Kakyou's powers were weak and while he had been able to tell that Hokuto was hurting, it had taken too long to get into her dream. And now she was screaming and the Sakurazukamori was wearing that sick grin he had worn too many times and it wasn't what had happened but it still nearly made him scream too.
He grabbed Hokuto before she could fall, nearly screaming as he tried not to cry. "This is a dream! A dream!"
"K-kyou-chan," she choked out, trying to cling to him though the robes seemed to be weighing her down, pulling her down and away from him. Sakura was still floating everywhere, thick enough to obscure their vision. She tried to get up but the Tree had roots, the Tree had roots that grasped and it was pulling her to it by the ankle.
It was hard to hold on. When he had been in a coma, it had been simple to change dreams - but now, with his powers weakened and his mind clouded with panic, it was a challenge. Still, he focused on holding her tight, trying to keep from letting sobs choke his voice.
"Th-think of the ocean... the sea we share... this is a dream, you can change it..." He held his grip on her, unwilling to relinquish Hokuto to nightmare.
"The ocean?" she replied confusedly, her grip tight on his upper arms. "But...this is...this is Tokyo," the roots were gripping, going up her legs and pulling her down by the waist. "I'm dying, aren't I?" she asked, tears running down her face. "You said, you said that Sei-chan killed me, I didn't believe you, but I'm dying..."
They were floating in a sea of sakura and the Tree was relentless.
"You are not dying," Kakyou replied, starting to cry despite himself. "You can't. Not again... I can't let you..." The limited control he had was slipping. He did all he could, fighting off the tree with all of his mental power, but even he was dizzied by the flood of sakura all around.
Hokuto still had him, and she tried pulling herself away from the Tree, but it was difficult. "Kyou-chan, I promised to take you to the ocean, I promised," she clung to him, burying her face in his chest. "I'm going to take you to the beach and we'll build sandcastles and collect seashells and sit on a towel and have a picnic," the roots were recoiling, they were loosening and sliding away -- the sakura were turning blue --
"I promised, and I will," she cried out, and suddenly they were standing in the sea, seaweed wrapped around her ankles.
"There." Kakyou smiled softly at her, wiping away his tears with one sleeve of his kimono. "I knew you could get out. I'm glad, Hokuto-chan..."
He started to lead her towards the shore, enjoying the feel of water around his feet. It took him a moment to realize - in his own dreams of the ocean, the water had felt the same as his bathwater. Here it was cold and strange and filled with seaweed, with shells under his feet. This was a new dream.
Hokuto clung to him, the robes weighing her down like the sakura did. She shuddered, the robes suddenly a bathing suit, complete with a beaded tiara with a bracelet and large (very large - Kakyou's probably never seen beads this large) necklace to match. The wet sand clung to their feet and the dry sand was hot but Hokuto dropped to the ground anyway.
"I didn't want to die, Kyou-chan," she said softly, looking up at him.
Kakyou settled next to her, still in his kimono. His expression was one of concern, but there was still a hint of relief to his voice when he spoke.
"You did not. And you will not. Somehow... somehow the shape of destiny has changed. And this time... I can help you, if he comes. And you can guard yourself." He offered the slightest hint of a smile.
"I can tell him, perhaps," Kakyou replied, expression serious. "He may not know of me, but if he recognizes me as a dreamseer... He will understand, hopefully. At the very least, he will be wary."
He idly ran his hand through the sand, enjoying the feeling of the grains against his hand. Hokuto's dreams of reality were far more vivid than his own.
"He says when I joke around that he'd be able to sense if Sei-chan was the Sakurazukamori," Hokuto fretted, "So I don't know if he'd believe you...but!" Hokuto sat up, shaking her head. "No time to worry! Let's build a sandcastle!"
Kakyou blinked before climbing to his feet himself, his kimono instantly clean. "Sandcastles?" he asked, tilting his head. "I've heard of them, but... I've never built one." In truth, he was already looking forward to it, even if the change of subject had come as a surprise.
"Come on, then!" Hokuto bounded forward, then blinked. "We need buckets," she declared, "Buckets and shovels and a towel to sit on when we're done to admire our wonderful handiwork."
Kakyou nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, a few buckets had appeared, along with a few toy shovels and a folded blanket. He was grateful for the few pictures of summer scenes he had seen.
"Perfect! Okay, here!" She started shoveling sand then shrieked and ran away when a hermit crab poked its head out of the sand. "The beach is a dangerous place!" she yelled from her hiding spot behind a nearby boulder, then dove out and back to hiding behind Kakyou when a spider started crawling over it.
Kakyou's powers were weak and while he had been able to tell that Hokuto was hurting, it had taken too long to get into her dream. And now she was screaming and the Sakurazukamori was wearing that sick grin he had worn too many times and it wasn't what had happened but it still nearly made him scream too.
He grabbed Hokuto before she could fall, nearly screaming as he tried not to cry. "This is a dream! A dream!"
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"Th-think of the ocean... the sea we share... this is a dream, you can change it..." He held his grip on her, unwilling to relinquish Hokuto to nightmare.
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They were floating in a sea of sakura and the Tree was relentless.
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"I promised, and I will," she cried out, and suddenly they were standing in the sea, seaweed wrapped around her ankles.
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He started to lead her towards the shore, enjoying the feel of water around his feet. It took him a moment to realize - in his own dreams of the ocean, the water had felt the same as his bathwater. Here it was cold and strange and filled with seaweed, with shells under his feet. This was a new dream.
Hokuto's dream.
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"I didn't want to die, Kyou-chan," she said softly, looking up at him.
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"You did not. And you will not. Somehow... somehow the shape of destiny has changed. And this time... I can help you, if he comes. And you can guard yourself." He offered the slightest hint of a smile.
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"I can't let him hurt Subaru. I need to tell him. But...how would he believe me? I didn't even believe it, and it was you telling me..."
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He idly ran his hand through the sand, enjoying the feeling of the grains against his hand. Hokuto's dreams of reality were far more vivid than his own.
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She jumped up, brushing the sand off her legs.
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"Will those work...?"
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