42AN: I'm not sure where this idea came from and I don't normally write for Kekkaishi but I thought there was a good opportunity for some fanfictions in the five-year time-skip right in the first chapter. I have of course taken notes on all the names, as I always seem to forget them.
Cursed Dreams – Chapter 1
Yoshimori walked sluggishly to his nightly guard duty of Karasumori while drinking his tenth container of coffee milk. He had been lucky today as there hadn't been any need for him to go in early, allowing him to sleep until eleven o'clock. The twelve-year-old still disliked his job but took it much more seriously now. He did his best to train had and was improving more each day.
Madarao flew unwillingly behind his young master watching him in slight concern. It had been two years since the Yukimura girl had been injured and Yoshimori had been noticeably less enthusiastic to say the least. When he had been younger he would be happy to laugh and play with the Yukimura girl and other friends from school. Though, in the last two years he had rarely did anything but train, go to school, sleep and secretly bake cakes, which was his only enjoyment.
"Ahh, I hate having to stay up so late. I wish sleep wasn't required." The young Kekkaishi muttered wistfully. They were just reaching the school now; they had been slower than normal due to Yoshimori being so tired and waking up later. Jumping the gates, he noticed that Tokine wasn't there yet. "Nee nee Madarao, if we're late I wonder what's taking Tokine-san so long." Yoshimori asked to ookami-seishou. Madarao pretended to not hear the boys question, he wasn't supposed to care about the legitimate successor of the Yukimura clan since he was not only part of the Sumimura clan, he was the legitimate successor of his clan after all. The whole 'family battle' between the Sumimura and Yukimura clans had been going on for generations.
A few hours passed with only a few small yokai showing up, so small Madarao just ate them before he even bothered to alert Yoshimori of their positions. Around two in the morning Tokine finally made an appearance, though she didn't look herself at all. Her face was flush; her hair was out of place on her straw sandals were tied loosely. Normally she would take great pride in her appearance. "Eh, are you alright Tokine-san?" Yoshimori asked looking down at the older girl from a tree branch. She gave a quick look up like she was about to answer her but before she said anything she turned away with a "humph".
"Oy Honey, are you sure you should have come in today? You should have stayed at home and rested." Hakubi said watching his young master with great concern in his blue eyes. The inu-seishou was more loyal then Madarao.
"I'm fine Hakubi. Besides, it's not like that gaki could look after Karasumori by himself." Tokine put on a strong face and gave the Sumimura successor a taunting glare.
"Hey! I could look after the place for at least one night by myself! And I'm not a gaki!" Yoshimori yelled as he stood up from his perch, unfortunately he had stood up to fast and lost his balance and falling backwards off the branch. With a slightly evil laugh Tokine jumped away leaving Yoshimori sitting on the ground rubbing the bump on his head.
The two continued their patrols around the schoolyard with to trouble until about an hour until sunrise. It had been a calm night with no injuries. Tokine was feeling quite ill and was taking a break on the school roof. Yoshimori was walking around in the small forest area below waiting for any reports from Madarao. It was at that moment when both their heads shot up in surprise. A huge spirit force had just entered the Karasumori from the North.
At that moment Shigemori (a.k.a. Yoshimori's grandfather), was sitting at his office table working on writing something or other. At the same time as the children as the school noticed the presence he had as well. "Shuuji, watch the house! Something big is at the school, I'm going to check on the gaki." The elderly man said as he ran around the corner to the front door, tenketsu in hand. Shuuji barely had time to answer his father-in-law before the door was slid shut with a slam.
"So old man, you felt it too." A voice came from behind Shigemori. With a sigh he saw that it was Yukimura Tokiko (a.k.a. Tokine's grandmother). It wasn't like it was a surprise that it was the old lady.
"Of course I did you old hag, now lets just hope the kids can handle themselves until we get there." The old man grimaced. He knew that Tokiko and himself were both in good shape for their age but nowhere as good as they once were.
Tokine and Yoshimori watched as the demon in front of them took form. It was an odd looking creature, it looked somewhat like a human but covered completely in scales. It's hands and feet looked like a monkeys, but still covered in scales just like the rest of its body. The head looked like a lizards and it had a small stumpy tail. It stood as if on all fours and had menacing eyes.
"Tokine, how are supposed to fight something like this? It's way to strong for us." Yoshimori shook in fear as he watched the lizard creature in front of them. He had fallen to his knees, the spiritual presence of the creature was almost too strong for they young boy to handle. Tokine didn't seem to be much better. His mind was starting to go blank, he couldn't think of what to do but then he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. The scar on Tokine's right arm, seeing the terrible mark reminded him of his resolve and how he couldn't be a weakling like this. 'I can't let this thing hurt Tokine. I have to protect her.'
"What are you doing baka?" Tokine asked she was shocked at what Yoshimori was doing. He had stood up and was clenching his fist to try to stop the shaking that seemed to rack his whole body. However, what surprised Tokine the most was how, despite his shacking, had positioned himself in a defensive position in front of her. "How are you planning on protecting someone against this thing when you can't even protect yourself?"
"I wont let you get hurt again Tokine, you're already sick, I wont let anything else happen." Yoshimori yelled, Tokine didn't have to look at her childhood friend to tell that he was shaking badly; it was so obvious in his voice. 'Why is he doing this?' The female Kekkaishi wondered.
The creature interrupted the moment with an evil laugh. "I heard about the power of Karasumori but I never thought that it would be this powerful." It continued to laugh. "I'll have to deal with you two first so I can have this land for my own." Yoshimori stepped backwards slightly at those words but held his position. The demon pulled its head back then spat a strange liquid at them.
"You will not harm my Honey!" Hakubi yelled but the liquid hit him and he quickly disappeared. The demon took little notice of this and shot another ball of liquid at the two children.
"Ketsu!" Yoshimori yelled forming a barrier around Tokine and himself, but the liquid quickly dissolved the barrier and sprayed onto Yoshimori's shoulder. He screamed in pain but pulled Tokine out of the way before any got onto her.
"Yoshimori! Are you alright?!" Tokine yelled as she looked in terror at the wound on the younger boys right shoulder. The liquid had burned its way through the cloth and taken a large area of his skin with it. Yoshimori's breath was coming in loud gasps but he forced himself back into a standing position his hand covering the burn on his shoulder.
"I can still fight and protect." He cast another barrier around himself, this time putting as much power into it as he could.
"Silly human, you cannot stop my poison from reaching you anymore. It's already flowing through your tiny body, weakening you by the second." The creature chuckled, it prepared to blast more poison at the tow Kekkaishi.
"No, I wont let you harm Tokine! Even if it means I get injured!"
"Stop this you idiot!" Tokine was starting to get light headed, her fever seemed to have gotten worse as night had gone on and with all that was happening now it was only making it get worse faster. "You can't sacrifice yourself like tha-" Before Tokine could finish her sentence she fainted. Yoshimori turned around in surprise.
"No, Tokine! Wake-up, you didn't get hit by any of the poison did you?" he was panicking now. Madarao looked at the Tokine and could quickly tell that none of the poison had reached her. It was just the fever making affecting her.
"Stop panicking gaki, she's fine. She just fainted from her illness." He reassured the boy. Yoshimori gave a sigh of relief. Unfortunately he had lost concentration and his kekkai was very weak. The poison went right through the wall and hit Yoshimori Square in the back. It went strait through the cloth of his uniform and burned his back. He felt so much pain that he couldn't even cry out. The demon laughed with glee as he shot another sphere of poison at Madarao, making him disappear like Hakubi had.
Right as the poison hit Yoshimori, Shigemori and Tokiko appeared around the corner of the school. Yoshimori collapsed on the ground arms clutched tightly to his chest as he curled into the fetal position. 'Shit, we're too late!' The old Kekkaishi thought. He looked over at the creature that was now making its way closer and closer the Tokine and Yoshimori. "This should be quick, it's only a Sabojon. Too tricky for these two to handle but simple enough for two seasoned Kekkaishi." Tokiko grumbled in agreement.
"I don't think you realize the amount of damage that your grandson has, you really should be more worried." Tokiko said as she formed a kekkai to contain the Sabojon. With one quick metsu the creature's laughter was quickly ended. They walked over to their respective grandchildren. Tokiko could see that it was only the fever that had affected Tokine and there was nothing to really be worried about. Yoshimori on the other hand had not truly passed out. His eyes were shut tight and he was clenching his teeth, trying to stop himself from crying out in pain. He just wanted it to end.
"Yoshimori, hang in there." Shigemori said calmly to his grandson. He carefully removed the charred remains of the boy's top to get a better look at the burns on his skin. "This is bad, not only does the poison burn but it absorbed into the blood stream and causes the person the be cursed by terrible visions and ill health. It may not sound bad but the dreams themselves drain the person of all will power, reducing them to almost nothing but an empty shell.
"How can we remove the curse?"
"There is only one known way and that is to have another Sabojon remove it for you. However, the problem isn't that it's hard to find a Sabojon that will help you, it's that it's hard to find a Sabojon in the first place. They are very rare demons and normally very kind natured, but this one must have been affected by the Karasumori." Shigemori explained.
"I see… Lets' just work on getting him home so we can treat the burns."
Tokine lay in bed, just coming back to her senses. Her head was fuzzy and she couldn't think of how she had gotten from the school to her warm futon. The last thing she remembered was passing out… She gasped as she sat up. "Yoshimori!" She didn't know what had happened to him, the poison had hit his shoulder and the demon had said that it was already taking affect. She pulled her covers back and ran to the front door.
"Wait Tokine, where are you going?" The voice from behind her indicated that her mother had caught her.
"I'm going to see what happened to Yoshimori-kun." She turned around to give her mother a determined look. Her mothers face faltered, making Tokine's heart sink.
"It would be best if you didn't go over there right now, he hasn't woken up since the attack and his condition isn't any better." Tokine's eyes started to fill with tears. "Oh, deary! It's okay, he'll be okay." Shizue reassured her daughter.
"It's all my fault for going to the school last night sick. If I had stayed home he wouldn't have been like this. If he hadn't need to protect me, he could have saved himself." Tokine sobbed.
Shuuji sat on the floor next to his ailing son. Yoshimori had now been out for almost a full day like this now. His father-in-law had come bursting through the front door last night barking orders to get bandages and burn treatments. He had even woken up Toshimori to help.
Yoshimori was still in bad condition he had a burn on his right shoulder and a very expansive burn on his back. His breathing was shallow and he had a high fever. Not only that but he had not shown any signs of waking up.
He loved his wife and family but hated their job. It was very hard for him to see his son, as young as he was to be injured like this. An twelve year old should not have to go through this. He was also concerned about his youngest son, it had to be hard form him too, to see his older brother in such a state, and he was only six.
"Please… no, not them. Please don't hurt… them." Yoshimori muttered in his sleep. He seemed to be having a nightmare; it had started a while ago and seemed to be getting worse. Tears were starting to pour out of the corner of his eyes. Shuuji dearly wished there was something he could do for his son but anything he tried to do to comfort him seemed useless.
"Dad, is Yoshi-nii going to be okay?" Toshimori asked from the door. Shuuji hadn't even noticed that he was there. He stretched out an arm indicating to his son to come in. Toshimori hugged his dad, he didn't understand what was going on really, and all he knew was that his Yoshi-nii wasn't well. He buried his face into his father's chest, trying to hide from all the worries that seemed to berate him.
"Your brother will be okay, but he's going to have a hard time for the next little while so we need to be here to help him. Do you understand Toshimori?" Shuuji explained to the young boy. Said boy looked up at his fathers smiling face. He could still see the worry and concern that he had for his Yoshi-nii but he knew that his father was doing his best to hide that fact. The boy nodded vigorously. "That's a good boy. Would you mind going and getting some fresh warm water?"
"Okay Dad!" Toshimori said happily. He grabbed the bucked with the now warm water and carefully carried it out of the room. Shuuji sighed, he had still not heard from his oldest son Masamori. His father-in-law had sent a Shikigami with a message but there had been no word back as of yet. There had always been tension between the two brothers. Masamori, now nineteen, had always been the stronger Kekkaishi but he had not become the legitimate successor. Even considering that, he thought that Masamori would at least send a message back.
"Any changes?" Shigemori asked from the doorway. As if on cue, Yoshimori gave a low moan. He shifted under the covers, muttering something incomprehensible. "I'm working on a solution, until then there is nothing we can do for him." The old man looked more tired then usual. 'I only hope I wont have to resort to asking those Yukimura women.' The old man had his pride and if it was completely necessary he would ask for help from them, but he would like to avoid it if possible.
"Not really. He just keeps talking in his sleep. I don't want to imagine the dreams that must be tormenting him." Shuuji looked sadly down at his son again.
Tokine sat alone at the table. Guilt was not allowing her to sleep. Oh how she hated that feeling. There had to be something that she could do, but there was no way she could get over to the Sumimura's house without her grandmother noticing. Then it hit her, Tokine had to stop herself from hitting her head for not realizing it sooner. She had been sneaking over to Yoshimori's for years, even when she was little. Tokine hit herself mentally.
Well, I hope you liked it! I'm going to see how people like this and judge weather to continue or not. Then again, I might get a horrible response and continue purely for myself. Tell me if you see any errors. I did my best to find all of them. Please R&R!