hairs tightly. He winced when his mind felt like it had been stabbed by thousand knives. He moaned slowly.

Mirai was startled out of his reverie when Raito suddenly lean forward while gripping his hairs. He saw his hands were shaking badly and his knuckles turned white with the force of it. He was shocked when he heard a low moan came from Raito.

"Raito? Hey, what happened?" He grew alarmed when he saw Raito to be in great deal of pain. He hesitantly tried to touch his shoulder. Before his hand came in contact with him, Raito suddenly straightened himself.

"I apologize. I have been outside for too long. I need to rest." He said stiffly.

"Do you want me to escort you home?" Mirai asked worriedly. Raito shook his head.

"No need. I can manage." He got up stiffly. He just took a step before he stumbled. Mirai managed to stop him from falling face down by grasping his elbow. The moment his hand grasped Raito's elbow, he had been hit with a sudden burst of powerful energy that seemed to come from Raito. It was too familiar that made him gasped.

"Master Taro?" Mirai gaped. Raito looked dumbfounded for a second.

"I'm sorry?" He frowned. He stiffened when Mirai suddenly rushed forward and engulfed him in a hug. He pried him off frantically. He unconsciously put some distance between them.

"What are you doing?!" He almost yelled in shock. He shuddered a bit from the unexpected contact.

"Master Taro, it's me. I'm Mebius, your student. Don't you remember me?"Mirai pleaded. He tried to take a step forward but stop when Raito step back in anger.

"I don't know what foolish nonsense that you spout but I'm out of here." Raito turned and walked away. Not to be deterred, Mirai tried to stop him by putting his hand on Raito's shoulder. That prove to be a mistake when not only Raito managed to evade him, but his face got acquainted quickly with the ground. He groaned and spit the mud in his mouth. He looked bemused to the red faced Raito.

"Try to attack me like that again and I will break every bone in your body. Do you understand me?" Raito hissed the words. His instinct told him to help the young man but he was afraid. The young man had called him Taro, just like the one in his memory. His heart break when Mirai looked lost for a second even if he didn't knew why.

"You really don't remember me?" Mirai asked, heartbroken with a tint of curious in his voice. He was pretty sure the older man in front of him was Taro, his master because he exuded the exact power just like the one he knew Master Taro had. Master Taro or Raito glared at him sharply.

"I don't know what game you're playing but it stop now. I'm out of here." Raito whirled and stalked away. Mirai looked at him for a moment before he decided to follow him home.

Raito didn't even aware that Mirai was following him home due to the state of his distracted mind. His thought was too jumbled to make sense of what had really happened. His head was pounding fiercely at the time that he reached home. He saw Narumi was waiting for him in front of the door.

"Raito!" She hurried towards him when she saw his eyes were unfocussed. He staggered and collapsed into her when she was near enough. Mirai almost blew his cover when he saw the state of his master but he held back. He was afraid of the reaction of his mentor when he saw he was being followed.

"Come on, come on. Don't ask questions. Bring him inside now." Mirai chanted under his breath while spying from behind a tree. A sharp pain made him glanced downwards. In his panic, he didn't realized that he had clawed at the trunk of the tree. He glanced at the pair again and sighed gratefully when he saw the woman half support, half dragged Master Taro inside the house. He leant his head backwards and relished the thump produced due to the effect of the back of his head collided with the tree. He needed some time to process everything.

He jerked in surprised when his communicator vibrated from his pocket. He composed himself and snapped it open.

"Mirai here."

'Mirai, where are you? You didn't check in with us. What happened?'

"I believe I have found Master Taro."