Bring him back

chapter 15

Feel like this chapter is different from my usual writing style, but...

Don't know how to change it, so I just left it as it is.

~'0'~

"TAKE ME TO HER, NOW!"

~'0'~

In front of Aki's mannor

"Ready, Tenma?" The said ghost boy didn't reply with words, instead, he simply nodded his head at the purple headed forward.

All four of them were going up to the front door, until Tenma noticed Sasuke's doghouse was seemingly empty

'That's weird.' As far as he remembers, Sasuke's doghouse is never empty unless Aki's taking him out for a walk, but judging by the faint sobbing coming out from the mannor, it was pretty clear that the woman was still inside, plus, he's only allowed to go inside the house once the sun starts going down, but right now it was a beautiful, bright Sunday morning, so technically he shouldn't be inside the mannor.

He floated off the pathway towards the front door and kneeled down in front of Sasuke's doghouse entrance, the others simply followed him after seeing where he was going.

Once the ghost boy had kneeled down to take a look inside the doghouse, right off the bat he saw Sasuke with his head resting on his front paws, and he could also hear slight whimpering, although it was very faint.

Tenma couldn't help himself and he began petting the top of Sasuke's head, the dog himself, for some reason looked in front of him and he suddenly had a happy expression, his tongue was out and his tail was wagging from side to side, hitting the walls of his house. The ghost boy began backing away as soon as Sasuke got up and began coming out, and once the dog was fully out, he began licking his owner's hand and snuggling against him

"Eh!?"

"Tenma did u like... Somehow hug him!?" Asked Hikaru incredulously, because he swore he didn't see his ghost friend hugging the dog

"No, I swear I didn't!"

"Then, how, puh!" Shindou was at a loss for words, he and Kirino both overhead Tsurugi's conversation the other day with the aliens, so they also know the only possible way to get a mortal to see a ghost

"How in the name of soccer can he see you if you didn't hug him!?" Asked Kirino for Shindou, since he managed to find his voice sooner than his bestfriend.

Tenma on the other hand, began having some flashbacks to when he was still alive and when Shiro didn't come

"I remember people that believe in paranormal stuff say that animals can actually see ghosts."

"And you believe that?" The ghost boy simply shot his ex-captain an unimpressed look and said

"I am a ghost right now, a paranormal creature. So am I supposed to not believe in the paranormal when I'm literally part of it? Also, Sasuke's still snuggling against me even though I still haven't hugged him, so am I supposed to not believe that saying?"

Shindou felt really awkward at the moment for making quite the fool of himself in front of his crush and he began chuckling quite nervously while rubbing the back of his neck, Kirino on the other hand, couldn't suppress the urge and ended up laughing out loud, earning a death glare from his bestfriend.

As much as Tenma wanted to stay and cuddle with his dog pal, he knew that even though Sasuke's important, there was something much more at stake that he needed to do right now.

~'0'~

When they got in front of the main entrance, they saw that the door wasn't actually closed, it was just barely opened, at first they thought that maybe somebody broke in and tried to close the door but unfortunately failed.

But after prompting their ears closer, they clearly heard broken sobbing coming from the inside, and Shindou confirmed that they're the same exact sobbings he heard the other day when he came alone

"Ready to go in, Tenma?" The said ghost boy didn't have to say anything in words, all he needed was to nod his head in order to confirm the defender's question.

Tenma went right through the door while the others stayed outside until the brunet assured them that they could come in, since they didn't want to risk the possibility of Aki having a hard time or even a panic attack seeing other people so suddenly.

When Tenma went in, he followed the sobbings which eventually led him to his 'second mother' and right away, he had no time to loose and had to act fast.

Aki was on the verge of dumping an entire bottle of pills down her throat, she already had some in her mouth which resulted in slightly suffocating her as she's showing it on her face with tears. Tenma went up to her and hugged her from behind, causing the woman to tumble forward a little while spitting out all of the pills that were in her mouth.

She was left with a bitter aftertaste on her taste buds, but she turned around to see what made her almost fall on her knees and there she saw the boy she was willing to give her life up to see once again, Matsukaze Tenma, who had his face burrowed into her clothes while crying soundlessly.

Aki thought she was dead, but after looking around, she realized that she was still in her apartment and after slightly pinching herself, she had no doubt that she's still alive. And there was only one answer for her at this very moment

"LET GO OF ME YOU STUPID ILLUSION!" Tenma looked up to her with invisible tears coming out of his eyes and Aki took the opportunity to push him away "THIS ISN'T TRUE, YOU'RE JUST AN ILLUSION, GET OUT OF MY LIFE!"

The ghost boy was heartbroken to see the woman in such a bad state, but judging by the way she's reacting, the once mortal deducts that this is probably not the first time she sees an illusion of himself and due to that, she's unable to accept anything else other than illusions when it comes to him.

The ghost boy may be heartbroken to see one his dearest people in such a bad shape, but he knew, or at least hoped that this one idea in his mind could soothe her down and convince her that this time around, he isn't an illusion.