A FIRE THAT BURNS UNNOTICED
Chapter 3 - If You Love Me, Won't You Let Me Know?
The barren and frozen tundra of Point D, in one of the farthest corners of the North Pole. A constant storm that bruised the skin, snow up to one's knees, and a cold that could freeze blood flow inside the veins. The sight and feelings were eerie on their own, but for Sailor Mars, it brought the worst possible memories. A reminder of one the cruelest battles she engaged as a Sailor Guardian, deeply enthralled in her mind and made visible once more. The crystalline trees formed out of explosions of sheer energy, upon which laid dead the heroines that gave it all to save the world from the clutches of the wicked Queen Beryl, were somehow multiplied across the landscape. Fear took over her soul, for it also brought the painful memories of her own fiery death.
Even as she tentatively walked through what she knew was just a dream, curiosity got the best of Rei's inner self as she walked with difficulty through the snow and the storm that scourged the land and her body. In the dark horizon, Rei saw a male figure being held by his arms by what seemed to be vines. Her blood ran cold from head to toe as soon as she recognized who it was.
"...Yuuichirou!?"
It was indeed the caretaker of the Hikawa Shrine - His long scruffy hair and his usual day-to-day denim garments left no doubts about his identity. He rose his head with difficulty to address her. "Miss Rei... Please, help me..."
Sailor Mars was at a complete loss upon that sight. She remembered well of the trap that the DD Girls used in order to capture her fellow Guardians through the image of a person they liked to lure them into their clutches. She knew it was exactly a reproduction of what would have happened had she given herself to that trick... And what truly disturbed and paralyzed her was the fact that they used Yuuichirou as the elusive bait.
"If you don't come to me... Then let me come unto you," Yuuichirou spoke with a deep, malicious voice. His chest then burst into more of those dark vines that promptly trapped the raven-haired Guardian, too shocked to react against it.
"NO! RELEASE ME!"
As whatever took Yuuichirou's shape approached the trapped heroine, she noticed he had a malicious grin and hollow eyes that dripped some kind of bloody substance. "Your spiritual power is incredible... It almost runs over your own body. You could be the perfect host for the God of Slumber. Give in to my darkness, child..."
This is only a dream... Isn't it? Why can't I wake up? WHY!?
But just when this fake Yuuichirou was ready to put its clutches onto Rei, some kind of warm glare got in the way. She caught the glimpse of a hand reaching out to her before finally opening her eyes in the real world and release a loud and scared gasp in her continued unconsciousness.
(xx)
"Rei? Are you alright?" Her grandfather concernedly asked just outside her bedroom, as he heard her ranting and raving on her bed.
"Ungh... No, please... I, I wanted to... Yuuichirou... GAH!" The girl got up all of a sudden, and only breathed her sigh of relief upon realizing she was awake, alive and well inside her own bedroom.
The old man suppressed his curiosity over what his granddaughter just spoke about in her sleep and went to her side to offer some aid. "There, there, Rei... It's alright now. You must have had one heck of a nightmare."
"Y-yeah... That's it," Rei agreed as she recovered her breath and wiped off the droplets of sweat that formed on her forehead. "Grandpa, could you please bring me over a piece of paper and a pen from my desk?"
Grandpa Hino diligently obeyed, and upon handing Rei the asked items, he curiously asked: "Why do you need those?"
"I'm gonna start a dream log," she swiftly answered. "I've been having weird dreams lately... And I think they have some meaning behind them."
"Ah, I see..." Somehow, it didn't sound all that strange to the old priest. "Well, don't rush yourself, okay? I'll be preparing breakfast today."
As soon as her grandfather left, Rei started to frantically jot down what she had seen in her nightmare, or at least what she remembered of it. The images of the battle, the icy elevated tombs of the Sailor Guardians... The image of Yuuichirou captured and serving as a trap, the fact she got caught despite knowing of the danger it entailed, the red crystal and the hand that grabbed her to safety...
The last part was written without her even noticing. It had to mean something, and the flames of destiny would have to help the young miko in her quest for truth and peace of mind... But only after breakfast. The grumbling of Rei's empty stomach was a bit more urgent in that moment.
(xx)
"How is it going between you and Touya?" asked Grandpa Hino while chewing on a slice of blood orange. Up until then he and Rei ate their breakfast silently, and the question came out of left field to the point of briefly startling the girl. "Don't you feel something strange from him?"
"Other than increasing affinity? No, I don't..." Rei found it weird that her grandfather would ask that all so suddenly during breakfast. "Why do you ask me that?"
"Well, I know you can sense strange vibrations out of people's psyches, and so do I despite my age. I feel one such aura from him, and I find it perplexing that you don't."
Rei held her discontent as best as she could, though she couldn't help but huff out a sigh. "Listen, grandpa... I don't know what is it about Touya that inspires distrust in people, especially since we started going out together. But I like him, okay? We found out we have a lot in common already. Him and I are trying our best to make this work out into a calm and decent relationship."
A lot in common, huh? Rei's grandfather muttered that choice of words under his breath. "Well, alright. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to judge Touya without even knowing him, I just want to be sure he won't try anything funny with you."
"He won't, I guarantee you," the raven-haired girl spoke out as she prepared a tray with sliced fruits, buttered toast and a cup of coffee. "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna give Yuuichirou his breakfast."
As Rei left, her grandfather couldn't help but keep thinking of that budding relationship. For all I know, this Touya kid could be a fine person, worthy of her and all... But somehow, I don't see him as being compatible with Rei. I wonder why, though? Well, I just hope this is just a misguided hunch, and not an omen of something dangerous.
(xx)
When Rei arrived at the guest room, she saw Yuuichirou sitting on his futon with his back uncovered, frantically shaking his right arm around the crotch area, panting and heaving as if he was in physical exertion.
The sight gave douche chills up Rei's spine, and she almost dropped the food tray out of pure shock. "Yuuichirou... What in all hells are you doing!?"
"EEK!" The young man immediately shouted out and dropped far away some kind of book, then turned around to face her. "M-M-Miss Rei, I... Uh, I didn't expect you..."
Only then did Rei realize he was still in his sleeping boxers, with no sign of arousal anywhere. As a matter of fact, it was Rei who felt once more that kind of heat in her erogenous areas upon seeing Yuuichirou almost in the nude, his physical attributes once more in plain sight. Not this again...
"Oh, Yuuichirou..." She almost let out a passionate sigh while addressing him. "Why are you not dressed up? It's pretty cold in here..."
"Eh, I don't feel that cold. I simply thought of solving some math questions before getting ready for work. You caught me as I was erasing some wrong calculations here." He justified himself as he rubbed the back of his head as he usually did. His biceps contracted into a shapely ball, which Rei stared at without even noticing.
"Calculations...? Oh!" Rei shook off her own reverie, then noticed the textbook he ended up tossing as soon as she addressed him. In an act that mixed instinct and courtesy, she put the breakfast tray on the wooden floor beside her, entered the guest room and picked up the math book. She didn't even notice it, but Yuuichirou also went to the corner of the room where the book flew to retrieve it, and their hands and gazes met.
They looked at each other in complete silence. Their lips trembled, and their faces flushed with the warm blood that a burst of emotion usually flows straight from one's heart, even as they got up at the same time holding different sides of the open math textbook.
"So, uh..." Rei finally spoke out, ever so softly and awkwardly. "Why... Why were you studying math again?"
"I wanna try university entry tests later this year, and I study whenever I can," the young man picked up the conversation once more.
Rei didn't even know he was already graduated from high school. For all she cared, Yuuichirou had no pretensions of being anything more than a Shinto priest apprentice, as if it was a low undesirable aim in and of itself. "And why have you never told me about this?"
"Because you never bothered to know about me further than the absolutely necessary."
If she could, Rei would have dropped on her knees out of weakness. In all those years where he lived as a guest, she always thought he was a freeloading bum with no pretensions of going further in life, and there he was proving her absolutely wrong. "...You're right. Sorry, Yuuichirou."
"Hey, why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong..."
"I sure did..." Rei's voice came out with a bit of resignation and shame. "I came up with a very harsh assumption of you. And you know what they say, when you assume, you make an ass of you and me." A short moment of awkward silence followed, during which Rei picked up the breakfast tray and put it over Yuuichirou's desk. She dry-gulped, took a deep breath, and made a proposal without looking at him: "Tomorrow... You can have breakfast with us, okay?"
Hearing that sparked the young man's spirits almost immediately. "Really?"
"Of course! But don't get big ideas, eh?" Little by little, the usual Rei started to appear to make demands. Only then did she turn around to face the temple's servant. "Now, you better not take long to get ready, because the Shrine is gonna open soon."
Rei then left in wide steps, feeling somehow relieved and yet still amazed at how that misunderstanding ended up revealing more about Yuuichirou than she expected, and not in a physical erotic sense, despite what her own body reacted to. All she had to do to get ready for her day was another bath... And perhaps relieve herself from the arousal that the entire situation enticed on her. Somehow, the image of Yuuichirou in her mind was no longer as bothersome as it was not long ago.
"Oh no, I won't!" the Guardian of Fire affirmed to herself as she pushed her own hand away from between the legs. She did not think of herself as a puritan despite her Shinto heritage, but did not think pleasing herself was apt for her. Especially before getting ready for school.
As for Yuuichirou, he went for a shower in the guest bathroom, feeling some confusion over that situation earlier on. Deep inside, he hoped he had made some progress with Rei, but he shook off his own desire as soon as he stepped out of the box, dried himself and put on his yukata. Again with the push-and-pull game, huh? I should know better than this. I better not get my hopes up...
(xx)
"Brother?"
"Oh... Touya, is that you? Oh my, how nice it is to hear you again! How have you been?"
"Eh, I'd love to say things are fine with me and Mother, but... It's incredibly complicated. This is why I'm talking to you from a payphone. I'm pretty sure they wiretapped even the bathrooms back home. And besides, I have no one else to talk to, and be myself..."
"Well, I have about ten minutes before my lunch break is over. Think it won't take that long?"
"No, don't worry. I'll make it brief. Basically, I am to court and date the daughter of the pigfucker that killed our father. The idea is to eventually become her fiancé, thus becoming an official liaison with the Hino family, so that Minami-gumi can take a stake of his political decisions and grow our influence in the Kansai region without the authorities breathing down our neck. Mother argued that killing him would be too easy, so she would rather have us hold him by the balls."
"Gosh, I... I don't even know what to say. Listen, I can understand why our mother would order you to follow this plot, and I can see why you would go through this. I could never deceive anybody like that, especially a young woman. You have the most aptitude for the Yakuza lifestyle, whereas I was always a weakling..."
"Don't say that, Shinya! It took a lot of guts to face Mother and have her relieve you of your duties."
"Let's face it, she let me go because I'd be a hindrance to Minami-gumi. But I don't see it with a bad hindsight, oh no. In a way, living as an average salaryman in Kyoto, with its ups and downs, has been a hard but humbling experience."
"That's the problem with me... I don't do this because I want to. This is more of a duty I have with the family and the group more than my own will. Most of all, I don't want our father go unavenged. Yet... I feel that the Senator's daughter does not deserve to be treated like this. She is a lovely and strong lady, and she's not at fault for her father being a murderous sleazebag."
"...Do you love her?"
"I, uh... Well... That really came out of left field, and, uh... No, not really. I mean, not in the romantic sense."
"Huh... In this case, the only thing I could possibly recommend you is to come clean to them. To Mother, and to your would-be fiancé. Or at least, not saying anything to Mother and try another way to hit Senator Hino somehow."
"Rei will hate me forever if this happens."
"It will be a huge hit to your external image, but it's either that or make her suffer. You are at a crossroads and time is passing by... You can't stay in that situation forever, you'll have to make a decision. And from what I can infer, you don't want to take the easiest route."
"You're right... Absolutely and painfully right. This is why you will always have my love and respect, Shinya. Thank you so much for this..."
"Heh, heh... Geez, that's sweet. Thank you for putting your trust in me. Perhaps I wonder if I'm the only one who knows the real you. Now if you excuse me, I gotta return to work. Be safe now, Touya."
As soon as he hung the phone, Touya felt just as nervous and uncertain as he was before talking to his older brother. The nervousness was so strong on the young yakuza's head that it literally caused him to hear a buzz in his ears and feel a stinging migraine through his head. I don't want to hurt Rei... But I don't want to disappoint Mother, nor let her father off the hook for killing mine. What do I do now?
The answer, of course, was to call Rei and explain the situation - Even if it meant to figuratively "break up" with her. To his momentary relief, his wallet had large value Yen bills but no pocket change, so he couldn't make that phone call and talk to her... At least not on that moment. He went back to his office with a cold and worried expression on his face.
(xx)
The thin coat of ice over most things and the all-white sky across the Tokyo region, not to mention the temperature teetering 10 degrees, indicated that winter was just about to start.
Such weather would call for a cozy retreat indoors, preferably with hot beverages and without doing much beyond the necessary. Such was mostly the case for the Sailor Guardians, except they tucked themselves into Rei's room to study for their upcoming semester tests. But neither the mood nor the will to stuff noses into textbooks were there. At the very least, they could count on their best winter fits, an electric heater and a kotatsu as a centerpiece.
Perhaps those luxuries were more harmful than good for their academic intentions, since after half an hour of silent reading, all of them felt out of place and incredibly lazy in such conditions.
"Am I the only one here who's not really focused?" Makoto spoke out and promptly yawned.
"Me neither," Minako confessed.
"Me three!" Usagi promptly raised her hand.
"You don't count," Rei playfully retorted. "But seriously, we are all kinda tired, aren't we? I thought I was the only one..."
"I admit even I am too tired to keep on reading," said Ami. "Especially on such a cold day."
"School should be canceled as soon as the first snowflake falls on the floor," the leader of the Guardians suggested in all earnest as she wiggled a pen with the tips of her fingers.
"Heh, classic Usagi," jested Makoto. "But seriously, I've been feeling kinda tired since the morning. It's like I didn't sleep well tonight, even though I went to bed and got up at the usual times. Matter of fact, neither did my neighbors."
"Incredible, so did I!" Minako reminded. "My parents were even grumpier than usual, and they spent all morning complaining of tiredness."
"And my mother had to drink extra coffee on breakfast to even step out for work," finished Ami.
"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Artemis interjected. "This may be the influence of the enemy, since whatever it is, it interferes with people's dreams."
"Oh, speaking of the enemy... What did you girls find out about it?" asked Luna.
"There's plenty of folk tales around the world about things that attack people in their dreams," Rei answered, thinking of her own findings. "For instance, there is the Baku from our own country, that feeds on nightmares. But that doesn't explain why its victims transform into fearsome creatures."
"Incubus and succubus, maybe?" Minako reminded.
"Those invade lewd dreams and suck out vital energy," Artemis described to dispel the hypothesis; To him, it was no surprise that the Guardian of Love would cite these particular creatures.
"I still think it's something from Greece," Usagi remembered. She naturally didn't research a thing, but did come up with her own conclusion based on the fact that the new enemies are called Oneiroi.
Instead of objecting, Ami remembered her own findings. "Out of Greece, there are a couple of Gods known: Hypnos and Morpheus, respectively responsible for sleep and dreams. There's also Phobetor, responsible for nightmares, but his own existence outside of a few texts can't be ascertained."
"I believe this is our best clue," Makoto commented, to which the others agreed. For her part, Usagi couldn't hide her own pride in being useful.
"Then it's settled! Next time one of those things attack, we'll try to call it by one of those names," Rei promptly affirmed as she got up and picked up her felt jersey. "If it responds, we know it's a God we are facing. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go for some hot cocoa."
The mention of hot cocoa perked up the Guardians' attention for the first time in the entire session, especially Usagi's. Rei stepped out of the Hino residence in large and excited steps after the warm beverages in the main building, but as she passed by the front porch of the Hikawa Shrine, she noticed the usual movement of visitors. Even in such harsh climate, devotees and tourists still came by the Shrine, and Yuuichirou gladly appeared to service them with their needs. He even wore thermal clothes beneath his yukata to withstand the cold and the graupel that still fell in small specks.
But what truly disturbed Rei to her core was that the faithful servant was gladly attending to a gaggle of schoolgirls, all of whom seemed delighted with the tour across the sacred grounds and with the charms that Yuuichirou sold them. They laughed, they conversed, and Yuuichirou in particular seemed to have the time of his life, even visibly winking at some of the girls from behind his shaggy fringe.
Reason did not hit Rei as she stood paralyzed and burning from the inside. She let out her frustration as soon as the schoolgirls started to climb down the stone steps that led to the front yard. "Ugh... Why, you lech!"
"Oh, Miss Rei?" Yuuichirou finally noticed her presence. "Something wrong?"
"Just what the hell were you doing with those girls?" She lashed out as if personally insulted. "Don't you know you're strictly forbidden to flirt with visitors!?"
"Huh? Where did you get that?" He baffledly asked back. "They came to visit the Temple and I gave them a tour across the grounds. I even sold them some love charms, and they all left happy, you see?"
"Really now... And you expect me to believe that?"
"Miss Rei, what has gotten into you?" he spoke out with an unusual tone of disapproval. "You know very well I-"
"Don't talk back to me! You just wait when grandpa hears of this! And forget the breakfast tomorrow, you jerk!" . Yuuichirou could only stand behind without knowing what to do or even how to react, as he usually stood whenever Rei chastised him for one reason or another.
"Pssst, just between us... She's jealous." As the group of schoolgirls was leaving the Shrine, one of them whispered to her closest friend about Rei's outburst, to which she responded with a muffled giggle. None in the contingent of young women went away without noticing the tension of the situation.
Seriously, why do I dream of that useless jerkwad? Rei complained to herself as she boiled the milk and put the cocoa mix and the sugar cubes in the cups. Touya is twice the man and three times the hard worker he is! It's him that I should be concerned about, not that... That, that... That feckless oaf! Dammit! She was so lost in her contradictory thoughts that she ended up letting the milk run over the boiler.
Only as she stepped out of the kitchen with the hot cocoa cups did it dawn on Rei she had no real reason to act like that. What the hell did I just do? I most likely shooed away the visitors! By the kami, what's going on with me? But by the time she returned, it was completely empty. If not for the slightly messy bed and the scattered books across the floor, it would be like no one was there at all in the last half hour.
"Just wonderful... Where did everybody go?" Rei was such an emotional mess at this point that all she could to was shake her head and put her hands akimbo in complete confusion. Thankfully for her, the answer she sought came when her communicator emitted a distressing signal.
"Luna? Where are you? Where is everyone?"
"Down two blocks south of Hikawa Shrine, on the Kumon street," the wise cat spoke out with agitation. "We got ourselves not one, but two Oneiroi! Come quick!"
The urgency of the situation managed to dissipate any other thought that plagued Rei at that moment. She quickly left the premises and darted out to where Luna had advised.
(xx)
The Oneiroi mentioned by Luna were two female humanoids based on Japanese folklore - One was a Yuki-onna, whose mere presence froze almost everything around her. The other one was a ghoulish Yurei that reeked of rotten tissue, had a large blood stain across her bosom and whose face skin was so tight it looked like a bare skull.
The call to action was given by Sailor Saturn, the only one of the Outer Guardians still in Tokyo that week. On her own, she was able to take only one at a time, and even then it got up quickly. There was no other way for the Guardian of Death but to call for reinforcements. Thankfully for her, the Inner Guardians answered quick to her emergency call.
"Great timing, girls!" The young Guardian commended. "Wait, where is Mars?"
There was no time to answer Saturn's question, as the Yuki-onna blew a soft gust of air that froze mostly everything ahead of them, incling the Guardians. They weren't paralyzed, but the ice that covered their bodies greatly hindered their movements. It even closed shut the eyelids of Sailors Jupiter and Venus, while Sailor Moon could barely lift her arms and point the Artifact towards the enemies.
"This is terrible..." lamented Artemis as he and Luna ran to hide behind.
"Going somewhere?" the Yurei appeared in front of the cats, and struck them down with a swipe of its large tongue.
"What... What are we gonna do?" Sailor Saturn questioned as she barely kept herself on her feet while using her Silence Glaive as a crutch. The situation seemed hopeless... Until a familiar voice came shouting from afar.
"FIRE SOOOOOOOUL!"
An enormous influx of pure fire crossed the extension of the street and fully hit both Oneiroi at the same time, pushing them back with violence. The heat of Sailor Mars' attack was enough to thaw away the frost over anything that drew close to it, including the Guardians' bodies, making them mobile again.
"What in blazes was that!?" spoke out the Yurei.
"You said it! It's the blazes of the one and only Sailor Mars!" she proudly affirmed as she jumped towards the ceiling of a nearby shop. "And in the name of Mars, I shall chastise you!"
"Aaargh! I'm melting! I'M MELTING!" screamed the Yuki-onna as it tried to fend off the flames that made its body start to unravel. The Yurei released pained screams in the meantime. Emboldened by the sudden shift of the battle's tides, the Sailor Guardians released a flurry of their best attacks that completely knocked out the Oneiroi.
"Way to go, Mars!" celebrated Sailor Moon as she climbed down the building she jumped off to.
"Sorry for the tardiness," the Guardian of Fire justified herself while catching her breath. "I didn't realize Luna meant the street that had the Kumon school in it, and not Kumon Street itself."
"Don't worry, what matters is that you appeared and you did a great job," spoke out Tuxedo Mask, who had just arrived at the scene. "Looks like you took care of it on your own just fine. Sailor Moon, you know what to do!"
The leader of the Guardians nodded and pointed the Artifact towards the shaken Oneiroi and called for the Moonlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. Once the evil Oneiros magic was purified and the real people behind the creatures plummeted to the floor did they go to their aid. And once again, those were faces with which Sailor Moon was already acquainted - The Yuki-onna was Yuuri Ishinomori and the Yurei was Maki Sakuraba, her former classmates from middle school.
"Girls, are you alright?" she asked them to no answer.
"They're unconscious... But not gravelly hurt," Sailor Saturn noticed as she and Tuxedo Mask picked them up. "We better send them to the hospital, they're most likely suffering from hypothermia."
"Good call," praised Sailor Jupiter. "Let's hope it's not too late."
"This is the part where I converse with you girls," once more sounded the voice of whatever it was behind those strange attacks.
"Hypnos, I presume," Sailor Mercury commented.
For a moment, the enemy remained in silence but eventually burst into a deep and malevolent laugh. "Ahh, you are as smart as you are strong and spry. I commend you for finding out my true identity."
"I knew it!" Sailor Moon somehow celebrated. "You better tell us now why you are attacking us!"
"Why would I do that?" The now properly-identified Hypnos scoffed. "I am enjoying this little unfolding game of ours. Especially since you cannot hit me directly in any way whatsoever, at least while I don't find a proper host. And even when I do find it, I'll be invincible anyways. I am the God of Sleep, after all."
"Brag all you want, big guy," Sailor Jupiter tried to counter-argue the boastful villain. "We have faced everything and we have always won!"
"That's right! Not even death itself could bring us down, what makes you think you can, heh?" This time, Sailor Venus swaggered.
"You have so far faced things within your control," Hypnos calmly explained. "But what about something that directly controls an entire aspect of existence itself? Something so necessary and natural to all living things, like slumber and dreams? Have you not felt so tired after barely sleeping that it affected how you handled this battle?"
To this provocation, none of the Sailor Guardians answered. Even then, they were all feeling deprived of sleep and out of focus, and likely they were no match until Mars' lucky strike appeared to save them in the nick of time.
"Sleep on this one tonight... If you can, that is. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" With this, Hypnos' presence once more faded away from the heroines' perception.
"Well, it seems that And... and-and-aah-AH-CHOO!" Sailor Mars bent over herself and felt a sudden weakness after sneezing.
"Mars! Are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Ugh... Yeah, just ah-AH-AAAAH-CHOOO!" Another sneeze, and this time her eyes and nostrils were taken with moisture. Even the glamour of her Sailor Guardian form seemed to be of no use to the sudden illness taking her over.
"I think you should also follow Saturn and Tuxedo Mask to the hospital," Sailor Mercury concernedly suggested her friend.
"No! I'm alright!" Mars quickly brushed her down. "I-ah... It's just a cold... Winter is beginning, isn't it..."
Since danger was taken care of, and the victims were already being transported to safety, the Sailor Guardians and the cats decided to disband silently to their respective homes. Sailor Mars detransformed and went straight home. The lights of Tokyo were already painting the city with their brightness as the night fell upon the metropolis, and due to this, the temperature dipped even more than before.
When Rei returned to the Hikawa Shrine, he saw Yuuichirou once more, as he finished the day's last sweeping of the steps. Both exchanged a silent look that mixed shame... And something else that they did not want to admit. Rei darted straight to her room, feeling uncomfortable in his presence once more. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, so she blamed it on the sudden cold she caught during the clash against the Oneiroi.
Her body felt so weak and battered, the raven-haired Guardian had no difficulty falling asleep upon plummeting on her own bed. She had time to notice the paper and pen where she scribbled down her recalling of the dream she had that night. I wonder what will I dream about tonight... I hope it's about...
(xx)
After that day's shift at his office, Touya went back to his home to finally call it a day. A cold and tense day he wanted to forget, even after talking with his older brother Shinya. Once again, he saw his mother Nikishi in the large living room of his family's mansion, sipping on a tall glass of fine wine after taking care of the group's most pressing issues.
"Ah, hello there, son!" she tipsily but gladly greeted Touya. "I can see it in your face that you wish for something. Ask and you shall receive."
He took a deep breath and blurted out what his chest could no longer contain: "Mother... I've been thinking, is there no other way to hit Senator Hino without resorting to manipulating his daughter Rei?"
Nikishi released a dissatisfied look to her son upon hearing what to her sounded like a nonsensical suggestion. "Where the hell did you get that?"
"I... Uh..." Her look alone was enough to leave Touya distraught. "I was just suggesting."
"Don't suggest a damn thing," Nikishi curtly retorted. "We spent years in the making of this plan to grab Senator Hino by the most valuable he truly has. You are not jumping out of this."
"But, Mother..."
"No buts! We've gone too far into this plan to just let go. You are not a soft worm like Shinya, or at least I believe you not to be. Prove me otherwise and go along."
Touya could not bear to talk back to his own domineering mother, so he bowed his head and resigned himself. "...Yes, ma'am. Forgive this slight."
Despite the confrontation, Nikishi still got up to stand in front of Touya and offer some semblance of motherly comfort by touching his shoulders. "Son, you need to remember... This is not just for me or for you. This is for Takuma Minamimoto. Your father, my husband, the leader of Minami-gumi."
The mention of his father shook Touya to the core. It was more than enough to convince him that Senator Hino deserved to suffer in eternal pain, but Nikishi pressed on: "This is our justice we are to deliver unto the man that killed your father, and there is no better way than through his daughter, his own flesh and blood. The same way he did as ours... Can I count with you on this?"
"Yes... Yes, you're absolutely right, Mother. You can count on me, always. Just..."
"Just what?"
"...Promise me you won't hurt Rei herself."
After some silent pondering, Nikishi quickly answered. "Yes. I promise you we will leave Rei out of this, as soon as we know her father is under our control. Don't think too hard of this, okay?"
For all his wrongdoings and his confidence when on his own, Touya still had the largest possible deal of love and respect for his mother and superior in the Yakuza hierarchy. Even if he knew she was very conniving and was not above using her own descendency to carry her business, all he could feel in his presence was a mixture of reverence and outright submission. A mess of feelings that only made him grow uneasier by the day.
Left alone once more, Nikishi sat down on the large ottoman near the centerpiece glass table and took the last gulps of the wine off her tall glass. She was satisfied as she could, as once again she managed to get things her way. Suddenly, the main telephone rang, and when the Minamimoto matriarch picked it up, her eyes shined with delight when he heard the voice of a certain person, speaking about a certain situation.
"Yes, Mr. Hino. Things are going swell, and Touya has no objections. Your daughter has none as well, right? Excellent. Let's seal this with a face-to-face rendezvous this weekend. We'll keep in touch, have yourself a good night." Hanging up the phone, Nikishi went to her own chambers to prepare herself for sleep. Once more, things had gone her way, and this time in a way she did not expect. "Heh... The fool seems to be into this as well. I do wonder what he has in mind to arrange this sham for his own daughter, though?"
(xx)
"Hypnos has advanced quite a bit already... and at most, the girls know of his existence and his modus operandi. He even attacked the Guardians in their dreams already! This is taking way too long."
"Patience now. Rei and the others are slowly coming to terms with their own feelings."
"But what if Hypnos decides to invade their dreams once more? The others and I won't be always there to save them in the brink of time. And what if he finds the physical host he is looking for? This will spell disaster for humanity!"
"Do not lose your nerve now. Not at this point. You and your companions may have not realized, but your actions have already activated something deep in the Guardians' consciences. They will get out of this in time. For now, let us continue make them explore their consciousness through their dreams."
"Indeed... But what worries me is Rei. She is stubborn as it comes, and still refuses to admit her feelings for this poor sap Yuuichirou. She needs to realize where her true love lies... And she needs to do it quick, before the God of Sleep takes over all minds."
Okay, for this week, the chapter's title comes from a more anachronistic song, but I always liked this particular lyric and it alone fit the theme.
Thank you very much to all of you who pass by to accompany this fic - Favs, followers and anonymous readers, you are all welcome!
litakino1987: Muchísimas gracias por tus aportes y charlas que me mejóran el día!
Su: Que te pareció este capítulo? Sé que eres una lectora bien exigente, así que me encantaría saber cómo encuentras la fic.
Next chapter: Rei and Yuuichirou have a much-needed heart-to-heart, and Hypnos finds his host.
Greetings from the Hospitaller Knight.