LUCID Hibernation

Chapter 11

My body is resting against a large tree when my eyelids open. I'm seated in a strange garden with water running through it and a loud, donk... donk sound echoing about me. I get to my feet and peer round, searching for Obi. I hear him before I see him, though his voice sounds a lot younger. Following his voice, I find a child, maybe ten or eleven years old, seated with their feet tucked under them and their back upright. Only the child can't be Obi, because this child is without a doubt, a girl. Her hair is long and black pinned back with flowers and beads, her lips a deep shade of red. But her eyes are dark forest-green, just like Obi's. There's a boy sitting across from her, but he's certainly not Obi, his appearance is the complete opposite, but his voice is what gives it away. 'Yukki you can't stay here, they're going to take you away and I doubt they'll keep you alive!' He is yelling at the girl, but she just stars back at him with a cool expression. Then she speaks and there's no mistaking Obi's voice, 'that's not the correct way to address me Obi-kun, and of this mater there is nothing I can do, if they take me, they take me. 'I will not let you and my family be the price for my life, I am the "demon" they want.' The boy clenches his fists, 'my lady excuse me for being rude but you lack wisdom in this decision. 'They are not going to spare anyone whether you give yourself us or not! 'They are coming to slaughter us all because they blame us for both your existence and for harbouring you as they put it! 'You are not a "demon", at least not to me, you are my Lady Akagami Yukki and I'm not letting anyone hurt you, so please listen when I tell you to flee! 'You are doing no one a favour by dying.' Obi..err I mean Yukki looks as though she wants to argue further but loud angry shouts from the other side of the Japanese mansion prevents her from doing so. The boy grabs her by the arm, which by the look on Yukki's face, is completely against some sort of rule of conduct that they are under. He ignores the glare she sends him and drags her out of the room towards me. I quickly duck behind a bush and watch as the boy leads her under the wooden floor boards. With only one clear option available, I follow them at a distance.

So Obi is a girl...how is that possible, I thought girls could only be carriers. I think about all those times I though Obi was too pretty to be a guy or acted a little strange and I realise it kind of makes sense now. Then again, it also means that I was beaten several times by a girl in combat...if the other guys new they'd never let me down...actually, they would have to. I laugh inwardly, the majority of them had fought and lost to her as well. Why keep it a secret though? Why pretend to be a guy? I don't have time to dwell on it as loud scream threaten to give me a headache, then I freeze as blood drips down from the floor boards above, right in front of my face. I think I finally get what's going on here. The villages and authorities must think that Ob...Yukki's abilities are caused by some sort of demonic power. By the sound of things, they believe the entire house hold is guilty of harbouring a demon and must suffer the consequence which is death. How many centuries ago is this?

We come up at the back of the mansion facing the fringe of a forest; the ground is covered in snow, something I hadn't noticed till now. Both the boy and Yukki race towards the infringement but their path is blocked by a young Japanese man with an ugly white scar across his face, he holds two long double edged knives, one in either hand. The man opens he mouth – probably to signal his friends inside that he'd found Yukki – but the boy...Obi rushes forward and punches the man, cutting him off. The man appears startled but quickly retaliates, slashing at the youth with his knives. Obi doges, kicking one of the knives from the man's hand and tries to tackle the him, telling Yukki to run, but as soon as he makes contact the man stabs the other knife into Obi's back. I saw it coming but it is still tragic to actually witness it, the boy was too small and weak, it's a miracle he lasted this long at all. The man drops Obis body on the ground and advances towards Yukki licking him lips in excitement, 'I'm going to enjoy watching you bleed little demon.' It takes all my will power not to intervene; I can already feel Yukki trying to change something as the ground starts to shake. This is not good. Before the earth quake hits, the man suddenly lifts his hand and flicks his wrist, throwing the knife towards Yukki, who is too focussed on fighting the erg to change the past. I shut my eyes too afraid to watch, but I don't hear a scream or anything, just dead silence. I open my eyes just a crack and then they widen. Obi is bent over Yukki, with both knives protruding from his back. He crashes to the ground. Yukki raises her head infuriated. She picks up a large stone and too fast for me to follow, throws it at the man hitting him square between the eyes and instantly killing him. Then she kneels down to Obi's side, tears filling her eyes. I feel her changing something again and just for a moment I see the boy's chest rise. No, I can't let her do this to herself...'Obi, stop!' Her head snaps up to me, her eyes wide in shock and her mouth fumbling for words. 'You can't bring him back, it's just a simulation. 'Remember you can't bring him back in reality.' Her face hardens, 'I know, but I can't let his go, not again. 'The last time I was in this simulation...he came back, he got up and we continued our way into the forest, but he still died in the end...he died because I was afraid of him...I knew it was coming and I let it hit him...I...I,' I kneel down next to her and place my arms around her, 'it's okay, you don't need to talk about it, but we need to get you out of this simulation, you've been in it too long and you're body isn't taking the stress too well.' She nods her head and I let go of her, allowing her to continue the events of this horrific day. I watch as she runs her hand through the boy's hair, then down his face, shutting his eyelids. She leans down and kisses the boys forehead and then his lips. She suddenly rises and starts towards the forest; she stops and turns to me, 'are you coming?' I nod and follow after her wordlessly. I'm not sure why but I really don't like the fact that she kissed that boy, even if he was dead, it made me feel...annoyed.

Yukki leads me up through the rising forest, the snow covered ground causes my feet to feel numb, but I ignore it. We walk for what feels like an hour before Yukki slows down, she flinches a second before an arrow shaft appears out of nowhere and embeds itself in her back. She knew it was coming and she'd said nothing. Then I realise, in her first simulation, that's how the boy died, he took the arrow for her instead. I start to move towards her, but she puts her hand up to stop me just as a second arrow flies into her back, unable to resist against the impact she falls into the snow. I rush to her side and peer down at her glazed over face, 'what happens now?' I don't know if that sounds emotionless, but I know she didn't die from this, if she had, I wouldn't have ever met her. 'I'm going to force myself to sleep for two centuries, when I awaken, I am found by an elderly man, and he and his wife take me in and adopt me as their own. 'They find out pretty quickly that I'm a hibernator...and...you should know the rest, I'm sorry I lied about it all.... 'I'll see you on the other side I guess,' she smiles up at me and then the world around me becomes a blur as I fall out of her world and into reality.

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Obi's a girl!!! Gahh, yeah, yeah I know, you all saw that coming...but Gray did not and that's what matters...err never mind. Either way that's the reason it's only in Gray point of view. Actually the idea for this book came from the thought 'there are all these books where the girl is pretending to be a guy, so what would it be like from the guy POV not know this friend was actually a girl?'