Dark Walker - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Y-Y-You...Where do you think you are?" Tomoki yelled at Yuugo behind the school building. "Don’t hold me like that at school!”

A boy from another class had called Tomoki out to the hallway, and Yuugo had followed them. He had said “What do you want?” and put an arm around Tomoki's shoulders protectively.

“It was none of your business!" Tomoki pushed his chest.

The boy had clearly wanted to talk about something, but. after Yuugo's behavior, had promptly fled. Other boys standing in the hallway stared at them. “Is he for real?”

“Oh my god, did you just see that?” The boys stared in amazement.

“Gross!”

Hearing their comments. Tomoki had turned pale and looked away. ”W-What's the matter with you, you idiot? Now everyone will think we’re together!"

Yuugo had tilled his head. "But it’s the truth, so what's the problem?”

The problem was that it was' true! "Because it’s not normal for guys to go out with each other. If other people find out, they’ll make our lives a living hell until graduation,” Tomoki had whispered, frustrated.

"Don’t worry. I'll take care of it," Yuugo had said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He had walked over to the group of boys, put his hand on the wall and had a short conversation with them. When he was done, a few of them had turned bright red and scampered away.

What did he do? Tomoki had seen Yuugo’s “winning" smile on his face.

"What did you say to them?” Tomoki yelled from behind the school building. "Why are you flirting with other guys?”

“I only flirt with you.”

"That smile of yours is a crime!” Yuugo leaned over and pressed him against the wall, silencing his angry lips with a kiss. “Mmph...” His familiar tongue slid into his mouth. His face felt hot and he went weak in the knees.

“You're blushing.” Yuugo whispered softly in his ear. He held him tightly, and Tomoki’s heart pounded. “I asked them if they were in love with you."

“What?!" Tomoki’s eyes flew open.

"They were looking at us so enviously.”

"Of course they weren’t!”

“Then I told them you had gotten a love letter and told them the initials on it. Three of them looked really nervous. I bet they like you." The love letter Tomoki had received only had the sender's initials written on it. It looked very much like a boy’s handwriting.

“You’re overanalyzing it! You never read the letters, so you probably don't know, but a lot of guys have sent you love letters, too. Maybe those guys really like you! It’s because you hit on anything that walks that this kind of stuff happens!”

“I don’t like being mean to people. I'm not insensitive like you."

"Insensitive?! Like you have any room to talk!" Tomoki cried angrily.

"Sorry. I guess when I think about it. you are pretty sensitive, huh?” he smiled sexily, but Tomoki turned his face away. “Tomoki..." Yuugo whispered his name into his ear, and Tomoki froze, as if under a magic spell.

“You’re a coward, Yuugo.” His wet tongue licked behind Tomoki’s ear.

“See, you’re sensitive.”

“Mmm...”

He playfully bit Tomoki's earlobe, making him moan. He put his large hands on Tomoki’s hips and drew him close. Tomoki could feel Yuugo’s hardness press against him. He felt himself searching for pleasure, and begin to throb. Yuugo sighed, satisfied, as he propped Tomoki’s body up. "It took me a whole year to train you to react this way.”

"What?” Tomoki w ent bright red and yelled. "What do you think I am?"

“My lover.”

“Is that something you'd say to your lover?"

"All I did was remember your erogenous zones and use them to my advantage."

"It's the same thing!” Tomoki yelled again. “If you keep doing this to me. my body’s gonna be destroyed!”

"It’s okay, your body heals faster in ihe Depths of Dreams. A little wound will heal the next day.”

"W-Wound?”

Yuugo laughed and stuck out his tongue.

"I-I hate you!" Tomoki yelled and pushed Yuugo off. He ran away. He couldn't believe Yuugo jusi said that to him at school! He was so mad that Yuugo didn't how to act properly at school, but he was even more pissed off that Yuugo said he had “trained” Tomoki and used him to his “advantage.”

And even though Yuugo said he was Tomoki's lover, he still smiled that flirty smile at everyone else. That made Tomoki furious. “Yuugo, you idiot!" he yelled as he ran off.

As he dozed off into the Depths of Dreams, Tomoki imagined the ocean. He became a fish swimming through the ocean depths. He fell slowly and pleasantly. He wanted to keep swimming, but once he touched the ground he knew he didn’t have wings and he couldn't fly. His body felt lighter here than it did on earth 

Below him, Yuugo waited for him, smiling, with his arms outstretched. Tomoki reached his hands out to his lover happily and Yuugo caught him in his arms. "Tomoki,” he called his name gently. Suddenly, Tomoki regained full consciousness.

“Next time you pull that at school, we're breaking up!” Tomoki yelled, clutching his chest. He remembered how mad he had been after school.

"Changing the subject...” Yuugo said, smiling, and put him on the ground.

“No. don’t change the subject! It’s important'"

“Of course!” Yuugo was smiling, apparently ignoring Tomoki's anger. “We have to think of a schedule so you don’t keep falling asleep whenever and where you want,” he said, crossing his arms in thought.

Luckily. since Tomoki still considered dreams to be things that happened at night, his body didn t disappear when he fell asleep during the day.

“When you enter dreams with your body intact, it’s different from your body actually getting to sleep. I can recover with just a few minutes, but you need to sleep at lesst three more hours to recover.”

“I don’t know when I’m sleeping and when I'm not I want to rest, so you need to stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“That...thing you do until the morning. It’s too rough and it hurts me,” Tomoki said quietly, his face red.

“No way. We'll think of another solution."

"Yuugo!” Tomoki yelled and clutched his chest, but Yuugo took advantage of this and kissed him. He tried to push away, but Yuugo’s tongue slid deeper into his mouth. Tomoki felt weak and dizzy from the passionate kisses. He felt Yuugo’s hardness pushing against him. He unconsciously held onto the base of Yuugo s wings.

“Let’s stop practicing for today,” Yuugo said, licking his ear. Tomoki's body trembled. “Your clothes are already off, anyway.” Yuugo pointed at him. Tomoki hadn't realized that his clothes had disappeared. When he turned around, he saw Jade and Kurou staring at them from the darkness.

“I-I won’t interrupt!”

“Me, either!” They both swore in small voices.

“This is all your fault!” Tomoki yelled at Yuugo, his face bright red. He had been holding onto Yuugo before he could imagine his clothes. "Listen - from now on. kissing during practices is forbidden!"

Yuugo reluctantly nodded. It was true that, until Tomoki mastered his powers, this world was too dangerous.

“I can finally make a barrier." Tomoki said. They started to practice on him building up energy in his fist. "The easiest thing to imagine is a yo-yo. I know it's a toy. but I’m pretty good at it." he said. He slowly brought his hand up and then held it up. A beautiful green light followed Tomoki’s hand movements. He brought his arm high above his head and like he was holding a magic jewel, a bright golden-green light glowed from his fist. When this light moved to his right hand, he made a fist and held the light. “Like this.”

He pulled it up in front of his face, and then pushed it out in front of him. Momentarily his outstretched palm emitted a green ball of light. The small flash pierced through the darkness, and there was a loud sound coming from the other side.

Tomoki lightly raised his middle finger, and the ball returned to his hand with a smacking noise.

"Lord Tomoki! It made a hole in that rock over there!" Kurou had gone to investigate.

“Wow, Tomoki!”

“That s awesome! Actually, I wanted to become a yo-yo pro when I was little," Tomoki said excitedly.

"That was very amazing, but Lord Tomoki can also curse demons with his Flame Fist.”

"Are you sure. Kurou?”

"I happened to overhear the demons talking about it.” Apparently Kurou loved to eavesdrop.

“If you're a Barrier Master, they said you can also paralyze people with a curse.”

“It’s probably better for you to leam that instead of training with a weapon like me.” Yuugo said, and Tomoki nodded.

“Yeah, I think you're right.”

After that. Tomoki's skills improved, suiprising even Yuugo. His abilities grew every day. The barriers that he created could keep most demons away. He could stretch the flexible barrier, and could even make it opaque. It was a defensive power even Yuugo didn’t have.

So far he could only curse weak demons, but soon Tomoki could probably leam how to curse tougher enemies like a normal Barrier Master. When that happened, he'd be quite a threat to the demon population. He could make barriers Above Ground, and make a “road" to anywhere else in the world. It would also be possible for him to push demons into the real world.

If Tomoki called a strong demon inside of a barrier made Above Ground, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to get out. Would they brutally tear apart the humans and leave their corpses? Or would they devour them without leaving any evidence behind? The flesh of humans was the greatest feast for any demon. High-ranking demons would do anything to get their hands on a Barrier Master so they could get a chance to go to the human world.

In mid June, the days were dear and pleasant At the end of lunch, the two of them stood by the window in the empty classroom, talking quietly.

“It's not a weapon like yours, but my barriers have gotten better, haven't they?" Tomoki asked in a proud voice. “If I focus the power to my fingertips, I can curse smaller demons.” He concentrated on his fingertips, and a small green light about the size of a soap bubble flickered there.

“Yeah, you’ve gotten really good." Yuugo was genuinely impressed.

“Can you make your katana appear in Reality?" Tomoki asked.

"An illusion of it." He held out both of his hands and stood towards the window. The faint outline of his katana floated in his hands. In the sunlight, it shone a pale rainbow color.

"It's so pretty," Tomoki sighed, as if he were staring at an actual jewel.

“No matter how hard I try, I can’t materialize it here." They spoke in hushed voices by the window.

“If you did, you'd probably get arrested."

"That’s true."

"But it you dressed up in a costume, they might think you were doing stunts for a movie or something."

"What’s that?"

“I'll let you borrow a video later.” Tomoki chuckled.

“Hey, are you guys looking at porno magazine or something?” Some of their male classmates called from behind them.

"If they’re not. they’re doing something awfully suspicious!” Tashiro said, making fun of their secret conversation.

Tomoki, 1 have to go meet someone,” Yuugo said after school, scratching his head.

“Who?” Tomoki asked, blinking. He started to get worried. They always walked home together, but it seemed like Yuugo didn’t want Tomoki to wait for him that day.

“Oh, don't worry. I have to go see my guardian."

“It’s not like I thought you were going on a date with a girl or something," Tomoki said, shrugging.

“He wants to talk to me about my grandma's house, so can you go home ahead of me?"

“Yeah, okay." It seemed like Yuugo didn't get along with his guardian.

“When we're done. I'll come over to your house. It's dangerous, so go straight home.” Yuugo said, pointing his finger at him.

Tomoki agreed and smiled. Yuugo laughed and messed up his hair, then walked away. “Hey, don't treat me like a kid!" Tomoki laughed as he straightened up his hair. Then, just as Yuugo had told him to, he headed home without taking any detours.

He took the same route home as they always did. When he walked down the main road, it had still been light. But after he turned off towards the residential district, he began to feel a little uneasy. The road was narrow, and on both sides of him houses were surrounded by fences or hedges. It was around dinnertime, so there wasn't anyone outdoors.

Until he had turned down that road, it had been sunset, but all of a sudden it felt like it had grown dark. When he looked back, he saw that the main road was still bright. Maybe it was just an optical illusion?

He hesitantly looked up at the sky and it was dark with no stars, almost like a winter sky. The blue-white light from the street lights illuminated the road. Even though Tomoki knew people lived in those houses, he felt like he was walking down a road that led to a graveyard or something.

Strangely, there wasn't a single insect swarming to the lights.

"When I'm done, I'll come over to your house.” He remembered Yuugo's words, sighed, and began walking again. He could see Yuugo's apartment from here. There weren't any lights coming from it. Yuugo would have to come home using this same path.

I wonder where he is. If Yuugo had been walking with him, Tomoki wouldn't have felt so uneasy. Tomoki felt warm from the humid, summer air against his cheeks.

Why weren't there any other people around? As soon as he thought this, Tomoki's body began to tremble. He had goosebumps on his arms. "Was this road always this quiet?" He was lonely because Yuugo wasn't with him. The darkness between the light and the shadows grew deeper.

Frightened, Tomoki clenched his sweaty first seriously. Cold sweat soaked his school uniform. Just then, he saw something waving in the darkness. He gasped and then reflexively backed away. "Who's there?" he shouted in a trembling voice. Tomoki's heart pounded, throbbing in his chest. He saw many shadows stand up in the deep darkness. The shadows became silhouettes and came gliding towards him. They had an eyes, noses, or mouths: they were simply black silhouettes.

“Ahhh!" Tomoki’s scream was swallowed by the darkness. They're demons! He panicked, but tried not to scream. His cold sweat ran into his eyes and he blinked repeatedly. "Damn it...Calm down!" Tomoki chided himself. Yuugo wasn’t here, so he'd have to do something himself. Looking behind him. he saw several more creepy shadows standing behind him. Clenching his fist, he stared at the black silhouettes. When he opened his fist, a green globe of light appeared. He punched towards the nearest silhouette and a flash of light raced towards it. then the silhouette disappeared like a popped balloon. When Tomoki moved his fingers again, the beam of light zigzagged through the shadows, cutting them in two.

Should I go? His ball of light had defeated his enemies just as Tomoki had hoped, and it returned to his fist. That was the result of all the special training he’d done in his dreams. He let out a sigh of relief and was looking behind him when a large shadow washed over him like a tidal wave.

"Ahhh!" A sense of great pressure pressed down upon Tomoki and he screamed. Suddenly, the asphalt around his feet began to sink down in the darkness He tried to endure the enormous weight. Concentrate! His body started to glow in the darkness, and then the light collected in his fist. “Yuugo!” he screamed, not because he was crying for help, but to cheer himself on. Tomoki had sunk down to his knees, but just as he thought he'd be crushed his fists emitted a strong flash of light. The explosion echoed in the small alley. It pierced through the ceiling of darkness, and then a beam of bright golden-green light smashed the darkness into small pieces. Tomoki's ears rang from the noise, and his vision went white.