The Way It's Done - YCM Sequel (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 15 - Is this really it?

NORMAL POV

It was very awkward when they got a move on when the sun rose. Akira didn't dare to tell Ruki the new bit of information he learned, at least not until they got this whole thing out of the way. All throughout the night Ruki tossed and turned but showed no other signs of distress. But still, Akira stayed up most of the night to keep watch over him. He was understandably very tired and was thankful for the shade of trees high above their heads to block out the harsh rays of the sun. In addition to that, some low winds travelling down from the mountain range was making this forest even colder than usual, calling for the need of some sort of warmth.

With the blankets as a makeshift nest, Ruki and Akira both sat next to one another with their knees touching. Yutaka sat in the place he sat before, with his hood over his face to hide anything he might have been feeling at that moment. Ruki was being quiet because he could sense that there was some underlying tension between Akira and Yutaka, though he did not understand why exactly.

He wanted to speak up. Ask what was wrong. But the tension was so thick that it suffocated him and prevented him from asking anything. It felt.... Awful. It made him feel so much smaller and he didn't like it. The trees weren't making it any better either. It felt like they were boxing him in, making him feel trapped. Which as weird considering he never suffered from claustrophobia before this. There was something weird going on in these trees, he could feel it. The further and further they went into these trees, the feeling of dread grew stronger with each second.

Finally he couldn't take it no longer and decided to whisper softly to Akira so Yutaka couldn't hear them talking.

"Um... Akira? Can I... Say something?" The human just simply looked down at him with a questioning glance but didn't speak. Was it just him, or did Akira seem... Angry? "Um... Well I uh... I just feel... Weird."

Akira's face grew concerned about him right away and pressed his hand to Ruki's forehead for his temperature.

"Are you burning up again? Do you need any medicine or-?"

"No no, not like that. It's just... This place, this forest. I know my ability to naturally sense danger is stunted from the lack of magical energy in the air but... I can really feel something bad in here. And it keeps getting worse the more we go in."

Akira frowned even more heavily and glanced partially to Yutaka, who didn't seem like he had heard anything. But still, why was Ruki feeling this if his abilities were limited? Could it be the darkness spreading through his body that was making him feel like this?

"Do you want to take a break? Stretch your legs around? Cause we didn't get a chance to do that since we left this morning..."

Ruki knew that asking this of them was selfish, and impeding their progress solely based on a feeling was the last thing he would want. But still... he couldn't shake this feeling at all. No. No he had to keep going. It was up to them, and only them, to save this world from impeding disaster. They had to keep going, no matter what his gut told him. Even if he would feel weird about it later, they had a duty to uphold.

Funny how he was the one who needed protecting after promising Aoi he would be the one doing the protecting.

"But I... I don't want to disrupt the flow of our mission. No, I can just... Withstand it for now. Whatever it is, I am sure it is nothing. But Akira, can I also... Say something else? Something a bit more... Personal?"

There was also something else on his mind as well, something that had been bothering him immensely and even though it was probably nothing compared to their current problem, it was one he couldn't push away anymore.