Chasing Dreams (Dropped)

Chapter 135: Traitor

"Y-you want me to join you?" Yushirou took a step back and frowned, his face flushed in disbelief. "How can you ask me to do that after everything you've done?" Normally Yushirou wasn't one to raise his voice, he always had been soft spoken choosing to speak in a tone most fitting to his feminine appearance.

Irene on the other hand spoke softly, wearing an expression as sharp as nails "I know it's selfish of me to ask of you to do such a thing but... there is no one else in the world I can entrust this to..." Irene stepped out of the shadows with a thin smile causing Yushirou's brittle look to crack even more.

He watched the light from the window dawn on Irene encompassing her in an sunlit glow. The sunlight only made the shadow cower, causing the corrupt and disturbing look to vanish from her aged face. Yushirou's eyes shifted widening slightly only to reclaim their once composed look "What happened to your face?" he soon asked carefully examining it. Her once pure blue eyes were stained golden with the one on the left appearing far more faded than the right. It was abundantly clear to Yushirou that her left eye had ceased functioning, due to the pupil no longer being visible. As for the rest of her face...only few would have kind things to say about it.

Irene a woman who was once revered by those in the Dragon Temple for her strength and beauty, now looked like a dying patient. Her skin was worn and gray, and her face looked as if it had aged by at least a decade. But still even in a decrepit state Irene smiled as if everything was fine. Reminding Yushirou of his days when she and Zhu Li would train him.

More often than not Yushirou would reminisce about those days. Those distant memories of when the three of them would travel the world and help people across many lands.

But unfortunately those days were long behind them, and the world has changed a lot since then.

"Irene..." Yushirou repeated reclaiming his lost voice "What happened to your face?" he asked again in a more pained tone, reading Irene's expression like an open book. Irene only gave him her usual false smile and laughed as if trying to mask the pain with a layer of paint. "Just a little miscalculation on my part..."

"A miscalculation!" Yushirou snapped allowing his frustration to slip out, but quickly grabbed it by the head. "Irene you look like you're dying... don't tell me you used Suzaku" Irene dipped her head slightly hiding her wilting eyes with a wave of her long graying bangs. "And if I did...?"

"...Would you look down on me for using it?" Irene asked still hiding her expression. A nervous sweat rolled from Yushirou's forehead "No I wouldn't...I'd just ask why...?"

"To ensure my dream becomes reality." Irene admitted "And to ensure something like that won't happen again. Besides how else am I supposed to secure the safety of the future if I don't use it...?"

Yushirou lowered his head and let out a heavy sigh, a sigh so heavy he was worried his heart may fall alongside it. By using Suzaku, a technique passed on by the Wolfe Family for generations Irene had pretty much secured her own fate. As well as the fate of her son. "Irene, your mind is so focused on the future I am bit worried you have forgotten how to live in the present. I don't know what you have seen, and in all honesty I don't to. But I can't imagine risking everything, your stance with the public, the lives of the innocent, your family's safety...I can't imagine sacrificing all of it would be worth achieving whatever you saw!"

Yushirou beamed a glare at Irene soon noticing the dim shadow over her face. Her golden eyes seemed lost, while her usual fiery expression had long died out simmering into a pile of ash. After witnessing this dreadful look Yushirou's mind slowly managed to piece things together like a burnt puzzle. He had remembered the essence of the Suzaku technique and how unstable it was, in addition to the so called "rumor" floating around Coal City (Later renamed to Ashe City).