Shuichi gave Yuna a peculiar look with her uncharacteristic outburst, it quickly faded however, when she fainted. Thanks to his impeccable reflexes he was able to catch his friend before she hit the ground.
Must have been a side effect of whatever kind of illusion he used on her.
He lifted her up carefully, about to bring her to her room, but was stopped by his mother coming in with a smile followed by a taller man with grey hair and steel eyes. A burning heat went up the back of his neck at the site of the man chuckling next to his mother. He had seen enough of Yuna's memories to recognize the man instantly as her father.
He was right here, in his mother's home, and laughing with her. He forced down his disgust when his mother looked over at him, her smile fading to a concerned frown.
"Oh no! Shuichi, what happened?!" She rushed over to him and looked over Yuna worriedly. He gave his mother a kind smile to put her at ease.
"She's fine, after we finished our homework we talked until she fell asleep." His green eyes swiftly made contact with those of her father's. "I think she pushes herself too much in her studies."
Her father gave a forced chuckle, though his eyes betrayed him as his gaze hardened on the teenager.
"Yes, my daughter does have a habit of doing so. I should get her home now."
Shiori quickly waved the man off with a kind smile.
"Nonsense I'm happy to have Yuna stay the night. She needs the rest anyway!" Shuichi's mother left no room for argument, thankfully. He watched Yuna's father feign a relieved sigh.
"If you insist, it would be an immense help. Especially since I don't want to spook her. Yuna can be quite the skittish young lady."
"She'll be home tomorrow evening then if that's alright with you Watanabe-san?"
The steely-eyed man nodded before making his way out of their home. Looking down at his friend in slight worry, he didn't want to tell her that her worst fear had come back.
"She'll be fine Shuichi. I made a call to the hotline when you first brought her here." His mother's words shocked him, even now her kindness was touching him. She didn't know Yuna for more than a few weeks and yet she was treating her like her own daughter. Truly his mother's kindness was boundless.
"You knew..."
With a sad look, she nodded and reached over to touch the young girl's hair.
"Since the moment you brought her home. A woman knows, especially a mother. Now go take her to her room, and I'll make that curry."
———————
Yuna was asleep for only a few short hours by the time she woke up. She had a nightmare that her father had returned to come and bring her back home. Her chest tightened at the thought, she truly hoped it was a nightmare and nothing more. The smell of curry woke her, along with Shuichi lightly shaking her shoulder.
She sat up groggily, clutching onto his sleeve when he pulled away to give her some space. Her eyes caught sight of his sympathetic ones, making dread fill the pit of her stomach. As gently as she could, she focused on his thoughts and sifted through his more recent memories coming across the image of her father with Shiori. The image of him caused her to snap out of Shuichi's mind with a snap.
A sharp pain filled his head, making him fall onto his backside. Lifting his hand to his now aching head and hiss out a soft curse.
"Yuna, you don't have to go back there... To him."
The young girl got to his side quickly and helped him up. A worried expression on her face, she didn't mean to hurt her friend. Her worries were quickly put to rest when he gave her a smile and a soft squeeze on the hand she had touched his shoulder with.
"But what if he does something? I could never forgive myself if anything happened to either you or your mom."
She looked away from him and bit her lip. What her father did to her was her problem. It was selfish of her to bring the two people who had treated her so kindly into the issue. The girl would rather die than have anything happen to them.
"Then we'll deal with it, just stay here.. Please, Mother has already talked to Safety Services. Someone will take him away soon."
Yuna turned her golden gaze to him and stared at him for a long moment. He could tell she was on the tipping point of a decision. Shuichi inwardly sighed, he didn't want to do this, but he felt like there was no other choice.
"If not for me then do it for my mother. She wouldn't want you to get hurt."
He knew this was a low tactic, especially when Yuna was so easily manipulated. She looked down guiltily and nodded in confirmation. The two got off the floor getting ready to head down to have the curry Shiori had finished making.
"I'll stay, but I need to stop by my home for more somethings. I'll try to sneak past Father as best I can..."
Apprehension filled him at the thought of her being alone in the same home as her abuser once more. Shaking his head he looked over to her as they walked to the kitchen, it wouldn't sit well with him if he let her go alone.
"That's fine, but I would like to accompany you. Just in case."
Yuna nodded, she knew that it was possibly the only way he'd let her go home. It wasn't like she needed much; just some clothes, the few pictures of her and Yusuke, and some books.
When the two of them arrived at the kitchen Shiori turned and smiled at them. Yuna's eyes grew glossy and she rushed to the woman, hugging her tightly. She managed to get out a croaking, "Thank you" to the older woman. Her body shaking from her soft crying. For a moment the woman was caught off guard, but soon started to pat Yuna's back gently.
__________
It was the next day and school ended particularly fast for the two of them, unfortunately for Yuna. She wanted the day to be slow, dreading the thought of entering her home. Since she didn't think it would take long once she got inside her house, the only problem being her father.
The two of them were walking towards her home now that their classes were over. Yuna's chest tightened with anxiety the closer they became, which unfortunately meant Shuichi felt the brunt of it when she invaded his thoughts to distract herself from it.
It was something she found herself doing over the last few weeks. Whenever she was nervous or other people's thoughts became too much, she would enter his mind and settle there.
Yuna found, that when she was occupying someone else's thoughts, it would muffle out all others. It helped that she liked being in his head, it was quiet and he always managed to block out other people. She latched onto his arm as they walked while she settled in his mind.
It almost felt like she was traversing into a painting when she entered his mind. Finding herself in the memories of places he had been or knew very well. The awe it constantly brought her was always successful in distracting her. Every time it would be something she had yet to see, ad he would share some of his exploits in that area.
At this current time, she was in a dark wooded forest and sitting against a log next to a warm fire. There was a chill in the air as she lifted her head to the sky, thinking it might snow from how cold it was. To her shock, instead of the sky being the normal blue she had always associated with it, it was crimson. She watched as dark clouds swirled about ominously, almost like they were contemplating on storming.
Everything around her felt surreal and mystical. The air was charged with something that caused excitement to run through her. She knew this place, or at least, she felt a deep connection to it. She looked down at her bare feet, noting the simple cloth pants on her legs and a small tunic on her torso. The normal attire for wherever she was at according to Shuichi's subconscious.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the odd wildlife as she slowly forgot what they were doing.
Unfortunately, it didn't last as long as she wanted when footsteps shuffled near her, making her look up to see her friend, but different. He looked just like the image that had flashed across her eyes some time ago. Silver hair and fox ears atop his head, with piercing gold eyes, he would look like this in the older places she had been.
"Hello, Kurama..."
She would call him this when he was in that particular form, it just felt right. The fox demon nodded her way and sat on the log, looking into the fire.
"So this is where you've hidden yourself. Not the safest place, but peaceful all the same. I'm afraid I must drag you away from it, we're here now."
Just like that, the woods were gone and so to did the crimson sky. She found herself blinking rapidly to adjust her mind back to their world. Her gaze settled on her home when she was finished. The sight of her father's car rekindled her anxiety as she took a deep breath.
"Stay here, I'll be right back."