Chapter 30

"Brother, it's the middle of the night. Why are you still awake?" Ichika asks, who wakes up from her sleep.

"Oh, Ichika. It's nothing. Just go back to sleep." Hisashi answers her.

"Ok. Just sleep too. Mother told me that you don't sleep at the right time. If you don't sleep, I'll outgrow you."

"Hahaha! Did Mother say that? When that happens, try to wake up. It'll only happen in your dreams."

*THOK!* Ichika throws a wooden display to him to which he dodges. However, it hits Sukehiro who was sleeping on Hisashi's other side. This causes Ichika to act asleep making Hisashi laugh. Fortunately, their brother was deep asleep and didn't wake up.

Seeing her sister sleep, her words ring through his brain again. Ever since Hisashi started training, his sleep schedule changed. Especially when he successfully managed to make his Ki automatic, his condition worsened.

It wasn't an illness, rather, a drawback to his newly learned abilities. Since Ki makes him sense things spiritually, through their life force, this became a trouble to Hisashi. It was like his normal bodily senses, except, it was more heightened and overwhelming to the brain.

This causes him sleepless nights as even closing his eyes is amplifying his Ki, making his heightened never keep him awake as much as possible. The only way he can sleep is when his body finally decides to, and even then, he can feel everything in his sleep.

…

"Is it time, father?" A man in the shadow asks.

"No, not yet. He's still on the way back." A voice of what seemed to be an older man said.

"Then what about the other kid? He's not a part of us, is he? Do we kill him too?"

"He's last. After we killed his wife and the whole town, that's when we kill him. Maybe we can use the child to kill him too. We've gathered enough knowledge about him, and he's probably like the first-born – as strong too."

The two continue to observe a group of samurai.

"Because of the Han's attack on the Minami's, the Ryudo and the Mushogutake Clan are on high alert. He also won't participate as a soldier, given his softness. So he'll come back to his family in worry. By that time, we'll commence.

…

"ARRGH!!!" Hisashi screams himself awake. Noticing his own body sweating buckets, he can't help but shudder. That's when the door opened. His mother, Yuna, was standing there with concerned eyes. She ran to him, panicking.

"What happened? Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" She asks as Ichika comes in holding a bottle of water.

Seeing her, Hisashi's eyes changed from panic to shock. As she offers water to him, Hisashi can't help but ask.

"Ichika… Do you happen to talk to an old man we don't know? Or at the very least see any old man you're unfamiliar with?" Hearing her son's weird question, Yuna can't help but worry more and she looks at Ichika.

"What do you mean? Are you okay Hisashi? Why are you asking your sister that?" She says as she took the water herself and offers it to Hisashi.

"Ichika, are you? If so, you need to tell us! Or else we're in danger!" Hisashi said as he holds Ichika's arms. This causes her to step back and Yuna saw the slight agitation on her face. Knowing her brother, Ichika knows that she can't lie and pull her arms back. That's when Hisashi felt her Ki change.

She step back even more and a worried expression appeared on her face. Before she ran away, she yells to Hisashi. "I- I can't! I can't tell you that. Not yet! Not without Father here!"

Seeing her daughter's flight, Yuna stood up and chase after her. Surprisingly, she was much faster than her. This caused Hisashi to try and chase after her too, but he felt the pain in his head caused by the nightmare. He drank his water before recovering and running after the two.

However, Ichika was fast enough to run out of his sensing range, causing him to lose her.

…

"Did you find her?" Hisashi asks his brother.

"No, not yet. We've asked all around the town but no one has seen her." Sukehiro said.

"Do you think that she'll go to the mountains?"

"It's been days. Also, why would she? Want to tell us more about what you said to her?" Sukehiro asks as Ryuya and Yuna look at him too.

Hisashi looks them straight in the eyes as he thinks of how to say what he saw.

"It's… It's my dream." That's when the door opened loud and their father, Itsuki, walked in. Hisashi didn't sense his father arriving. Because he was agitated that Ichika is now missing, Hisashi's emotions made his Ki wane and unstable.

"Your dreams? Your dreams again? Mind explaining more than that?" His father asked with command in his voice. Without hesitation, Hisashi told them his dream.

"I… I saw the town covered in total darkness. The same darkness that is infecting our sea. Then, everyone's screams drowned my hearing almost making me lose consciousness. After then, all I saw was everyone dead or injured.

Mother is on the ground, stabbed in the heart. You, father, are being held on your neck by an old man. Ryuya was fighting Ichika, but she doesn't look like herself. She had black wings on her back and two horns on her head. Brother, while bloodied fighting a middle-aged man… and… he, looks quite like Father but with shorter hair."

Remembering his dreams as he fully tells them to everyone, Itsuki had conflicting emotions on his face. By what Hisashi said, he had a suspicion in his mind but his thinking was interrupted by Hisashi.

"Lastly, I… was stabbed by the remaining enemies. All of them have dark mist being released in their body."

Ryuya, remembering a dream told by Hisashi before, chimed in.

"Is that connected to the dream that you told me before?" "Yes."

"But I thought that you survived that?" With Ryuya's question, everyone is starting to get lost in the stories.

"Yes, I did." Hisashi was telling the truth. Except, that he withheld a part of the story and didn't tell them. It's not because they didn't trust them, but because he doesn't want to believe in his dreams too.

After finishing Itsuki of what happened, their father was conflicted too. Although Hisashi's dreams were too absurd, Ichika's reaction before running away means that she really knows an old man that they don't… or at least his family doesn't.

"I almost forgot, Ryuya. Your father is calling for you. They need you there at the capital." Itsuki said. However, Ryuya didn't answer him. Instead, he stood up straight and looked at him.

"Uncle, although I don't want to believe Hisashi either, I think you know that it's probably true," Ryuya said to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"At the castle, the reason that they called you… is because the Yami Clan is involved in the war. Am I right?" Everyone was shocked at what Ryuya just said. Although Itsuki never told them about the Yami Clan in detail, they also know that they weren't good news, especially as an enemy.

"Everything's making sense now. If I get things right, you're also thinking that the old man and middle-aged man Hisashi was talking about are your brother and father. Although my father never told me what was happening, I fully know well that there's a war, after all, I know people from other regions too.

There's no reason for them to call a retired samurai – no, not even an official samurai for a war. That is unless, of course, they need you not as a samurai but as a former member of the Yami clan. Moreover, since the Yami Clan allied with the Han's, the only reasons should be revenge on the Hino country for banishing them, or something else."

"Something else?" Yuna asks.

"Like… you, uncle. You and your family. The Yami Clan's purpose since the beginning of time was to protect the shogun and their power. They have no desire for the position of shogun. However, since the shogun banished them while you're excused, they must've felt betrayed. But based on Hisashi's dream of Ichika being with them, they must've other intentions too."

Ryuya's explanation was something Itsuki agree on. He didn't know how Ryuya connected everything in mere seconds after Hisashi's clue but he was impressed.

"I have a question, uncle." "What is it?"

"Does your brother have a child?" Ryuya's question made Itsuki realize what the other objective the Yami Clan have if they were to attack them.

"We need to find Ichika now!" Itsuki said before running out of the house. Everyone exchanged looks before they all agreed to do so. Although they were late to arrive at the conclusion unlike Ryuya and Itsuki, they all realized what the two realized and helped in looking for her.

"Mother, I have somewhere to go to first." Hisashi said to Yuna. Yuna, noticing the worry in his voice, kind of figured out where he wants to go.

"Go! Tell them to be safe. If you have to, lock them in their house."