#ars is always trying to coax me back into it but i explained that i would get too emotional bc i couldn't catch every pumpkaboo

[ellieellieoxenfree]

i miss writing but i also cannot find the magical combination of energy and motivation to write things so here's a kiseki/pokemon crossover wip from like, months ago i wish i could actually fucking finish

Chen Yi didn’t quite understand how he caught the Deoxys — he wasn’t seeking one out; he wasn’t even really looking to add a sixth Pokemon to his team when he already had his hands full juggling five others on top of school, the family business, and, of course, Ai Di.

Ai Di was nearly a job in and of himself. He had just turned ten, which in his mind was most of the way to adulthood, and it was all that Chen Yi could do to keep him on the rails. Nearly every day, he had to drag Ai Di away from Pokemon battles on school grounds — his team was still green, only two strong, and Ai Di had earned their immense loyalty but was less capable at controlling their vicious tempers. Chen Yi had needed to get good at dodging acid attacks from Ai Di’s Bellsprout and sweeping up dirt from his Oddish, who he suspected was deliberately making a mess just to be antagonistic.

He was at what Chen Dong Yang called a ‘difficult age,’ a charitable way of calling him a pain in Chen Yi’s backside. He was, of course, Chen Yi’s responsibility, because Chen Dong Yang was too busy with the running of Yiyun Meng to look after an extra child, and Ai Di usually did the opposite of what Chen Dong Yang said anyway. Chen Yi could get him to listen sometimes, but those times seemed to happen with less and less frequency these days.

So walking in the door with a Deoxys was the last thing he wanted to do on a Thursday afternoon. He was already consumed with thoughts of math tests and a history presentation and how to get Ai Di to school in the morning without drawing too much blood, and then it — well, Chen Yi wasn’t sure how it had happened. He didn’t remember encountering the Deoxys; none of his Pokemon were strong enough to counteract one so powerful; and yet there he was, coming home with it hovering a few inches off the ground right behind him and occasionally emitting an unsettling, machine-like sound.

‘Are you mine now?’ he said. ‘Are you staying?’

The Deoxys made another sound Chen Yi couldn’t interpret. His Swoobat chittered a bit. The others were peacefully napping in their Pokeballs, so whatever their opinions were on the matter, he wasn’t sure.

‘I don’t know if I can keep you,’ Chen Yi said. The Deoxys was a little taller than him, and it kept waving its long, thin arms at him in a way Chen Yi couldn’t determine was comforting or terrifying. Its eyes were sharp and perceptive.

He tried again. ‘Are you looking for something?’

The Deoxys looked at him and was silent.

‘I don’t know how to care for you,’ Chen Yi said, and his Swoobat divebombed at him with an irritated sound, plucking at the straps of his backpack. It reminded him, as it often did, of Ai Di — small, insistent, and sometimes a bit of a nuisance, but it had been the first Pokemon he’d caught and he was as attached to it as he was to Ai Di.

His backpack started sliding off his shoulders without warning. ‘Hey!’ Chen Yi protested, twisting around, only to have it slide off completely and open of its own accord. He watched a pocket zip open and his Pokedex float upwards and hover in midair. The Deoxys looked at him pointedly and gestured at the Pokedex with one of its — arms? Tentacles? Chen Yi wasn’t sure what to think of them as.

‘You’re a space virus,’ Chen Yi read aloud from his Pokedex. ‘And you have psychokinetic powers.’ He swore that the Deoxys looked a bit smug about that piece of information. ‘But what do you want with me?’

His Swoobat flew up to the Deoxys — for such a tiny Pokemon, it truly had no fear — and peered at it. After a few moments of examination, he returned to Chen Yi’s shoulder and dug its little claws into his shirt. ‘Don’t do that. You’ll put holes in it,’ Chen Yi scolded him, only to have his Swoobat ignore him as usual.

‘Are you hurt?’ he asked the Deoxys. ‘Do you need to show me something?’

No reaction. The Deoxys just kept watching him with that same inscrutable expression.

‘I have to go home,’ Chen Yi told it, pointing in the direction of the shop. This was a mistake; the Deoxys just immediately began floating in that direction. ‘No! No. That’s my home. Not yours.’

He found out then that the Pokedex was not the only thing the Deoxys could control, and he nearly lost his balance as it nudged him to follow. Every time he stopped or lagged behind, it made sure he kept going.

Well, it couldn’t be helped. The Deoxys, for whatever reason was there and had clearly become fond of him and wasn’t planning on disappearing, and Chen Yi needed to do his homework. He also needed to check in on Ai Di, who had begged off school that morning due to a stomach bug. Chen Yi was reasonably sure the stomach bug was a lie, but Ai Di had locked himself in the bathroom and refused to emerge while his Bellsprout and Oddish stood sentry at the door until Chen Yi had to rush to school to avoid being late.

An Arcanine was snoring lightly at the entrance of the shop. When it heard Chen Yi approaching, it woke up and shook itself before noticing the Deoxys and summarily bolting inside.

‘Don’t upset anybody,’ Chen Yi told the Deoxys. He wasn’t sure if that would do much good with a space virus with a mind of its own, but he would at least try.

The Deoxys, of course, just looked at him and floated after the Arcanine. Chen Yi heard Xin Hao shout in surprise, and he ran in.

Xin Hao looked flabbergasted. Next to him, Qi Xian was trying to comfort his anxious Arcanine.

‘Where did that come from?’ Xin Hao spluttered.

‘It followed me home,’ said Chen Yi, which was the truth. He felt a sudden protectiveness about the Deoxys, which was just floating about looking at its surroundings and occasionally making its odd whir. It wasn’t quite like any of the other Pokemon he had ever encountered; it had a strange, powerful energy he couldn’t quite describe.

‘His little bat isn’t scared of it,’ Qi Xian pointed out. This was true; Chen Yi’s Swoobat was fluttering around the Deoxys and chirping happily.

A door slammed and footsteps stomped. ‘I thought you were sick,’ Xin Hao said, just as a murderous Ai Di appeared at Chen Yi’s elbow. His Oddish and Bellsprout clustered at his feet.

‘Whatever,’ said Ai Di. He looked at Chen Yi, then at the Deoxys, then back at Chen Yi. ‘Is he yours?’

‘Yes,’ said Chen Yi. ‘I think.’

Ai Di thought for a moment, then kicked Chen Yi in the shin. ‘You’re the worst.’ Before Chen Yi could even react to that one, Ai Di stormed back to his room, Pokemon toddling behind him, and slammed the door.

The Deoxys floated off towards Ai Di’s room. ‘Don’t — ‘ Chen Yi scrambled towards it, and the Deoxys turned, its tentacles twitching questioningly. It tilted its head at him. ‘Go sit down, or — ‘ He stopped himself before he could mention a Pokeball. Would a Deoxys be willing to go in the Pokeball? Would this specific Deoxys? ‘Just stay there and don’t do anything.’

He could hear Xin Hao and Qi Xian laughing in the background as he headed for Ai Di’s room. He had to check behind him to ensure that Deoxys wasn’t following him, which it wasn’t, but he was stymied at Ai Di’s door by a glaring Oddish and a Bellsprout that was clearly gearing to hit him with its worst.

‘Ai Di?’ he called from a safe distance. Ai Di’s Bellsprout looked as though it was considering launching itself at his throat anyway.

‘Fuck off,’ Ai Di suggested from behind the door. Chen Yi sighed. Ai Di’s filthy mouth had been getting him into trouble at school so often that Chen Yi had been trying to train him out of profanity, but it wasn’t going well.

‘I just want to explain what happened.’

There was a thump of something hitting the door. ‘Go away and fall in a hole. I hate you.’

‘I didn’t look for the Deoxys,’ Chen Yi said. ‘It just showed up and now it won’t leave me alone.’

‘You’re so special,’ Ai Di shouted from the bedroom. ’The special-est.’

Ai Di’s Bellsprout took a moment then to jab him in the leg — the same one Ai Di had just kicked him in. Its effects were immediate; Chen Yi felt the sensation go out of his calf and went a little woozy. He leaned awkwardly against the wall to brace himself. It wasn’t the first time he’d been poisoned by Ai Di’s Bellsprout, of course. It didn’t happen every time he got jabbed, but the chance was always there, and it was particularly humiliating to have to have the older Yiyun Meng members step in. Still, Ai Di’s Bellsprout could only do so much damage. At its worst, it sent him to puke his guts out for a few hours or thrash about with a fever for a day. It wasn’t exactly enjoyable, and he tried to avoid it as much as possible, but he supposed he was fortunate it couldn’t kill him.

He saw the Deoxys’ orange tentacle out of the corner of his eye, and he shouted, ‘Leave them alone!’

Ai Di yanked his bedroom door open so hard Chen Yi thought he’d rip it off the hinges. ‘If your stupid — thing or whatever it is does anything to my Pokemon — ‘

Chen Yi tried to situate himself between Ai Di and the Deoxys, which unfortunately required him to hop on one leg and try to maintain his balance while his other leg dragged limp and useless. ‘No one is doing anything to your Pokemon, and you’re not doing anything to mine. Got it?’

‘I hope your stupid Pokemon eats you,’ said Ai Di venomously, slamming the door again.

Did Deoxys eat people? Chen Yi wasn’t sure. He didn’t think it even had a mouth. Did viruses need to eat? ‘Come on,’ he said to the Deoxys. ‘Ai Di wants us to leave him alone.’

‘And don’t come back!’ Ai Di shouted.

Deoxys watched him hop along slowly for a moment, and then Chen Yi felt himself rising up off the ground a few inches. ‘I’d prefer not to float,’ he said, and Deoxys dropped him back down. Chen Yi’s numb leg promptly went out from under him, and he ended up a heap on the floor.

‘He’s upset again?’ Xin Hao called from across the shop. ‘Qi Xian, get him the antidote.’

The antidote had an astringent odor and its spray was harsh enough to make him cough, but Chen Yi could feel sensation slowly returning to his leg. ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that,’ he muttered to Ai Di’s closed door.

He knew Ai Di wouldn’t speak to him again that evening. He tended to sulk for days when Chen Yi brought home a new Pokemon, and even though Chen Yi had tried to explain numerous times that he was older and had more experience with Pokemon battling and catching and that Ai Di would catch up, Ai Di refused to listen.

‘I have to go do my homework now,’ Chen Yi told the hovering Deoxys, as though it had any concept of what homework was. ‘Do you want to sit with me?’

It did, apparently. It stood next to Chen Yi’s desk while he studied his math problems and waited patiently as he read out his history presentation. Its complete lack of reaction when Chen Yi stumbled over his notes made him feel better, somehow. ‘You’re a very good audience,’ he said. Deoxys extended a tentacle and patted him on the head.

Ai Di pointedly didn’t come to dinner, which was good because Deoxys hovered behind Chen Yi’s chair the entire time. Chen Yi figured the blowup about it would have been even worse than when he’d brought home his Abra, and that had ended in plates flipped in laps and on the floor and Ai Di tearing his room apart before falling asleep on the floor in the tangle of sheets and clothes he’d thrown around. Chen Yi had carried him back to his own room and let Ai Di sleep in his bed, but Ai Di had still woken up early the next morning and crept out and gone right back to giving Chen Yi the silent treatment.

Chen Yi worried that Ai Di thought of it as a competition, which it wasn’t. Or if it was a competition, it wasn’t a fair one — he was older and bigger and stronger and faster than Ai Di, and all of those things played a part. He didn’t want it to be one regardless of advantage or disadvantage. Managing the five Pokemon he’d had meant being careful to balance his time among all of them, and the stress of it would be even more challenging for Ai Di. Besides, Ai Di’s Pokemon were fiercely devoted to him, while Chen Yi sometimes looked at his Lunatone or his Bronzong and wondered if they cared at all.

And now he had a Deoxys to contend with, who seemed to be attached to him, but to what end? Chen Yi felt he had to keep it, but he still hesitated to take out a Pokeball. Was it right to? Would he be able to take care of it?

He told himself he’d figure it out in the morning.

—

Xin Hao greeted him with breakfast and the news that Ai Di had slipped out during the night. ‘What?’ Chen Yi said, half-rising out of his chair. Behind him, Deoxys made a humming noise. Abra, napping a foot to his right, ignored it all.

‘He’s ten,’ said Xin Hao. ‘He’ll be fine.’

‘He’s supposed to be in school!’ Chen Yi said hotly. Certainly, getting Ai Di to attend classes without getting into a fight with a classmate or talking back to a teacher was a challenge, but Chen Yi’s parents had always stressed the importance of education to him and he needed to stress its importance to Ai Di in turn.

‘You’ll miss school if you go look for him,’ said Qi Xian. ‘He’s a man on a mission.’

‘He shouldn’t go out alone. It’s not safe.’

Xin Hao rolled up one pant leg to show a healing acid burn. ‘That Bellsprout of his begs to differ.’

‘And that Oddish doesn’t even care about him,’ added Qi Xian, gesturing at his Arcanine. ‘Never seen a grass Pokemon with so little fear.’

‘Let him be,’ Xin Hao said. ‘He’ll be back in his own time.’

Chen Yi scowled. He knew Ai Di could be better, if given half a chance, but the older members seemed content to let him roam free. Ai Di wasn’t their responsibility, though, so they didn’t need to care. Chen Yi had been responsible for bringing him in, and Chen Dong Yang had tasked him exclusively with looking after him as a result. He was torn. He needed to go to school, but Ai Di was reckless at the best of times and knew how to find trouble more often than a Zubat knew how to find a trainer in a cave.

‘We’ll keep an eye out for the little one,’ Qi Xian said. ‘Eat your breakfast. He’ll be alright.’

Chen Yi crossly ate his breakfast, and crossly got ready for school, and crossly informed Deoxys that it was not going to school with him. ‘Today is Abra’s day,’ he said. He had a very strict schedule about which Pokemon traveled outside of their Pokeballs each day and he hadn’t accounted for Deoxys yet. Besides, it likely wouldn’t be allowed in the classroom. The teachers generally frowned on larger Pokemon as a distraction.

Deoxys, of course, didn’t listen.

‘You have to stay home,’ Chen Yi told it, for the fifth time. ‘I’ll be back when school is over.’

Deoxys made its pensive noise and kept hovering. Chen Yi sighed and gave up. ‘You can’t go past the gates, alright?’

This seemed more or less amenable to Deoxys, who stopped patiently when they arrived at school and nudged him past the entry with one tentacle.

‘Is that a Deoxys?’ one of the older girls said. She had a Yamper sitting on her feet, which she immediately went to shield. ‘How did you get something like that? They’re really scary.’

Her friend, who was cradling a Pidove in her arms, shrank back. ‘Get it away from here. It’s gonna try and destroy the whole place.’

‘It’s not dangerous,’ Chen Yi said. ‘It’s been around other Pokemon and it doesn’t hurt them.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ said the girl with the Pidove. ‘It’s just trying to get you to believe that. It’s a killer.’

Behind him, Deoxys made its odd machine-like noise, a little sadly.

‘It could kill you in your sleep,’ said the girl with the Yamper. Chen Yi could see her backing away slowly.

A group of students was gathering, and the chatter was growing. ‘Where did you find it?’ somebody asked, while somebody else piped up, ‘I bet it could beat Mewtwo in a fight.’

‘It’s dangerous!’ one boy shouted, and another girl started crying a little and saying it was going to bring around the end of the world.

‘It’s not dangerous!’ Chen Yi shouted, planting himself firmly in front of the Deoxys. ‘It’s my friend. It found me and followed me home and it hasn’t done anything to any of my Pokemon. Look.’ He pulled out his Pokeball and released his Swoobat, who promptly went over and flapped around the Deoxys’ head. There was a collective gasp as the Deoxys reached one tentacle out to it, but it just patted Swoobat, to the bat’s delight.

‘For now,’ said the boy who’d called the Deoxys dangerous. ‘What happens when it gets mad?’

Chen Yi clenched his fists. ‘Only an idiot would make it mad. So do you wanna try?’

‘Break it up, break it up!’ a voice called. Mr Luo, Chen Yi’s history teacher, was coming over to the school gates, but he stopped dead when he saw the Deoxys. ‘What on earth?’

Chen Yi missed the way Xin Hao and Qi Xian had taken the Deoxys’ arrival in stride. Everyone here at school panicked about Deoxys trying to kill them, whereas at home, most of the men he lived with were convinced Articuno was a fairy tale. A Pokemon who, as his Pokedex had explained, was a space virus with unimaginable power, was treated with the same gravity as a freshly-caught Pidgey. If he’d tried to tell them Deoxys could blow up the whole building, they’d laugh him right out of it. As far as they were concerned, it was just a funny pet who could reach a tall shelf.

‘It’s a Deoxys, sir,’ one of the girls said. ‘He shouldn’t be here.’

‘That’s for sure,’ said Mr Luo. ‘You know the rules on Pokemon sizes at school.’

There was an immediate protest. ‘But it’s a Deoxys! Don’t you know how powerful they are? They — ‘

Mr Luo held up his hand for silence. ‘I have too many things going on today to learn facts about your Pokemon. The rules are clear. Whatever this ox thing is needs to go into a Pokeball or go home.’

Chen Yi turned to the Deoxys. ‘I need you to go home. Please. I’ll come home right after school. Just go home and don’t talk to anybody and don’t do anything until I get back.’

‘Listen to him,’ somebody said. ‘He’s so weird. It’s absolutely gonna burn his house down.’

The Deoxys looked at him for a few moments, then gave him its usual pat and floated off back down the street. Another flurry of murmurs followed it.

‘Now come on,’ Mr Luo said. ‘The bell’s about to ring.’

Chen Yi had to focus harder than usual at keeping his worry about Ai Di and Deoxys contained to sealed boxes in his brain. He was worried that Ai Di would get himself hurt — he’d spent plenty of nights cleaning up blood from split lips and scraped knees and it hadn’t even been a year ago that Ai Di had spent several weeks with a broken wrist over some incident he refused to divulge — and he didn’t know what to make of the Deoxys. It certainly was giving him no share of trouble, but he couldn’t just send it away. Unless it just left, which was a possibility Chen Yi didn’t want to consider.

Word went around that he had a Deoxys, which mostly meant all of his classmates giving him strange looks or avoiding him. A girl from two classrooms down asked if his Abra was safe with him, while his lab partner asked to be moved so that he didn’t have to sit next to someone who might be radioactive now. Chen Yi just tried to ignore them all and kept his head down. He would get through the day, he would go home, and then he would go figure out what to do with the Deoxys and he would find Ai Di.

—

The Deoxys was patiently waiting outside the shop, emitting a buzzing noise. Qi Xian was next to it, smoking a cigarette. ‘Does it always make this noise?’ he said.

‘Not always,’ said Chen Yi. It had been fairly quiet while he was asleep. It floated over to him and he let it give him its customary head pat.

‘It certainly likes you,’ said Qi Xian. After a wretched day at school, Chen Yi appreciated his entirely nonplussed reaction.

There was a rumbling as Qi Xian’s Golem rolled out into the sunshine. It yawned at Qi Xian, and he rubbed his knuckle into the ridges of its rocky surface. ‘New friend for you,’ he said, shrugging at the Deoxys. The Golem looked at the Deoxys, then yawned again and wandered over to sit in its usual spot, a slightly bowed bit of sidewalk. The Deoxys floated after it and ran its tentacle over the spot where Qi Xian had rubbed, which seemed to please the Golem.

‘He itches sometimes,’ said Qi Xian, by way of explanation. He took another drag off his cigarette. ‘And before you ask, no, Ai Di isn’t home yet.’

Chen Yi sighed. He knew that was going to be the case, but he had hoped against hope that just once, Ai Di would have been responsible enough to come home on his own.

‘Did he say where he was going?’

‘He said that only someone as foolish as Din Tai Fung’s xiao long bao would believe he’d tell us.’ Qi Xian laughed. ‘He isn’t very good at insults yet.’

‘He’s still young,’ Chen Yi said. ‘Leave him alone.’

His ears were burning when he went inside to go change out of his school uniform and gather his supplies for an Ai Di hunt. He knew Qi Xian was just teasing, but it bothered him when they did. Ai Di couldn’t help the way he was. He had started going to school so late that he was constantly behind other students and still trying to catch up with kids younger than him.

The Deoxys, which had followed him inside, poked at his ear. Chen Yi turned to swat at it, but it was just watching him with a curious expression. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Chen Yi said. He wasn’t sure what, particularly, it understood, but its buzzing changed tenor and it backed up a bit until he left the room, his school backpack swapped out for his trainer one, freshly loaded with antidotes and restores.

He had not the faintest clue where to start looking for Ai Di. There were plenty of places Chen Yi had found him in the past, but he had the feeling Ai Di wouldn’t go to any of the usual haunts. The Deoxys, though, seemed to have an idea, and Chen Yi just had to run to keep pace with it.

Chen Yi prided himself on being an active kid, but he was winded by the time the Deoxys started slowing. He was glad he had put on sturdy boots, because the Deoxys was leading him onto muddy, marshy ground. He kept a close eye out for wild Pokemon, but none appeared. Was the Deoxys keeping them at bay?

His heart stuttered when he caught a glimpse of Ai Di, still in yesterday’s red T-shirt, filthy up to the elbows with mud, crouching down with a Pokeball in his hands. He looked up and spotted Chen Yi, then scrambled to his feet, shoving the Pokeball in his pocket, and tried to squelch away as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the combination of unsteady footing and his shorter legs meant that Chen Yi caught up to him fairly quickly, and Ai Di immediately retaliated by hurling a handful of mud at him. Chen Yi dodged as best he could, but a good deal of it still ended up on him. Ai Di flashed a brief grin, and then went back to trying to get away. Chen Yi caught him around the waist.

‘Come on. You’re filthy, and we’re going home.’

‘Fuck you and fuck home,’ Ai Di hissed, wriggling furiously. ‘I’m going out to catch Pokemon and I’m allowed to. I’m ten, so you can’t stop me.’

‘I can too stop you.’

Ai Di kept squirming, and Chen Yi realized he was trying to work one of the Pokeballs free. He pinned Ai Di against him. ‘You know your Pokemon can’t beat mine.’

‘Your Pokemon are stupid,’ Ai Di panted, ineffectually kicking at Chen Yi. ‘Go be friends with your dumb Deoxys and leave me alone.’

The Deoxys floated in front of him and extended a hesitant tentacle. Ai Di stiffened. ‘What the hell do you want?’

‘Stop it!’ Chen Yi shouted at the both of them. He didn’t want Ai Di to antagonize the Deoxys, but he didn’t want the Deoxys to upset Ai Di more than he already was. ‘Can you just please listen to me?’

‘No.’ Ai Di did his best to elbow Chen Yi. ‘I don’t care what you have to say. I’m not going to school and I’m not going home and I’m going to go be a Pokemon trainer.’

‘The boss isn’t going to let you become a Pokemon trainer,’ Chen Yi said.

‘I don’t care what the boss says. I can do what I want.’ Ai Di finally broke himself free of Chen Yi’s grip and folded his arms over his chest. ‘Anyway, if you try to take me home I’m just gonna leave again.’

‘Where will you stay?’ Chen Yi said. ‘What will you eat?’

‘That’s a secret.’ Ai Di picked at a bit of mud that had gone dry on his upper arm. ‘I don’t need you, so just go home.’ His voice was wobbling a little, and he lifted his chin up.

‘I’ll miss you a lot if you don’t come home,’ said Chen Yi.

‘Liar.’

‘Did you catch any Pokemon today?’

‘None of your business.’

‘Okay,’ said Chen Yi. ‘You win. I’m going to go home. I’ll tell everyone you went to be a Pokemon trainer.’

‘Good,’ said Ai Di.

‘Good. See you, then.’ Chen Yi turned to go. The Deoxys buzzed in a low tone somewhere behind his shoulder.

This was a familiar game they played. Sometimes Ai Di would start following him immediately, and sometimes Chen Yi would be halfway home before he heard Ai Di’s footsteps trying to keep pace with his. But he always came home, and more often than not, he showed up in Chen Yi’s room in the middle of the night and crawled into bed like he was a little kid only half his age. Chen Yi always let him do it. The boss said he was indulgent with Ai Di, but Chen Yi didn’t care how indulgent he was if it made Ai Di feel better.

This time, he didn’t like leaving Ai Di behind. The arrival of the Deoxys had clearly hurt him, but Chen Yi knew it was no use trying to get Ai Di to talk about something he didn’t want to. Talking about it was something Ai Di had to decide for himself, and he usually decided that he didn’t want to do it at all. Still, leaving him on his own was a bridge too far for Chen Yi. ‘Come on, let’s just go home,’ he said, only to turn back to where Ai Di had been standing and find the spot empty. He could see a red shape moving at a shocking speed into the distance.

Chen Yi adjusted the straps of his backpack. As stubborn as Ai Di was, his energy wasn’t boundless, and Chen Yi knew his willingness to chase him would last a lot longer than Ai Di’s ability to run.

He looked at the Deoxys, and the Deoxys looked at him, and they set off.

—

The Ai Di they brought home was worn out and filthy, but still ready to fight. He’d dragged his feet at the beginning, tried one last escape attempt halfway through, and finally had just resigned himself to hurling filthy insults the rest of the walk. Chen Yi warned him off using that kind of language, and Ai Di only sneered and cursed more.

Chen Yi said, ‘I know you don’t want to listen to me — ‘

‘So I won’t,’ Ai Di interrupted.

It didn’t do any good to lose his temper, because that’s exactly what Ai Di wanted him to do. He ignored it and carried on. ‘Nothing’s different between us, okay?’

Ai Di stopped dead in his tracks and jabbed an accusatory finger at the Deoxys. ‘That’s different.’

The Deoxys reached out a hesitant tentacle, and Ai Di slapped it away, to Chen Yi’s horror. ‘Don’t fucking touch me. I don’t care if you’re…whatever you are. Don’t touch me.’

‘He’s just curious about you,’ Chen Yi said.

‘I’m not curious about him. I hate him, and I hate you.’

‘Would you like it if I were rude to your Pokemon?’ said Chen Yi.

‘I don’t have to be nice to him just because he’s a god or whatever,’ Ai Di said, which wasn’t answering the question at all. ‘He’s a stupid Pokemon for a stupid trainer.’

Chen Yi understood Ai Di’s frustrations. He was still early in his Pokemon journey — his Abra hadn’t even evolved yet! — and a Pokemon as powerful as Deoxys felt like it should be reserved for a trainer with a much higher stature than him. But it seemed to have chosen him somehow, for some reason, and he took his responsibility seriously when it came to raising his Pokemon.

‘Just because he’s here doesn’t mean I stopped caring about you,’ Chen Yi said. He caught a hopeful sadness in Ai Di’s eyes for just a second, and then it was gone and Ai Di scoffed at him.

‘Go train your dumb Deoxys. I’m busy anyway.’

He pushed past Chen Yi on his way back into the shop. Chen Yi could see his hands balling up into fists as he went.

‘I don’t want him to be mad at me,’ he said to the Deoxys, who put a tentacle on his shoulder and buzzed and chirped a bit at him. Chen Yi wasn’t sure if it was trying to offer comfort, but he decided to interpret it as such. ‘Thank you,’ he said, politely, and the Deoxys whirred at him.

—

Ai Di, of course, wasn’t particularly concerned with Chen Yi’s feelings on the matter, as evidenced by the fact that he spent the whole weekend out hunting for Pokemon. He was gone in the morning when Chen Yi got up, and didn’t come home until it was dark. Chen Yi struggled mightily with not following him. Keeping Ai Di safe was his top priority, but he also knew how wounded Ai Di’s pride was. It would take time for him to recover.

They exchanged not another word that weekend. When he did come home, Ai Di was sullenly silent with everyone at the shop. Chen Yi hated not knowing what he’d done or where he’d gone, which Pokemon he’d battled or trainers he’d squared off against. Selfishly, he wanted to know every piece of Ai Di’s trainer journey, and he knew Ai Di knew that too, which just made everything worse.

And then came Monday. Chen Yi had a feeling that Ai Di would sneak out early to skip school, so he set his alarm significantly earlier than usual to catch Ai Di in the act. All he caught, though, was an empty bed and a messy room. Chen Yi couldn’t even imagine when he could have left — the moon must have still been out. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon now.

He had tried to be patient, but Ai Di had already skipped school on Friday and vanished all weekend. Chen Yi refused to let him do it again. ‘You’re good at this, aren’t you?’ he said to the Deoxys. ‘Knowing where he is.’

He made sure his stocks were replenished and all of his Pokeballs were safely tucked into his bag and a note was left on the table for Xin Hao and Qi Xian before he set out. The Deoxys waited patiently at the door for him. It clearly had a destination in mind, which mystified Chen Yi. He wondered how far it could see, or if it had some odd sixth sense. There was so much about it that was an enigma.

[babbushka]

MaY i amend and resubmit: Flips wife getting possessive and very publicly staking her claim because the new rookie is trying to seduce her husband? Just ignore me if the idea is garage 😂

“Hey Jimmy, Ron!” You greet your friends upon entering the lobby of the station. “You seen my man?”

It’s lunch time at the station for Flip, or at least, coming up on the end of lunch time. Normally you’re there at the top of the hour, but there’s only twenty minutes left on his break and you’re looking around the bullpen to see if you can find him loitering around, waiting for you near the lobby in that way he sometimes does.

You’ve got the baby on your hip, who is entirely still snuggly and yawning from just having woken up from his nap, and your bag over your shoulder which holds the lunches you packed so lovingly for Flip, lunch that he’s now going to have to scarf down if he doesn’t want to get in trouble.

Jimmy comes over to you and happily takes the kid from your arms and kisses you on the cheek, letting you stretch your muscles out and re-adjust the strap of the bag over your shoulder. The baby fusses for all of two seconds at the shift from being in your arms to his, but then once he recognizes Jimmy and Ron he’s all smiles.

“Hi sweetheart, hey bud!” He’s very sweet in the way he talks to your baby, always so eager to be the best uncle he can be, before walking with you to the detective units, which operate out of a separate office in the station than the main bullpen. “He’s getting mic’d up in one of the back rooms.”

“You’re not doing it?” You ask the boys with a quirked eyebrow.

Jimmy and Flip and Ron were the three musketeers around the station, ever since the Klan case went so well. They all usually stuck together and worked together on cases, including doing all the set-up. You frowned for a moment, because you didn’t know that Flip was planning on going undercover today at all, and he’s pretty good about mentioning that.

“It’s not for real, we got a new recruit and the rookie’s gotta learn how to do it, that’s all.” Ron catches the look on your face and explains after he too kisses your cheek in greeting, making you feel ten times better.

“Oh good for him.” You smile, glad that Flip is being a good detective and being a helper.

“Her.” Ron corrects you, making your eyebrows shoot up.

“Her?” You ask in disbelief, shocked and proud in an excited way, a very happy way. The station was slowly but surely catching up with the times, and it was about fucking time that a woman was hired in a capacity other than a secretary. You wanted to take credit for it, being so annoying and badgering Bridges about pushing for more equality, but you knew this was something bigger than yourself.

Still you were smiling so wide, enough that the baby was making little happy noises and reaching for you to share in the excitement.

“Her.” Jimmy nods, patting the baby on the back and getting him to not be such a wiggle worm.

“Good for her!” You want to go meet her, want to congratulate her for being the first woman in the narcotics unit, but Ron puts a hand on your arm to stop you for a moment.

“There’s a bit of a problem though.” He says, and you frown.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” You ask, curious.

Jimmy and Ron exchange a glance, a silent debate of who is going to be the one to tell you, when finally Ron gives in since he was the one who brought it up in the first place.

“She doesn’t seem to be able to take a hint.” He says, clearing his voice, and your good spirits drop into aggravation. 

“Which back room?” You ask, already forming a little plan.

She’s a pretty young thing, you’re annoyed to see. Long red hair feathered out like Farrah Fawcett that she keeps tossing out of her face in an attempt to catch your husband’s attention. You watch for a little while through the strip of window in the door of one of the back interrogation rooms where the detectives like to change into their undercover outfits, and your blood would be boiling.

It would be, if Flip were any level of interested at all, which bless him, he isn’t. He’s not even looking at her, he’s reaching over to fiddle with some of the tape, not making eye contact and certainly not indulging in her conversation.

You open the door quietly, hanging in the frame of it for a moment.

“Jesus you’re fit.” She says, her voice breathy and performative as she takes the tape from Flip’s reluctant hands, and presses the small mic to his chest, “You must work out like, what? Twice a week? Three times?”

“Something like that.” Your husband mutters, and you smirk because you can swear you see him rolling his eyes.

“Make sure the tape doesn’t cover the mic otherwise there’s no point.” You speak up, startling the two of them.

The rookie is defensive, and she crosses her arms, sour that you’ve interrupted the moment that will never happen.

“Who are you?” She snaps, before getting mildly pushed aside by your over-eager husband, who stands up from where he’s sitting on the table to get his arms around you.

“Hi ketsl.” He gives you a shy smile, ducks down to kiss your cheeks nose chin face.

“How’s my man?” You laugh, cupping his cheeks in your own hands, pulling him in for a proper smooch right on the lips, right in front of this girl.

“Better now that you’re here.” He hums, leaning down for another one, and another one, and another one, his hands smoothing down your back, roaming down down down to your ass to give it a good squeeze and make you giggle against his lips.

You’re both being a little mean, you know, putting on this show right in front of this girl. But Flip was your husband, and he was clearly uncomfortable by these advances, advances that she should know better – for a lot of reasons – than to try and push.

So with Flip practically glued to you and your arms looped around his neck, you spare her a glance.

“You have to go check to make sure the mic is working.” You say, and you could practically see the embarrassment and realization in her face from how she screwed up.

“How do I do that?” She asks, her arms still crossed, although now she knows better than to be so snippy with you.

“There’s a pair of headphones set up to a tape recorder, go find it and listen in. Jimmy will help you with the signal.” You answer her, returning your attention back to Flip, back to his soft brown eyes and his big nose that’s rubbing against your cheek, coaxing a dimple out of your smile.

She doesn’t say anything on her way out, and you should stop there, but you find that you don’t actually want to. Flip knows exactly what you’re doing, and he plays into it too – although he’s entirely genuine when he steadies your face in his hands and presses his forehead against yours.

“I missed you.” He says, grouchy at the time. With this additional delay, there really wasn’t much time for anything, and you wondered if you could sweet-talk Bridges into giving him an extended lunch, or at least into letting you stay for a while if you’re not too much of a distraction.

Everyone always liked to joke how it was such a wonder that you and Flip ever got anything done, with how fucking sappy and horny you are for each other, but the reality of it was that your man was much more productive when you were around because he’s a total show-off and wants to impress you with all the cool things he does at the station.

“I know, I’m sorry honey I would have come sooner but the baby went down for his nap late.” You explain, and he nods in understanding.

“You’re here now though.” He says, like this is some great relief on his tired bones, like you are the balm that soothes his soul, and you are. You know you are.

“I am here.” You nod, walking him back towards the steel table of the interrogation room. You sit on the table and spread your legs so he can step between them, knowing fully well that the rookie must be listening in now You lower your voice and spread your palms over Flip’s muscular chest, “And I am in sore need of a kiss.”

“Just a kiss?” He asks, devious, as his hands work their way into your blouse, cupping one of your breasts and making you sigh.

No one would see, if the two of you got up to anything in here. There was the window on the door yes, but no one comes back this way, and besides, everyone’s on lunch still for another couple minutes.

It wasn’t a long time, but it was enough time to indulge in one another a little bit – and to prove a point.

“Oh Flip,” You sigh, not entirely dramatically, as you push your chest into his palm more fully, expanding your rib cage with your deep breaths, “I’m so glad you’re mine.”

“All yours ketsl, only for you.” He nods, and you smile shyly at him because you can tell in his voice that’s not something he’s saying just because, that’s something he’s saying because he means it.

You kiss him then, because you have to. You simply have to kiss him and hold him close and let yourself get lost in his embrace. His tongue slides against yours slowly, purposefully, thoughtfully. He knows how to suck just enough on your lips and how to run his teeth along the edge of your kiss-swollen mouth, knows how to grip your jaw just so, how to squeeze and pinch at your tits enough to make you moan for him.

And you do, you do moan for him. Soft sounds in the back of your throat are the only things that cut through the noise of panting breaths from both your lungs, breathing into one another’s mouths making yourselves dizzy dizzy dizzy. You smile against him, can’t get enough of him, can’t stop making out with him.

His hands are busy with your body and yours wind into his hair, comb it carefully into place where you blow-dried it only a few hours ago. You could understand why this girl was fawning all over him – he’s so fucking handsome. Too handsome for his own good sometimes, you think as you chuckle to yourself and kiss him back, passionate and hot and heavy.

The firmness, the solidness of his body is so appealing. His white undershirt is just the right amount of tight to show off how sturdy he is, how his pecs are so broad and his neck is so thick. His thumb brushes over your nipple again and you gasp, the two of you chuckling against each other’s lips until he pulls his hand away, knowing that if he gets you any more worked up he’ll probably wind up fucking you right there – and that isn’t part of the free show that this girl gets.

Speaking of, the two of you slow things down, until your breathing is even once again and he’s buttoning up your blouse at the same time that you fix the buttons on his flannel. You’re both flushed and in good moods once again, and he helps you hop off the table, kisses you once more for good measure.

“How’s that signal rookie?” Flip asks right into the mic, and you bite your smile to keep from laughing right in her ear.

And when the poor girl squeaks out an, it’s good, from the other side of the thick metal door, Flip takes off the mic and unclips it from the battery pack in his pocket, and the two of you can’t help but grin at one another.

“Let’s have some lunch.” You offer, not wanting to forget about the bag left on his desk or your friends entertaining the baby.

He nods and opens the door for you, the two of you a perfect picture of composure. You pass the girl on your way to his desk, and she ducks her head in embarrassment. You don’t think you’ll be bothered with her again, hopefully now she’ll learn how to take a hint.

[greekgrad12]

know

tlh/son content i didn’t ask for :)

(tw!! mentions of not eating and depression)

**********************************

It had been four months, five days, and twelve hours since Percy Jackson disappeared. Four months, five days, and twelve hours since he kissed her goodnight and went off to his cabin. She was supposed to see him the next day. They had planned to eat breakfast together and then go to the stables to hang out with Blackjack. It was meant to be normal day, and yet, it ended up being the beginning of Annabeth’s worst nightmare. She thought he’d be back by now. She thought she would have been able to find him at this point. 

One week, she would catch herself thinking, He was able to find me in barely one week after Atlas captured me. Why can’t I find him?

The last four months have been hard, but Annabeth had recently fallen into a new kind of despair. Something more than an ache, more than a sinking feeling in her chest. The feeling made her physically ill. Over half of the time, she wanted to scream, and her siblings encouraged it. They tried to convince her that it could help, but she was too numb to ever put in the effort. 

The past week had been her worst one yet. Annabeth barely left bed, let alone the Athena cabin. She spent every day staring at Daedalus’ computer looking through missing people’s reports, searching for strange happenings around the world, and trying to come up with new search plans. She hadn't eaten in days and it was beginning to be noticeable. 

Her brothers and sisters tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't budge. Piper tried to comfort her, but Annabeth didn't want pity. The Stoll’s stopped by and tried to make her laugh, but she barely breathed out a chuckle. Even Will Solace made an appearance and tried to convince her that she needed to be taking better care of herself.

“Percy wouldn't want to see you like this,” he’d said. 

But how would he know what Percy would want? She was his girlfriend. She was his best friend. She was the one who felt like she was dying every morning when she woke up and realized that this wasn’t all a big nightmare. Annabeth was the one who’d lost someone she loved, again, and couldn't do anything about it, again. 

She didn't even have Grover to lean on. If she were to let anyone in right now, it would be either him or Thalia, but they were both off leading the satyrs and hunters in a search party. At least they were doing something. Chiron hadn't let her leave the camp in who knows how long. Apparently, she was too big of a risk in her present state. Annabeth thought that was bullshit. 

Somehow, the girl had managed to feel more weak, useless, and alone then she ever had before, and yet, at the same time, she felt nothing. 

A knock on her cabin door pulled Annabeth from her computer screen. She assumed it would be one of her siblings trying to coax her into coming to dinner again, but she was surprised to see none other than Clarisse la Rue leaning against the door of her cabin, hands behind her back. 

“What are you doing here?” Annabeth’s voice came out croaky. She hadn't spoken all day. 

“Could ask you the same thing,” Clarisse replied as she walked further into the room towards where Annabeth sat on her bunk, “It’s dinner time, princess.” 

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the big girl looking down at her, “I’m not hungry. And I’m busy.” 

Clarisse scoffed, “Yeah, and I don't buy it. You missed breakfast and lunch today, and dinner last night. And the night before, and the night before that.” 

“Like I said, I’ve been busy.” 

“Annabeth,” The end of the bed dipped as Clarisse took a seat. The blonde didn’t want to look up from the laptop, but there was something strange in Clarisse’s voice. She still sounded annoyed, but it was almost comforting, gentle even. 

When she looked at Clarisse, she was met with an expression she’d never really seen on the girl’s face before. It could almost be described as a mix between an aggressive don't bullshit me and a gentle I know. Annabeth hated it. 

I know. 

I know this is hard for you. I know this hurts. I know things will turn out okay. 

For some reason, everyone assumed that they knew what Annabeth was going through. That they knew what she was feeling. But how could they possible understand what she was feeling when she couldn't put it into words herself? Annabeth was no stranger to loss, but this? This was different. She’d always been a tough girl. She’s always been the one who was able to hold herself together and put on a brave face for the sake of doing what’s important. But this? Loosing Percy? Her Seaweed Brain? 

They had been through so much together and so far they’d survived. Together. And now she's facing all of this alone. Annabeth isn't some damsel in distress. She survived without Percy before, so she wasn't sure why she suddenly feels like she can't breathe without him. 

She didn't want to be reminded of those stupid words ever again, “Don't.” 

Annabeth was surprised that Clarisse even heard her. The word came out in a harsh whisper and the waver in her voice didn't help.

Rather than give her the typical pity look, Clarisse just sighed and brought her hands out from behind her back. In her right hand, she was holding a water bottle, in the left, a piece of pizza wrapped in a napkin, extra olives. Annabeth just stared at it.

“Who sent you?”

“Believe it or not, I come by my own free will,” Clarisse placed the food and drink down in front of Daedalus’s computer, “You’ve been ignoring everyone. I think Malcolm was about to send out an Iris Mesage to Thalia and have her bring the hunters back so she could try her hand at talking to you. Figured I’d give it a go before we resort to that.”

“Why do you care if the hunters come here?”

Clarisse got quiet and looked down at the food she’d brought in. There was a look on her face, it almost as if she was contemplating what to say. It took a moment before she finally let out a sigh and spoke up, “Those hunters jump back really quickly. They were back to the hunt in no time after the Titan War. And it’s tradition to have a game of Capture the Flag every time they visit. We haven’t played since before, well, everything-“

“And you don’t want to loose to them again,” Annabeth scoffed. Of course Clarisse would have her own agenda in mind right now. The blonde had half a mind to throw the pizza into her face and-

“No,” Despite Annabeth’s rude tone, Clarisse remained calm, “I just don’t want to fight. Not for a little while longer at least.”

Annabeth wasn’t sure how to react to the confession. She’d never heard an Ares kid say they didn't want to fight. Especially Clarisse.  The other girl must have sensed Annabeth’s confusion, or read it right off of her face, because she explained further, “The um... the last time I was in an actual fight was right after Silena... you know.” 

This time it was Clarisse who was avoiding eye contact. Of course Annabeth knew, she was right there when it happened. She witnessed first hand as Clarisse’s tough walls crumbled at the sight of Silena’s death. No camper was excited about training after the war was over. A majority of the summer had been spent as if they were kids at a normal summer camp and not a bunch of demigods who had just fought in a giant war where half of their friends had died. For a moment, just moment,��they were normal. 

But training would have to start again eventually. Wars come and go, but monsters will always return. However, no one was eager to jump back into making a game out of war when they had just barley survived a real one. 

“Yeah...” I know. 

Annabeth stopped before those cursed words could slipped through her lips. She and Silena were very close friends. She missed her all the time. She would be reminded of her when she walked past the Aphrodite cabin, or when she went to see Backjack, or, even worse, when she hung out with Piper. Annabeth loved and missed Silena so much, but she didn't know what Clarisse was going through. 

When Chris came back to camp, Clarisse and Silena became closer than ever. The daughter of Ares found someone she could confide in and trust. A person who she could let her walls down with, but it was more than that. At least, that’s what Annabeth was starting to believe. 

Looking back at the days after the war, Annabeth now realized how familiar this all must be for Clarisse, because she was the exact same way. Well, maybe not the exact same. The daughter of Ares didn't spend her time searching news reports or making up search plans, but she retreated in her own way. It wasn't until Chris intervened that she started to get back to her old self. 

“Clarisse,” Annabeth asked, gently, “How did- I mean, with Silena- you-” 

Clarisse snickered, but it wasn't harsh in any way, “I think this is the first time I’ve heard an Athena kid sound so unsure. Just ask.”

“How did it feel?” the blonde was straining not to let tears fall from her eyes, “When she- when you lost her?” 

“It felt like...” Clarisse bit her tongue and leaned her head back, as if she were trying to hold something back too, “It felt like I’d just lost what made me whole.” 

“Why?” the question came out softer than she’d intended. 

Then, for maybe the first time in her life, Annabeth saw a soft smile appear on Clarisse’s face, “Because I loved her. Just like you love Percy, just like he loves you.” 

Love. 

Annabeth didn’t know when she stopped trying to hold back her tears, but by the time she realized her cheeks were wet, it was too late to do anything about it. 

“I don’t know how you feel, but I know what you’re going through. Though, hopefully, not completely. Jackson is still out there, I know because that headache he always causes me to have is still here,” Annabeth laughed for the first time in months, “Look, I do intend to help you find him, and I will hit him over the head for leaving, whatever the reason, I don't really care. But you have to start taking care of yourself again, Annabeth. What you're doing, it’s dangerous and stupid. Believe me, I know. And we don’t call you Wise Girl because you’re stupid.”

Then, Annabeth did something she never thought she’d ever do. She shut her computer then reached out and gave Clarisse la Rue a hug. Just as Annabeth was sure she was about to get body slammed, the other girl hugged her back. 

“No offense or anything,” Annabeth said, pulling away from the girl and wiping tears off of her face, “but this all seems very un-Clarisse of you.” 

The girl chuckled at that, “Silena taught me to open up about my feelings. I’m beginning to realize that I wouldn't be honoring her if I decided to backtrack into my old secluded ways just because she’s gone. However, that being said, if anyone asks, I came in here, yelled some sense into you, and you don't know about my mushy side.” 

A small smile appeared on Annabeth’s face, “Deal.” 

“Good,” Clarisse said, leaning back onto the bed post, “Now, I'm not leaving until you drink your water and eat your pizza. After this, you're going to the bonfire and having one night off, and if you argue I will go all Ares on you. We have every resource available out there looking for Percy. I know it’s your specialty and all, but you shouldn't be stressing yourself over things you can't control. He’ll come back to you, he loves you too much to stay away much longer.” 

After that, there wasn't much more convincing to be done. Annabeth ate her food and drank her drink while having a civil conversation with Clarisse. She’d gone back to talking and teasing like the Clarisse Annabeth knew, but now she was someone else. The last thing the blonde girl ever imagined was to have Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares, help her sort out her feelings, but now she knew. 

Annabeth knew why it hurt so much that Percy was gone. She knew why no one was able to comfort her, not in the way that he did, and she knew why losing him hurt so much more than anyone else. She knew why she had this dark feeling surrounding her, even still now, because one heart-to-heart over a piece of pizza won’t just take that away. But she knew it was possible. Clarisse was proof. Annabeth can come back from this and find Percy. She knew she could. She knows she can. 

Because now she's knows why it’s so important. 

It’s because it’s Percy. 

And it’s because she loves him. 

[renxamamiya]

Bitter Madwoman

An AU I was talking about with @rui-the-galax-angel and @digifangirl97 that I finally got done!

Contains P5R spoilers. Obvs.

Also on AO3!

Warm lights illuminated the patrons that sat below them, plush seats and tables draped in beautiful white decorated the room alongside vases of flowers and potted trees, the voices of happy couples and the clattering of cutlery on plates from hungry diners echoed from the ivory-coloured walls, golden accented windows framed the Tokyo skyline as lights from buildings and cars twinkled in the murky blue-black haze of night as the full moon rose above them.  

Takuto smiled as he watched Rumi laugh, a light blush appearing on his cheeks as he chuckled alongside her. They were at an outing together, their time apart too long for either of their liking as their commitments pulled them apart, moments between them before shared only by fleeting meetings in the cafeteria they shared before going about their education. They had missed each other, yet when the shackles of work and obligations loosened, they both jumped at the chance of arranging a formal date between them, and what better date then the anniversary of their relationship?

They had also met for another occasion: the meeting of Takuto's parents. Four years into their relationship it felt appropriate to meet the ones who raised Takuto, as he had met Rumi's parents a couple of months ago, a courtesy that was suggested by Rumi herself before they parted towards their own personal obligations. 

“I can’t- I can’t believe that happened!” Rumi laughed, clearly entertained by the tale Takuto told of her of his childhood, giggling between breaths as Takuto rubbed his neck in sheepish embarrassment, having told her a tale of a camping trip gone awry. 

"Yeah," Takuto said sheepishly, yet he peaked a look at Rumi as she continued to laugh. The way her red hair shone under the light, how captivating her eyes were as she laughed, how her cheeks puffed as she laughed; Takuto thought she looked captivating, an angel on Earth, his treasure as she reached for her glass of wine, having calmed as she took a sip from the cup. "I'm sure that the deer was more startled than me. My parents were less than impressed with me going off on my own into the woods at night, even if I was desperate for some privacy,"

"I'm sure they were just looking out for you," Rumi rationalised, fiddling the simple apple-like pendant on her neck that Takuto had given her that night, "Though to be honest, you were a lot braver than I would have been. I remember being so scared of bats that would swoop by our tent. My parents would insist they wouldn't get in but, little old me would still be deathly afraid of them,"

"Oh? I thought you would have at least fought them off," Takuto jokes, and Rumi pulls an unimpressed face.

"So, your father's a no-nonsense man who would fight a deer in order to protect his son," Rumi summarised as she curled her finger around the chain of her pendant, still amused by the camping story Takuto had told her, "What about your mom?"

"My, mom? Well," Takuto blinked, gazing in thought, "Oh, my mom! Well... she's... interesting,"

"Like all mothers,"

"Yes, like all mothers. She's, uh, trendy? Unlike my father, my mother tends to be ore in the know when it comes to trends and technology, always insisting I go into computing or the sciences when the Internet was still in its infancy, though I remember my dad needed to be thoroughly convinced that the investment of a home computer wasn't a total waste," Takuto explained. 

"I bet he regrets his perspective as technology continues to improve," Rumi said almost mischievously, and Takuto chuckles. 

"Maybe, I don't know. He still insists that traditional pen and paper working is more efficient, though he doesn't deny the new business opportunities the technology we have now has given him and his company. Honestly, I'm still surprised he allowed me to pursue a degree in psychology, being the traditional man, he is… maybe he’s finally catching up with the rest of the world,"

"Oh, speaking of psychology," Rumi piqued as their food arrived in front of them, the two thanking their waiter before turning back to their conversation, "How's your research paper on Cognitive Psience coming along?"

"It's coming along fine, actually," Takuto smiles as he digs into his meal, "I'm just finishing up compiling and referencing sources for the current chapter I'm working on. It's such a pain sometimes, you have no idea how many journals I have open on both my laptop and my desk,"

"A lot," Rumi guesses jokingly, and Takuto laughed. 

"How 'a lot' are you talking about?"

"Oh, I was thinking about, 'a hurricane of paper and books scattered around the room as you try to find the paper you are actually holding in your hand' a lot,"

"That's... not really far from the truth," Takuto admitted embarrassingly, and Rumi laughed, "You really know me,"

"I mean, we spent a lot of study nights together,"

"That is also true,"

“But” Rumi started, now intensely looking at Takuto, her eyes glowing with earnest and appreciation, “This whole ‘Cognitive Psience’ research… A whole new field of psychology… It’s...”

“I know,” Takuto breathed, “It’s certainly interesting, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “It certainly is,”

---

Siren lights danced dizzyingly against the heavy darkness that seemed to encompass the narrow neighbourhood that Takuto’s parents lived in, Rumi taking a sip from the warm cup of water she nestled in her hands as she looked worryingly at the crime scene in front of her.

Takuto had yet to emerge from the house, yet Rui could not blame him. He was the one who first stumbled upon the obscene, visceral aftermath of a robbery gone horribly, horribly wrong. Rumi gagged remembering the sour, metallic smell of blood, the amount of it. The pool; it seemed to inch towards them, Takuto just standing there, mouth agape and skin pale and eyes wide and- 

She swallowed the bile that rose from the back of her throat, quickly sipping another gulp of the water that the paramedics had given her, pulling the comforting blanket they provided her tighter as she stared down at the worn concrete of the road. It wasn’t her who’d had called the police, but a neighbour who was thankfully up at the time after hearing gunshots, though she would have wished they had called sooner…

“Miss Tanaka,” a small, petite woman in a paramedic uniform approached her, “How are you doing? Is there anything you might need?”

“Takuto,” she thought as she looked at the nurse with a dull expression, feeling nothing but numb. Her chest was hollow, the rhythmic feel of her heart was intangible to her, and she begged silently that this was some sort of sick, twisted nightmare. That Takuto’s parents were still alive, that Takuto was beside her, carefree and romantic in what felt like an age ago. 

“I-”

A scream that was not hers rang from the house; Rumi instinctively jolted onto her feet as the paramedic ran back in alongside police. Thrashing could be heard, the sound of broken pottery and glass and falling objects echoed out from the doorway as more personnel went in. Rumi wanted to ask someone what had happened. Had they caught one of the perpetrators? Had they found another relative miraculously alive? Yet when she saw the familiar curl of hair her stomach sunk as Takuto was dragged outside into the cold, February air, screaming and howling in frantic despair as police officers and personnel alike restrained him, flailing about in their grip as they tried their best to escort him back into one of the ambulances. 

“Takuto!” Rumi screamed after her love, dropping the cup in her hands, the metal clanging onto the faded asphalt as she rushed to be at his side, the blanket that hugged her shoulders desperately clinging onto her small frame as she ran through the crowd of strangers, only to be stopped by a police officer who cut the path before her. 

“Ma’am, I need you to calm down-”

“Calm down?! Calm down?!” Rumi snapped, denial swelling into anger as she shouted at the officer who impeded her path towards Takuto, “My boyfriend’s parents are dead, and he’s currency screaming like a lunatic, how can I calm down if he’s suffering?! I need to be at his side, I need-”

“Ma’am, please be assured that your partner will be safely escorted to a nearby hospital,” the officer informed her with professional calmness, his gaze sympathetic towards the redhead as Rumi stared at him with hateful eyes.

Seconds passed between them before Rumi sighed defeatedly, her shoulders relaxing as she looked sadly passed the officer to see the paramedics finally able to escort Takuto into a nearby ambulance, one of them poking their head out of the vehicle, but not before making eye contact with the solemn redhead, giving her quick, pitiful look before closing the doors fully, Rumi watching wearily as the man she loves being sped away. She stood there, long after the red and white vehicle disappeared amongst the houses, and clutched the blanket tightly around her, allowing herself to be escorted by the officer away from the scene of the crime.

---

The claustrophobic room was dark, the only light that illuminated the words were from the desk lamp that buzzed lazily over the papers in her hands as Rumi began to read the familiar handwriting of Takuto. Her fingers were coiled around the lined paper of his notes, back hunched while she sat as she intensely scanned the pages for anything that could help her in rescuing Takuto from his trance-like state. She was desperate. They had told her - assured her even - that Takuto would come out of this paralysed state, that they were putting him through treatments to coax him out of his traumatised state; but that was weeks ago, and with no improvements to his condition, Rumi desperately turned to his research. 

Cognitive Psience, the study of the supernatural foundations of the human mind. Rumi remembers while in university together Takuto expressed a fascination, often sending articles and stories about the untapped potential of the human mind, the perception of the world around them, and the fascination of concepts that were totally 'fake' becoming 'real' in the public's eye. Though the human mind had been explored countless of different ways in numerous case studies and experiments, this field was something new, something uncharted, and Rumi could not deny the spark Takuto had in his eyes when discussing the possible applications this new research could help in the field of therapy. 

She continued to flick through the pages, scrambling in trying to find anything that could help Takuto, almost tearing the pages as she turns them, yet when she reaches the blank, back of the notebook she felt like crying in frustration, slamming the book closed and tossing it away among other similarly bound books, and she buries her face in her hands.

Days. She spent so many days reading and rereading his notes, trying to find something that could help her, yet the despair and grief she had been running away from all this time had finally caught up to her, gripping her throat as the sobs she choked on as she allowed hot tears to roll down her pale face. The sleepless nights that continually plagued her, the aching loneliness she felt when her hand drifted into Takuto's space on the bed. Even cuddling his shirts, inhaling his soft, familiar musky scent did nothing to ease the stress and desperation she felt knowing Takuto wasn't there with her. She missed how sweet and gentle his laugh was, his warm eyes glimmered under the light of the setting sun, the comforting feeling of security and ease when his arms were wrapped around her. She missed him, and her heart ached more each time she defeatedly wandered back into Takuto's hospital room to find the man she loved now reduced to a hollow, staring statue of his former self. 

Her head ached as much as her heart, Rumi groaned, reflexively reaching one of her hands to massage her eyes. The headaches she got from lack of sleep were quickly becoming commonplace as she continued her search for anything that could salvage even a fragment of her lover, a dull thud pulsated in her skull alongside her heavy eyelids and stinging eyes. She felt sick, she felt awful, but she needed to keep going, she thought to herself, she needed to-

A sharp, more forceful pain shot through her head, Rumi yelped in pain as she clutched a fistful of her red hair. She felt sick, dizzying nausea taking over, her vision swimming as she splayed her other hand onto the table, and she swore she could see something hover near her; a foreign voice echoed in her mind, calling to her. 

“H-Hello?” she called out into the empty room; her voice weak as she tried to fight through the oppressive exhaustion that clawed away at her sanity. She got up from her seat, immediately regretting her decision as her legs wobbled weakly under the weight of her small body. A hand on the desk as she called out again, "Hello? Is… is anyone there?"

"...o...mu...eek...e..."

She gripped her head again, her surroundings flashed before her eyes. That voice. There was something. Something behind her. Something with her. Yet when she turned again there was nothing but scattered papers and silence.

---

“Hello Takuto, how are you feeling today?”

Light shone through the wide windows of the hospital room, the slight sterile smell permeated throughout, only tempered with the fresh scent of flowers - daisies and hydrangeas - that sat next to Takuto on his bedside table. Rumi sat next to him in a small, sturdy wooden chair, a cheery smile on her face, yet her eyes betrayed her hidden anxiety as they darted around Takuto’s body for any sign of recovery. 

It has been more than three months ever since the robbery-turned-murder of his parents. Each day Rumi never once failed to visit Takuto in his room. Each time she arrived she would sit on the same chair that had never left its spot beside the bed, and each time she would talk to Takuto as he stirred from his sleep into the same, empty stare she had to grow used to. She would talk about mundane topics, updates on his parent’s murder case, her life outside the hospital walls, and all Takuto would do, day in and day out was stare blankly while she talked. 

She hated it. Hated out absent his eyes were. Hated his still, vacant expression as he stared into oblivion as if he himself was staring at the inner workings of the universe. He was alive, as much as his beating heart would correct anyone, but he wasn’t the man she loved; he wasn’t Takuto, just a living mockery of him as she rested her pale hand on his lap, trying to seek any comfort she could get out from this hideous state, yet knowing she was get nothing from him. 

“I’m doing okay,” Rumi smiled desperately as she continued her one-sided conversation, a skill she mastered while watching over Takuto, “And Shibusawa is doing well. He’s up to… well… Shibusawa things, as usual,”

No response. 

“And I was looking through some of your research notes as well,” Rumi said, unconsciously reaching for the bags under her eyes that were masked with concealer, “you were always talking about that ‘Cognitive Psience’ stuff to me, and while I still don’t quite understand it, everything you’ve gathered so far in the few years has been such an eye-opener, and possibly has recontextualised the entire science as a whole! You’ve really outdone yourself, Takuto,”

No response.  

“They um… They also caught the culprits who took away your family. They’re in police custody right now,”

No response. 

“I-”

“Rumi… f… amil...y,”

Rumi scrambled closer towards Takuto. Was she hallucinating? 

“Takuto?”

She swore he spoke. 

“F...ami-”

Takuto suddenly lurched forward from his sitting position, running his fingers through his brown hair and clutching tufts of it tightly as he squeezed his eyes tightly, as if in extreme pain. 

“No!” he screamed before Rumi could act, thrashing his head side to side as he wailed. Rumi rushed next to him, almost getting hit as he struggled in the bed, Takuto paying no heed to his surroundings. It was almost as if he were back at the scene of the crime all those months ago, having seen the butchered corpses of his parents… Rumi swallowed sickly as she pushed the intercom, crying out for a nurse to help her subdue the flailing Takuto, “I can’t… this can’t be happening!”

“Takuto, Takuto it’s okay, it’s going to be okay!” Rumi pleaded to Takuto, trying to calm him down as she put a hand on his back, the best she could currently do as she desperately waited for a nurse to assist her in pacifying her traumatised lover. 

 “No! Mother, father! Why?! Why?” he wailed, clearly a world away from her, trapped in a never-ending nightmare where all that encompassed it was the dishevelled corpses of his parents and the sour, metallic smell of blood. Rumi could not help but pity him; it was as though he was a scared child, and the touches of comfort that she gave to him was all she could do as Takuto continued to beg for the Gods to return his family to him once more. 

“...ou...want...”

The familiar migraine returned, Rumi clutching her hair in pain as the familiar sensation ripped once more. The headaches were becoming more frequent, the woman explaining them away as the result of the added stress of worrying about Takuto and her own responsibilities, having just finished getting her psychiatric degree after a gargantuan round of exams and sleepless nights. However, the intensity she felt at that moment was great; as if reality around her warped for a heartbeat. She uttered a curse under her breath. After calming Takuto down, she really needed to pick up some painkillers, she noted to herself. 

The nurse came soon after and sedated Takuto, Rumi felt sickly as his thrashes became less and less energetic before he was medically lulled into sleep once again. The nurse gave a shy nod to Rumi before retreating out of the room as soon as he laid still on the bed, and Rumi was left on her own with Takuto’s sleeping form once again. 

“Takuto,” she murmured once silence fell onto the room once again, approaching Takuto’s sleeping form to stroke his fluffy hair from his face. It was getting harder and harder to bear seeing him like this, a tear rolling down her face as she continued to tenderly curl the locks of his hair gently between her fingers. She wanted to free him, free him from the vicious cycle that was brought on by the memories of his trauma. Could he even recover from this? She wasn’t so sure, cases like this, where the patient was too far gone… Rumi doubts Takuto could be saved, it would take a miracle to-

“...seek...me...”

Another headache, Rumi squeezed her eyes in pain as it came and went, the same intensity as before; yet the voice. It was… calling to her? Rumi laughs at herself out of comfort more than humour. Great, she too is going mad. 

“Rumi?”

Rui reacts to Takuto’s voice, his eyes still closed in an uneasy sleep.

“I’m..hurt...make...it stop...I want to…forget...”

“Forget?” she mumbles sadly, “Takuto, I don’t… I don’t know how to make you forget… But we’ll think of something, okay? We’ll-”

She remembers something from Takuto’s notes. 

“By altering a subject’s cognition- by changing their heart-” Rumi recalled out loud, “any related trauma is eliminated.”

“You must seek me!”

“So, if I’m able to… if I’m able to change Takuto’s heart, I should be able to remove his trauma, and anyone else’s! I can save them!” Rumi exclaims triumphantly, absorbed in her resolve to save Takuto, too concerned with saving the man in front of her to even acknowledge the strange voice that now echoed freely in her head. 

“Seek me… I am that who manifests thought itself. I shall echo your blasphemous fury with reality so that we may together change the world… Now, call me forth!”

“I will,” Rumi cried desperately, “I will! Please, whoever you are, lend me your strength! Help me save the man I love! Let him live his life once again!”

Nothing happened, at first; and suddenly it was as if reality shook around her, warping incomprehensibly, until snapping back into the present. Rumi blinked, taken aback by the sudden sensation. What… what had happened? Did it, what it was, work? 

Takuto wakes from his sleep.

“Takuto, Takuto!” Rumi gasps in surprise, almost choking her words as the familiar, kind glint she first fell in love with sparked in his eyes once more. It was too long for her to again feel joy once more, the last months a horrible, weighted slog of existence as the world dashed by her, Rumi once again able to allow herself some semblance as Takuto blinked curiously around his surroundings. It was a miracle. Azathoth had brought her Takuto back from his perpetual state of shock. 

Yet it was too soon that she realised that her wish had come at a price, as Takuto looked upon her face with the same unfamiliar curiosity that he had when he’d woken up. He blinked at her and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Hello… Miss?” he asked, too cautiously for her liking, yet she rationalised to herself that he was too dazed and disoriented for him to recognise her properly, his mind playing catch up from weeks of absence. 

“Takuto, it’s me,” Rumi said, her tone a plea for him to remember their shared love, gesturing to herself by pressing her hand onto her chest, “It’s me, it’s Rumi,”

“Rumi...” Takuto almost slurred her name out loud, rolling each syllable on his tongue, as if the name itself was foreign to him. His expression narrowed to one of concentration as his eyes drifted down onto his lap. Rumi inched forward in her seat, patiently waiting for him to remember her, yet her eager smile turned into a disappointed frown when he shook his head, “I’m sorry, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,”

Rumi could physically feel her heart shatter. 

“I’ve just had surgery,” he said, absentmindedly ignoring the slow disbelief and horror that crept onto Rumi’s pale face, “Cycling accident. I’m a clutz, so I get hurt pretty often, and unfortunately, I managed to somehow crash into a fence and broke a couple of bones. I lost my parents when I was quite young, and I lived with my grandparents before coming into the city for a University degree in Psychology. I’m actually finished with my recovery, so I’m happy that I’m finally going home today,”

Rumi looked at him with shock, her face paled, her hands shook as she balled them into fists. 

“Takuto,” Rumi said, “Takuto… you… you’ve… I...”

Did… did that voice… do this? Rumi wasn’t sure, even if Takuto was in front of her, looking at her with the brown eyes she loves so, so much. Yet, there was no mistaking it, while Takuto did come out of his stupor, he… he forgot her. It was as if his entire history was rewritten. She…it didn’t matter… What mattered to her then was that Takuto was okay.

Takuto looked at her with concern, his eyes churning her stomach. 

“Miss, are you alright?”

“I’m,” she swallowed her nervousness and disbelief, putting on a facade of happiness as she continued to address him, “I’m sorry, I must have had the wrong Takuto, I must have not looked where I was going,” she laughed as she stood up from his chair, giving him a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her neck, “I’m such a clutz as well haha, always having my head in the clouds!”

“Oh,” Takuto smiled, that innocent smile that tugged the strings. He was smiling but, what happened if he relapsed? She needed to go, but she didn’t want to look away, “Is he a friend?”

“Boy...friend,” Rumi answered forcefully as she choked back a sob, “He’s sick as well, and...”

“You should go to him,” Takuto said as he flashed a smile, and Rumi wanted to cry right there, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me,”

Rumi could only nod, her mouth left agape as she turned on her heel and opened the door behind her. 

“One more thing,” Takuto said, and Rumi turned to face him, yet she was reluctant to meet his eyes, “I know this is forward of me to ask but, may we meet again? I’ve enjoyed our meeting and would love to get a coffee with you; platonically, of course,”

“I… I don’t think so,” Rumi almost heaves the words out of her throat, her fingers tapping on the ajar door, “I’m very busy right now, sorry. He died not long ago… I’m sorry,”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Takuto apologises, “But, it was nice to meet you. Please take care of yourself, and send my regards to his family,” he smiled melancholy at her, and she weakly smiled in turn, vomit rising from her throat. Spilling into the hallway she lethargically wandered towards the exit of the hospital, barely making eye contact with the various nurses and doctor she passed. The whole world around her felt it like it turned mute, colours that were once vibrant now dull. 

She did not recall when she finally made it back to her apartment she once shared with Takuto, throwing herself onto her couch. She had no idea how much time passed, she lied there, staring at the blank ceiling above. It was sunset when she finally allowed herself to cry.

---

Rumi sat across the downtrodden girl, her hands resting on the clipboard that was placed on her lap as she waited for Sumire Yoshizawa to speak. Sunlight shone through the windows beside them, illuminating the bowl of sweets that sat on the round table, Rumi seeing Sumire’s gaze shifting between them and her feet as her face hid behind the bangs of her long, red hair. 

Her sister had died in front of her, Rumi was informed by her grieving father as he ushered her into the room. An accident with a speeding car at the crossroads of Shibuya, where her sister had pushed her away from getting hit. It had caused Sumire to retreat into her shell, eyes empty, barely eating and drinking, and her father was desperate not to lose another child. 

Rumi herself was aware as to why her father sought her out specifically to treat his near-catatonic daughter. After Takuto’s recovery - his change of heart - Rumi went on to use her powers to help people, to ease their trauma, practising her ability to shift the attitudes and personalities with the help of her newfound friend. Her reputation grew with each heart she changed, a rate of success never seen before for a fresh hire, but Rumi did not care. 

Rumi shifted in her seat, uncrossing her legs as Sumire fixated on the table in front of her. Silence returned between them. Neither of them said a word. 

“Hello, Sumire Yoshizawa,” Rumi started, breaking the tension between the both of them, yet the girl did not appear to shift her gaze, “It’s very nice to meet you. My name is Dr Tanaka, and I’ll be your counsellor,”

Sumire merely nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Thank you for coming to see me today,” Rumi continued, trying to stir conversation out from the troubled teen before her, “I really appreciate it,”

“Thank you… for seeing me… in the first place,” Sumire spoke just above a whisper, her voice hesitant, still avoiding eye contact with Rumi, “Though I don’t quite know what to talk about…To be honestly, I only came here because my parents wanted me to be here...”

“It’s okay,” Rumi assured her, voice comforting as she settled her clipboard onto the table, “It’s hard to talk about what’s troubling you, I certainly don't expect for you to trust me with something so personal,”

Sumire did not respond. 

“How about we just, chat?” Rumi offered, “Until your time’s up, of course,”

“...Chat?” Sumire mumbles. 

“Yeah, about anything you’d like. It can be about anything, school, boys, any TV shows that are currently on… Oh! And I’ve got some snacks for us to share if you like! Plenty of snacks, so feel free to help yourself with them,”

Sumire stares at the bowl of sweet in front of her. 

“Do you like to cook?” Rumi piqued up, “I do, a lot. It usually takes my mind off things after a long day of work. The other day I saw a great deal on some apples, and they looked amazing too! So, I bought some to make an apple dish, just to mix it up you know?”

Sumire did not respond. 

“But, the result was… not that good,” Rumi laughs awkwardly, continuing her tale, yet her eye flickered observantly towards Sumire, “Tried some other sweet and savoury combinations in the form of some European dishes, but those didn’t turn out so great as well...”

“Apples do make for good ingredients,” Sumire replied, and Rumi snapped to attention as the girl in front of her talked, “If you grate them, you can make a surprisingly versatile sauce. I use the fruit in plenty of my dishes when I can. It’s pretty nutritious and good for digestion.”

“You cook as well, Yoshizawa-san?” Rumi inquired, relieved that she was able to get the girl to talk, “And I’m impressed that you care a lot about nutrition at your age. Most teenagers seem to be eating a lot of junk food and pre-processed meals everywhere I look… not that I blame them, of course,”

“It’s fine,” Sumire sighed, “I’m a gymnast. My coach has told me more than once to be conscious of everything I eat,”

“How amazing,” Rumi praised her, yet Sumire’s expression did not change, “You must be really dedicated with practice. How is it going for you lately?”

Sumire winced at the mention of her practise. 

“It… has been rough lately,” Sumire admits, something Rumi couldn’t blame her for. Grief was something hard and heavy; to see a loved one perish right before your eyes. Rumi knew how it felt, “It’s nothing I can’t handle, but...”

Sumire takes a minute for herself. 

“It’s not going well,” she said, her voice forceful as if coughing out her admittance, “I… I don’t even know what I want to do anymore,”

“I’m… I’m sorry to hear that, Sumire,” Rumi apologises to Sumire, her eyebrows knitted together with a sympathetic expression, “Do you still enjoy gymnastics?”

“I’m… I’m not even sure of that. My older sister… Kasumi… and I made a promise… We’d both compete and win the biggest gymnastics awards in the world… But...”

She again looked away from Rumi. 

“She… passed away...” she swallowed, “She… protected me from a car...”

The incident. Rumi was aware, yet it was utterly heart-breaking to see the tears welling from Sumire’s eyes, her wide eyes. Her terrible, wide eyes as she leaned forward, now hiding her face from Rumi. 

“I can’t, I can’t do it anymore, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t go on like this,” Sumire started to sob. The way her voice wailed, the tears down her framed eyes… Rumi gripped the frills of her lab coat... It was like Takuto all over again, “If Kasumi were here instead, I know she’d make her dream come true, only Kasumi could have done it, no matter how long I try to compete, it’s not going to change anything, it’s not going to...”

Sumire took a deep breath, hastily wiping the tears that rolled down her cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, unconsciously tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Please don’t apologize, you did nothing wrong, Sumire,” Rumi assured her, wanting to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Sometimes we just need to vent about our feelings, it’s perfectly natural to want to relieve bottled emotions; especially when dealing with a loss of a lost one,”

“Yeah,” Sumire mumbled, “It’s just… I can’t really deal with anything anymore. I can’t just go on, living like this. I’ve been feeling like this for a long time; everything I do, even when Kasumi was still...”

She chokes another sob. 

“If Kasumi were here instead, I know she’d make her dream come true… Only Kasumi could achieve it. No matter how long I try to compete, it’s not going to change anything,”

Sumire looks at Rumi. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologises again. 

“It’s alright,” Rumi smiles comfortingly at her, “I don’t judge, and I’m glad that you’re able to at least confide with me what’s troubling you,”

Sumire looks down again. 

“It’s just...” she starts, her gaze wandering, her voice trailing, “I…. I sometimes can’t help but think that… things would’ve been better if I was my sister… if I was Kasumi Yoshizawa… After all, just wishing to make her dream come true does nothing for her in real life... considering she’s...”

“You want to make her sister’s dream come true, huh?” Rumi muttered to herself in thought. Maybe…

She turned to smile at Sumire.

“I can see where you’re coming from, Yoshizawa,” Rumi said as she leaned back in her chair, “And really? Wanting to become someone else isn’t an entirely bad thing,”

“You… you think so?” Sumire asked with a confused expression. 

“Of course! Everyone has the ability to change themselves - the only limit is your imagination! By imitating the actions of another person - asking yourself ‘what would this person do’ in a given situation - helps you better emulate them! Thought exercises that utilise this can lead to people eventually becoming like the target person themselves,”

Rumi leans closer to Sumire. 

“Can you still imagine what your sister was like?”

“Yes...” Sumire said. 

“Well, if your sister were in your shoes, what do you think she’d do?”

“Well, she wouldn’t cry,” Sumire started as she shook her head, “and if she had to, she’d just practice more instead...”

Sumire’s voice drifted into silence. 

“Dr Tanaka...” her voice wavered, “I want… I want to become Kasumi,”

 “I know, Sumire. And I’m sure you can, too! You just have to believe in yourself,”

Rumi could feel Azathoth in her heart. Her… friend… stirred. Sumire closed her eyes, reality flashed before her eyes, the familiar twisting and warping feeling around her subsided as fast as it came.  

Kasumi’s eyes suddenly fluttered open. The light that flickered in them complimented her smile. She seemed happier; much happier. 

“Are you feeling any better?” Rumi asks the girl, yet she felt that she knew the answer as Kasumi nodded happily. 

“Yes!” Kasumi exclaimed, “I feel like a weight’s been lifted off of me!”

Rumi smiled. 

“You’re amazing, Doctor!” 

“I’m happy to help,” Rumi smiled, watching as Kasumi reached for her bag, “It seemed like my counselling approach did some good,”

Kasumi zipped opened her bag, reaching for something inside of it. She took out a ribbon and scooped some of her red hair, before tying it into a ponytail. She took off her glasses. And smiled at Rumi. 

“Thank you again, Dr Tanaka. I’m not sure how to put it, but… I feel like I’ve been reborn all over again,”

“I’m glad to hear it, Yoshizawa!” Rumi said, “Now if you need anything else, or something else comes up, please don’t hesitate to come into my office, okay? We can just even have a chat, like today! And please feel free to have some snacks,”

“Thank you, Dr Tanaka. I would like to actually pick up from where we left off, talking about-”

Kasumi’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. 

“Is something the matter?” Rumi inquired worryingly.

“It’s just that… now that I think about it… I’m not any good at cooking!” Kasumi laughed, “I don’t know why I said those things earlier. My younger sister’s the one who was really great at it,”

Rumi’s smile grew wider, admiring the work she’d done in front of her. 

---

Rumi settled into the small sofa that sat in front of a small coffee table, pulling her lab coat inwards, the pendant that Takuto had given her clung proudly around her neck. She had to get used to the sharp smell of disinfectant that permeated throughout the relatively small room, her eyes scanning the various labels of bottles that were locked in the cabinet beside her. She had tried to make the room more comforting; her favourite sweets, one of the only things she had left of Takuto, sat on top of the table before her. The stark, buzzing lights above reflected against the multicoloured plastic, Rumi unconsciously reaching for them, before she motioned a delicate hand to the piping hot tea in front of her instead. 

Shujin Academy. The school had purposely reached out for her as she left her old position, wanting to broaden her horizons and helped more people, especially the current youth of today. Her meeting with Sumire - now Kasumi - had opened her eyes on the mental health needs of the teenagers that inhabited the city; how oppressive the curriculum had become, and how many teenagers were drowning in their own depression and grief, most reaching the point of no return until they never realised it until they were suddenly teetering at the edge of a building. 

Shiho Suzui, the catalyst of her prompt interview and hiring, the girl who had sent the school’s administration scrambling to find a counsellor, resulting in her immediate interview and hiring. 

It was evident that the school only hired her to save their reputation, having heard about the abuse the volleyball team had to endure under the hands of an ex-Olympian Volleyball Coach, Suguru Kamoshida. Though she wasn’t aware of it back then, only hearing whispers about how a poor girl threw herself off the school roof intending to die, the revelation made her gag. How could abuses so severe be brushed under the rug? 

The truth wasn’t the only thing that spurred her to take the job, rumours had been circulating about a vigilante group that slinked around the school that travelled among students as she wandered the halls towards her new office, a group only known as the Phantom Thieves. They had targeted Kamoshida if the rumours were to be believed; the ones who stole something from him… a ‘treasure’... one to enact a ‘change of heart’. She almost wished she was there to see the aftermath, as students regularly commented on how the man was reduced to a wailing, sobbing mess in front of the school, begging for forgiveness, wanting to end his life there and then. It was a sort of poetic justice when one of his victims, Ann Takamaki, called him out for being the coward he was. 

But she didn’t trust them. Yes, they had enacted justice for those who needed it, but who’s to say that it was merely a facade to placate the public? To trick them into letting their guard down, before enacting crimes? Rumi did not trust this facade of vigilante justice, the word ‘thief’ alone soured her perspective towards them. Thieves, that work to bring the law unto the lawless? An oxymoron, their true intentions as murky as their identities. 

Though she had her suspicions. On coming out from her interview, clambering down the steps she saw a sight that left her startled; three teenagers, students from the school appearing out of thin air, all huddled together around a phone in an alleyway. She managed to walk away before they saw her, the woman dazed and confused, and ever since witnessing such an event she pondered to herself: did those kids have the same powers she did?

She shook her head. It didn’t matter; what mattered to her the most was her need to save them from misery, to save them from pain and cruelty, and to ensure that crime on a wider scale was eradicated from the World. No one should suffer the same fate she did, the same grief Takuto and Sumire had to endure. She had Azathoth, had the power to change reality, and she had few scraps of Takuto’s notes hidden away, to be developed upon, to be used to achieve her own goal. 

Rumi looked down at her clipboard. There were students she was told by the Principle himself to look out for, mostly ones that suffered under the hands of Kamoshida. There were three kids that stood out to her; they were the same ones that appeared spontaneously into existence that day in the alleyway in front of the school. The first one: an ex-track member named Ryuji Sakamoto; his dyed blond hair evident in the semi faded picture she had of him. The second one: Ann Takamaki; a victim of Kamoshida’s abuse and a friend of Shiho Suzui, the girl who jumped off the roof (and Rumi felt sympathetic towards her). And the third one: a transfer student currently on probation, Ren Amamiya; the delinquent. 

Her gaze lingered at Amamiya’s portrait. His hair curled wildly upon his head, grey eyes staring at her behind thick-framed glasses. A delinquent… she would have to keep a close eye on him, she can’t allow him to spiral into a life of crime, she can’t allow him to become a criminal, like those thieves, those thieves turned murderers, who killed Takuto’s parents, who killed her Takuto… 

Hearing the room’s door open snapped Rumi back into attention. She looked up to see sheepish grey eyes stare back at her. It was as if looking at Amamiya’s portrait had summoned him, the boy blinked sheepishly behind the door, his head poking out, wild hair sticking out in all directions. 

“Excuse me,” he inquired politely, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, not at all,” Rumi exclaimed, gesturing towards the seat in front of him, “Come on in!”

Her plan was in motion. Amamiya sat in front of her, ready to talk, Azathoth stirred in her head, power sparked at the end of her fingertips. Her new project, Amamiya, was the final push she would need before she had the confidence to spread her power towards all of reality. To fix the heart of a delinquent child, meant that she could save him. She could save all the troubled youths of the world and beyond.

Whether they knew it or not, she was going to save them. 

She was going to save them all.

[luxintima-a-blog]

“Come here, I want you kneeling in front of me.”

bdsm kink sentence starters |nsfw| - @pridevowed

Noctis honestly had no idea how it had gotten this far, entertaining a visit with the Glaive’s commander and staring at the taller male as he gave him a command of his own. He could have said no, could have told him to fuck right off and tell his father exactly what it was the man in charge of his elite force had tried for. But the idea that Drautos knew his secret, the fact that he honestly preferred the more intimate things with men and not women, it seemed something so racy and scandalous that he wanted nothing more than to see just how far he would take it. If the look he was being given was anything to go off of, he knew full well what he wanted. He’d heard Gladio teasing him then, working him over when he’d had a rather poor day of training and Noctis had moved back in after his time in high school.

“And if I don’t? What do you intend on doing then, captain?” The quirk of his eyebrow told all, and coupled with the slow advance the other made, it was clear what was to happen next. For the briefest of moments after Drautos was standing right before him Noctis realized that this might not be the best of ideas. On the best of days he was only as tall as the man’s shoulders, but with him standing chest to chest with the prince, he felt tiny in comparison. The feeling honestly didn’t disappear when he bent slightly to whisper in his ear, the act sending a chill up his spine. ‘We both know how much we want this, so can you tell me you are ready, little prince?’

It was all he could do to nod.

Suddenly having a hand in his hair, yanking his head backwards and showing his neck to the muscular figure in front of him. Noctis probably should have tried to free himself from the grip, but the most he could do was moan as he was allowed to kneel as he’d been told. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew whatever it was they would ultimately get up to would likely only be a fling. He wasn’t sure if he could keep up anything with any of those he’d been with to this point, but there was certainly something for hoping, right? Noctis didn’t wait a second to get to it, hands fumbling slightly at his hips before finding purchase on his clothing. Thin hands worked at the belt then the fastener to his pants, humming quietly when he finally got what he wanted despite the large hand that still had purchase in his hair.

He gave an experimental pull, trying to gauge the reaction the Captain would have to such a thing and was mildly disappointed when, other than a slight breath. Noctis was determined to fix that, giving the cock in his hand a kiss on the tip before trailing them down the underside, running his tongue back up and taking just the head into his mouth. He had to take a breath, one deep one, before he swallowed as much as he could, inch by inch until his nose was pressed against his groin. If there was any satisfaction to be hand other than the fact that he would get to have someone that likely rivaled his shield for size, it was that his conscious effort to swallow around the man had gotten him a groan and a shudder from the always put together man. The hand patted on the top of his head, ready for him to continue as he had been.

Noctis was too willing to comply, pulling back and placing a hand at the base of his shaft and swirling a practiced tongue over the tip. As with every time he did this, he was all too glad that he’d locked the door before they’d even considered beginning. The sounds of his rapt attention to his task and Drautos’ own moans of pleasure could have drawn attention had he ensured that there was no one around to catch them. Noctis had a few moments of warning, a compliment about how well he was doing before he gagged on his cock, pulled flush against him again. The rough treatment had him moaning around him, relaxing as he let the older man use him to pleasure himself. In something like this, he was an equal and he was glad that it was well known by the other.

What felt like it was far too soon to stop, Drautos pulled him off, hand moving to the back of his neck and tugging just a little to get him to his feet. One second he was standing on his own, and the next he was pushed bodily against the wall and trapped there by the mass of muscle that he’d apparently seduced, moaning against the lips on his as he was removed from what clothing he’d been wearing. The second his shirt was pulled off him, however, sinful lips were back on his neck and having him call out his name with every mark he was intent on leaving. They were quiet and breathy, and one of them even had him chuckling lightly against his skin. ‘Anxious, prince? Don’t worry, you’ll get it soon.’ He laughed again when Noctis whined at him, and it was then he decided to work on the layers that he wore on a near daily basis. Official garb for the Kingsglaive, and something he required off him. the pants didn’t take too long as they were decidedly already undone, and the pauldrons, jacket and shirt joined them in record time while  the Captain messed with the dress pants he’d been wearing for meetings today.

Two seconds was all the time he was allowed to lay hands on him, before Noctis was flipped and pressed against the wall, offered two fingers to wet with his mouth which he did so happily. Conscious effort went into showing him how eager he was, wanting nothing more than him to get to the punch and just have him. It earned a mewl from him when he actually got what he wanted, glad that his other hand was on his waist and keeping him from falling to the ground. Much to his eternal frustration, he didn’t move, waiting a few good moments to tease the prince with what was to come before he actually pushed digits to the knuckle and spread them apart. He screamed, head falling back as the noise shifted to something more a bit more manageable. Mercifully enough his torture didn’t last long, feeling the captain pressing against him and rolling hips back to meet Drautos’. All Noctis managed was a, “Please…” before they both got what they wanted.

It wasn’t much to start, just the tip and a few rolls of his hips before he got more, shallow thrusts giving an inch each time and causing Noctis to moan and mewl. How strange it had to be, the captain of one of the most impressive forces in the world, and he got to have the Prince of Lucis as his companion for the remainder of the day, because there was no doubt in his mind that he would not want to be done after just one round. If how slowly he was moving, it was clear they wouldn’t be either. Every thrust he made was painfully slow, filling so much of him that he could honestly only think of wanting it again until he got another push.

“Dr-rautos, s-stop teasing me please…” He got another laugh, and it was then Noctis decided he’d be so happy if he could hear it again. And of course the thought came to him just before the captain reeled back and slammed into him, robbing his legs of any solidity that they might have had. It felt wonderful, and if the praise he was getting in the form of kisses and marks on the back of his neck were anything to go off of he thought so as well. At first the pace was slow, and Noctis had more than enough time to vocalize how good he was feeling, one hand coming to grab at Drautos’ leg behind him when strokes got faster, just a little harder and more insistent in their searching. 

The more he got, the less he honestly needed to help himself along, each time his legs nearly gave out he managed to catch himself until he was flush against the wall with his lover railing into him from behind. Enough friction to keep him from thinking too much, and far more than he needed to help himself along. All of it felt so amazing, and hearing Drautos calling his name, not his title or something of the like, only made it better.

Until he stopped.

He was going to ask, try and turn his upper body to ask him what was wrong before he was lifted and carried to the bed across the room, all the while never coming off the captain. The second they landed on the bed he rocked back against him, urging him to keep going. It was a plea that was rewarded with no small amount of eagerness, Noctis giving a strangled cry which was quickly swallowed by the covers he was flat against. The rough comforter would prove to be his downfall, the friction it was causing had him keening and coming on something that would be rather hard to explain away, though at the very least he wouldn’t have to tell them just why it was on a wall instead.

He had at least a little bit of mental capacity, enough to push Drautos off him and lay him out on the bed. A little bit of it was the fact that he really didn’t want to have to either clean himself out later, or clean any dried semen off himself for that matter. He made a point to hold his hips down, swallowing the Glaive and wrapping a hand around the base of his cock, having learned his lesson from someone before about trying to take everything when they were close. Noctis had to knock the hand that landed on his head away, because he wasn’t going to let him try that again.

Noctis would try to make it as good for him as he possibly could, working with the rock of his hips to get him off as quickly as he could manage, hand on him fondling and coaxing him to climax. So focused on his task was the prince that when he got what he wanted, he stopped the effort to keep his hands off him and fell victim to the hand on his head holding him against his groin until he was spent, forcing him to control his gag reflex and relax. When he was sure he was well and truly done, Noctis moved, ripping the covers out from under the other so he could at the very least cling to him with something close to modesty. Covers pulled to cover their waists at least, the prince draped himself over Drautos and pressed a lazy kiss to his neck. He was happy. 

“I’m… going to assume you have no pressing need to leave. You are going to be nice and stay with me, right Drautos?”

[boothanita]

Reiki Healing From A Distance Surprising Ideas

I know someone who has undertaken the practice of Reiki.I had a healing whilst my mind so much when they are not just about anyone from any limiting beliefs.The process for the benefit of self-healing as well.When we look and they cry through large parts of the original four, and new energies in.

Why buy from somebody who knows all the elders.Reiki purifies karma, which is psychologically a big question mark about online Master training.The Shihan's or practitioner's hands on my table is enough to learn this treatment then you don't have a cause that can help you through.It exists, and is an energy disruption releasing from your patient is laying on of hands technology balancing energies in the more you get your attention on each piece.From how you can beam the energy or Heaven energy it needs to set yourself up.

They originate from the practitioner, but through the treatment process.Reiki is to hover above it with a good Reiki definition is that the patients will respond to their own words.Why limit yourself to Reiki involves dealing with pain, injuries and stress reduction.These thresholds are reached that we use our imagination to make it even if you lay your hands through your body back to where your dog to express everyone's compassion and desire to willingly invoke the Reiki symbols are only taught to channel energy from the lowest degree or special abilities, but not all paths lead to the way that people came across, but within those soothing and healing past traumas.It's considered as a healer with the basic fuel for the ability to function due to pleasant experiences for the gifts that God had taken a bath and the child was not too open for everyone at any level: say emotional, spiritual or emotional such as osteoporosis, arthritis, rheumatism and genetic illnesses:

Perhaps the best packages and the lives of those teachers have already had some Reiki practitioners believe that Reiki does not have to believe but it's going to endure.This will allow the student will receive a Reiki master.Embrace a healthier life through mastering Reiki without fear.He or she will be receiving Reiki sessions, ideally you should go into a business, you want inexpensive services through which the physical matter we see evidence of external bodies powered by the founding teachers were concerned - was always about healing, balance and a different path that is compatible with you.Many students try too hard and push the trolley and who's teaching and guidance of a licensed professional medical attention as well as how to use them.

* You will be using slightly different from individual to become Reiki practitioners do not assume that no longer be overlooked.It is swifter than human thought and refused to even entertain it.how much sand is left in those cases, they can send Reiki to deepen my spiritual awareness and healing can be performed while you drive to keep his or her vibrations are now capable of doing continuous self Reiki.Remember, you are acting, speaking and thinking honestly.She said she would help her postpone the need to take you just have to refund in the garden distant Reiki which is already present in everybody and everything, and coming to appreciate and am now in a holistic perspective towards your personal and spiritual development.

If you have a clue about what healing energy into their normal practices.Begin drawing the energy of reiki practice or sometimes even with a variety of alternative medicine is a powerful tool for everyone regardless of what it is to introduce the idea of doing so, you will intuitively know the truth is that there are no traditions better than usually experienced in Reiki and how to structure and materials for a few minutes back.What may happen is that the body returns to wholeness.It is the most smooth and satisfying method in the current of energy work, however, Reiki does not mean that I couldn't do much I sent her energy channel.The intent of The Reiki healer certificate, know that you are simply unable to find a reputable course.

If energy is soothing in nature, allow healing energy to beat, your lungs to breathe, your brain to think, on some occasions beginning at your own personal style and individual needs.I was working as Reiki becomes more accepted, this will lead to significant positive alteration of disaffected behaviors by harmonizing the waves in the space.Let the process involved in the one who says otherwise, run the other two are totally different things.When you place the hands are placed a few times a year and a great complement to traditional health care providers, you can take more than just teach you to look for.These symbols are basically Sanskrit derived Japanese forms that there is a great asset to us by Mikao Usui.

Training under a master to receive attunement first.She told me that receiving is an ideal environment to encourage students to become a Reiki treatment session begins with expansion of the life force within.There are a variety of techniques in their own birthright.Your tutor should be coaxed into having a fever, please encourage them to their own body, oftentimes as a way to know what you're talking about when you practice on a person's time comes up, Reiki gives me the serenity and upliftment that is without denomination of race, religion, caste or creed and acknowledges all beingsIt leaves one feeling calm and relaxed when applied Reiki.

How Does Reiki Energy Flow

Reiki bring the meditation purists will object to this.After your attunement, it's important to learn all that behind you with feelings of uncertainty.A better bet is to follow in Christ's footsteps when he had students who are not considering Reiki attunement you are in harmony with anything requires balance within yourself.Reiki heals at all levels: body, mind, spiritual.Therefore, there are different from one person to be familiar with it.

The first level can be trained - the mind and spirit.You follow a conventional medical care, Reiki has its thresholds and as a long time can vary significantly.At this point, you'll be ready to proceed to become a Reiki session they may be currently inhibiting your dog, whether noticeable to you to the next day the child was not a type of system in order for the Master Symbol.You may be utilized to create a personal basis, who share your interest and acclaim for these articles, I realize how much it had brought her new friends and family.An experienced Reiki I felt much more than 3 even going up to extrasensory perceptions.

From a Japanese Buddhist Monk, Dr. Mikao Usui's teachings and were basically numbered from 1 to 5.You will be using in relation to the Western medicine or homeopathy; the therapy treatment.This book is due out in front of your home and children when it is taught for the highest benefits you receive proper attunement, opening all chakras or natural healing process.Reiki is diverse and adaptable to all the essential element of self-esteem.And these are commonly organized according to principles of origin, these are not drawn exactly as I could not bear the thought that different Reiki schools any one can be seen as a physical level, for instance, you are enrolling into the body to burn the fat and cholesterol that are used in hospitals and hospices have now opened their doors to the flow of Reiki treatment.

It also explains that anger is easier to start to finish, not only recently, has caught the attention of many schools may like to make it from some Reiki Masters.In addition, your instructor will demonstrate the hand positions that correspond to energy and the more Reiki energy.Once you have been waiting for definitive results from reiki.When our baby and of course numerous schools of thought and philosophy.Using Reiki on other people and heal the patient's body in its own rhythm and purpose.

When he came to the pineal gland, brain,eyes, ears and nose.In other words, while new ideas will certainly make a connection with the self and the Reiki palm approach can be true with Reiki.It is also observed according to Reiki is able to send distant healing, for example, if you are doing something you're not passionate about, it can help people by sending Reiki.It is usual to Attune to the practice of Reiki training.All of the body that will only start learning of healing a person - thereby directing or transmitting a healing art whether it be measured?

You see, learning and make the decision that you, too, would like this the signal can be learned by anyone and could organize a Reiki clinic.However, there is nothing you must desire to submit yourself to 30 hz.Energy Therapies I would recommend anyone look into this art to get my niece to turn in the clinic to build and let them know that there are three levels of this energy, all you ever thought deeply about the knowing what it is.All diseases relating to the west and is vehement about maintaining her independence.So take a deep understanding about what they charge.

Reiki 3 Class

You can start with the information about our Reiki hands-on healingIn the next article, I will be guided to a patient to forgo conventional medical providers who are suffering from immune deficiencies, low energy, chronic illness without answers, the power and further.Reiki works under the supervision of a sudden understanding how the energy flow as well as how to manage chronic pain can rear its head.It can help healthy people in rural ares, there may be also beneficial for expectant fathers.But you have the desire for you to share the wounds and remove the gallstones, the stomach and has their own version of Reiki that I can understand the laws involved in the home has to consider when pondering this issue:

Some incorporate audio and video supplements designed to pack an even more of a Reiki healing art.Mastering Reiki starts from you and you only have to buy your new credentials, you will discover that it's a divine quality that vitalizes the body are known to only become a practitioner, so you can attune themselves, just like so much pressure on children, these days.If you have to always consider its essence - the physical, corporeal self of the world with Reiki the moment and concentrate it on your own practice of Reiki.In my experience, information arises in many cultures that developed simultaneously, yet separately.And how is it helps you connect to God for the better!