What Lies Below the Surface

Chapter 22: Nightmares in Reality

I jolted awake, and I soon felt Takumi stirring beside me.
He then rolled over so he was facing me. "....ugh...you okay Kai?"
I quickly glanced out the window that was in the tree house, and I could tell the sun was startingto come up. Even though the Astral Planes were hidden, they still followed the rules of the regular world, in respect to time, which meant that about three days had passed since we got to Valla. There was a lot of recovery that needed to be done, and we planned to head out later this morning.
"...I just had a really bad nightmare..." I said as I sat up.
Takumi also sat up, and gently embraced me. "You want to talk about it?"
"I guess it wouldn't hurt," I said with a sigh. "So, I was at Castle Shirasagi...but I was clearly sided with Nohr. I had obviously just faced Ryoma in battle, as he was on his knees, supporting himself with Raijinto. King Garon had ordered me to kill him, but...I couldn't bring myself to do it. He's my brother, after all."
"Then what happened?" Takumi asked as he gently pulled me closer to him.
Tears were already coming to my eyes. "...the words are still so clear in my head...he said, 'I cannot fall into the hands of my enemy. So I...' he...he then paused f-for a moment as he...h-he thrust the R-Raijinto into his lower chest...th-there was so much blood...I tried to look away, but I couldn't...he then continued on, saying, 'fulfil a samurais final duty!' he then let out a battle cry a-as he thrusted it deeper... 'I'm counting on you...' I remember that he looked a-at me, with a final smile....then f-fell to the ground...I-I watched him kill himself..."
Takumi gently rubbed my back, trying to comfort me. "Shh...it's okay, Kai. Like you said...it was just a nightmare. You know I get nightmares, too. I know how you feel."
I sniffed, and burried my face in his chest, breaking down into tears. I couldn't hold it back any longer.
He gently ran a hand through my hair, trying his best to calm me down. "Kai...I promise everything is going to be okay...you know...there's something I need to tell you."
"Wh-what's that...?" I asked as I looked up at him.
"I love you," he said before gently kissing me on the lips.
I smiled, and kissed back.
"Feeling better now?" he asked as I rested my head on his shoulder.
I nodded, and gently ran my hand down his spine. "Yeah...part of me think it's because of what we did last night..."
"....how can they be related?" Takumi asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.
I sighed as I closed my eyes. "Well...I mean, we were both nervous."
"I'll agree with that, but how can nervousness be connected with a nightmare about Ryoma killing himself...?"
I sighed. "I don't know...it was just a thought..."
"Alright," Takumi said. "Anyways, we should get ready. Ryoma is coming in aboutan hour, remember?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Let's get ready."

About an hour later, I was finishing getting ready, and there was a knock on the door.
"Can you get that, Takumi?" I called out.
"Yeah!" he yelled form the other room.
When I walked into the main room, Ryoma was sitting in a chair, and I saw Takumi in the kitchen, making tea.
"Good morning, Kai," Ryoma said with a smile.
"Morning," I said as I sat down across from him, and Takumi came back in, and gave each of us a cup of tea.
Ryoma sighed. "...I assume the two of you already know why I'm here, correct?"
I nodded as Takumi sat down next to me. "Yeah. He proposed to me about, what, a week or so ago? Anyways, I said yes, but since you are the eldest, we need your concent to get married," I said as I took a sip of my tea.
Ryoma nodded as he tooka sip of his own tea. "Ineed. And I will gladly give you my concent," he said with a smile.
I slightly gasped as I took Takumi's hand in mine. "R-really...?"
Ryoma nodded. "Of course. I want the best for the both of you, and I'll support you. To be honest...Mother gave me a letter when you returned to Hoshido...and told me to open it if I started to doubt you, Kai...and it talked about how you aren't Sumeragi's child..."
Takumi slightly gasped. "Really? Mother gave me a letter...and she told me to open it if I started to worry about who I had feelings for..."

I wasn't really paying attention at this point, and started to space out.
Before I realized what was happening, I was thrown into a flashback of my nightmare. Only this time, I was Ryoma.
As soon as I had thrusted Raijinto into my lower chest, I cried out in pain, snapping back to reality, and I quickly broke from Takumi, and clutched my chest, doubling over in pain.
Takumi almost immediately grabbed my shoulder. "Kai?! Are you okay?!"
At this point, I wasn't able to respond, the pain overwhelming, so I closed my eyes. I felt blood trickling down over my hands. At the same time, it felt as if I had electricity flowing through my body, as if I had actually been stabbed by the Raijinto.
I then heard Ryoma speak up. "Gods...Takumi, you do realize she's bleeding, right?!"
I then felt Takumi take a piece of cloth or something, and move my hands so he could tie it over the wound before gently picking me up bridal style. "Yeah. The important thing right now is trying to figure out what's going on- and getting her medical attention.
I then opened my eyes, and looked at Takumi. "Takumi..." I said in a barely audible mumble.
He gasped, but gently kissed my forehead, and I could tell that he was trying not to break down into tears. "I-it'll be okay, Kai. I'm n-not gonna lose y-you...we need to keep o-our promises...w-we both need to make it through this w-war..."
Ryoma sighed. "Come on. Let's get her to the infirmary. Now."
Takumi nodded. "R-right."
At that point, I couldn't hold up any longer, and passed out, most likely from blood loss.