Welcome to Gaia! ::

While he was better now, there were a few things on Shun's mind that continued to plague him. The fact that he had gotten himself into so much trouble in the first place was concerning. Yes, he knew he had a lot more growing to do in terms of strength, but he couldn't help but feel that the gap between himself and the enemy was far too large for the rate he was improving.. if he was at all.

He dwelled on what to do for some time, trying to figure out what the best course of action he could take would be. With the exams over, he had a bit of leeway with his time. However, he didn't plan on returning home. That would not help his case much at all.

With a healthy amount of thinking, he finally decided what he was going to do for the time being. Taking in a breath, he packed a few of his things, then made his way over to Mitsu's room to let her know he as heading out for awhile. He didn't know if this would really be helpful, but the time away from everything to reflect and whatnot could help.. maybe.

"Mitsu? Are you in?" he asked while knocking on her door.

Seeing Mitsu again always caused his expression to subtle grow softer. And for a moment, he thought of changing his mind. But really, Shun felt this was something he had to do. As much as he'd like to just stay by her for this time, he really couldn't right now.

"Hey.. I just wanted to talk to you for a little bit," he said quietly before shifting the bag over his shoulder, "And I wanted to let you know I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks.."

Shun glanced down and away for the moment as Mitsu seemed to be taken by surprise. Then again, he couldn't blame her really.

"There's supposedly a place in the northeast known for providing answers to those who seek. I know I need to grow stronger, and I have an idea of how to do that but... I don't know. It doesn't feel like it's been really working for me. I feel.. stagnated. Or something like that."

Letting out a sigh, he held out key for her, as well as another object.

"I will be back though. But would you mind looking over my things while I'm out?" he asked quietly. Aside from the key, there was a small gem. It looked like an opal with an orchid etched inside of it.

"You can try but I don't know if I'll get service out there. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere," he said quietly. Shun could tell that she was worried, and it made him feel bad. Letting out a sigh, he handed her the items before glancing towards the ground.

"It's.. the only thing I have of my mother's. At least I'm sure it belonged to her.." the reaper uttered, "Just to kind of show that I'll be back for it."

Stepping forward, he placed his hands around her waist.

"I'll miss you."

"I promise.." he whispered before pressing a light kiss onto her lips.

"Take care while I'm out, alright?" Shun said, furrowing his brow. Granted, Mitsu should be relatively safe at the school. There were also those who would look out for her while he was out.

After giving Mitsu one more kiss, Shun went on out to begin his little journey. He wasn’t completely certain of the location of this place, but he was determined to locate it. This town supposedly had a temple or shrine type of thing where people often stopped by to reflect or to seek answers to issues they possess. Now, he wasn’t usually the type to be into these things, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to explore it. The first step was to get onto the train to take him to around the area he needed to be.

That part was simple enough. The train ride was pretty uneventful, but lasted for practically the whole day. The station in which it dropped off at didn’t really have much of a town around it. It was more of a small village that acted as a sort of hub for the station. While it wasn’t much, it was at least something for him to have as an overnight stay. Not only that, but the people there were able to give him some directions for his destination. Well, they gave a little more than just the direction of where he needed to go. Several of the locals warned him that the area wasn’t entirely welcome of Reapers. It seemed that the bulk of the town was inhabited by ghosts.

Shun wasn’t planning on causing any trouble, so he figured he’d be alright if he kept to himself. He wasn’t too concerned.

Checking his phone, he tried to see if he could drop Mitsu a call, but as he suspected, he didn’t have any service out here. That most likely wasn’t going to change once he went further away. Letting out a sigh, he just hoped she wouldn’t worry too much over him. Nothing big should happen, he figured.

After resting up over night, he set on out, making his way through the woods. The trail was pretty quiet, as was the train ride, but that was fine. It wasn’t the same sort of silence he had when his senses were screwed up. He could still hear the wind through the branches, and a number of critters going about on their business. It was just a tranquil moment, rather than a void. Though, the journey by foot took longer than the train did. A day and a half had gone, by the time Shun arrived to the small town.

As somewhat expected, a number of the inhabitants gave him a bit of a dirty look, while other shied away and ignored his presence. Quite frankly, he didn’t care what they thought. Yes, he was aware that some ghosts had some aversion to Reapers due to the whole botched reaping type thing, so he could see why they might be a little wary. He didn’t expect any issues to really arise because of this. Unfortunately, while he wasn’t looking to cause a fight, it seemed that there were those who felt otherwise.

After spending a bit of time looking for a place to stay, so he could get some rest, a group of five ghosts approached him, moving to surround him. If he were to guess, they were fairly young, but it was hard telling the ages of ghosts and undead. Their attitudes though, suggested that he might have been right about that.

”Oi. Reapers aren’t welcome here. So go back to where you came,” one of them demanded. He might have been the leader of this small gang.

”I’d rather not. There’s something I’d like to do around here before I go,” Shun replied calmly. There wasn’t much of a point for him to be getting into a fight here as far as he was concerned. After speaking, rather than turning around, he just tried to continue on his way, past the ghostly group. The leader reached out to stop him from continuing.

”Is that so? Well, if it’s that important then we might be able to accommodate. If you pay the toll that is,” the ghost smirked. His lackeys seemed to agree with this idea.

Now, for one thing, Shun didn’t bring much money with him. Basically just enough for travel, lodging and a bit of food really. Aside from that, he was fairly certain this toll business was a load of bull. He was pretty inclined to think that this group here was the local gang of troublemakers. He’d seen similar things in the city where he grew up in. While the legal activities of his family were questionable, petty things like this were not generally on the list of things done. Staring into the eyes of the leading ghost youth cooly, he just dismissed what was said and went to move.

Before he could try to keep walking on, he was shoved back.

”Yeah, no. We’ll get the toll out of you one way or another. Get him!”

With this order, the other four advanced in on the Reaper, who was pretty quick to get his daggers out to fight back. He put up a good fight and managed to incapacitate one of them. However, it didn’t take too long before he was overwhelmed by the rest as he was beaten into the ground. When he tried to get back up, he was kicked back down and essentially curb stomped until he stopped moving.

Shun couldn’t remember much of what happened from there. As he laid there, losing consciousness, he heard a few voices but was unable to register what they were saying any longer. He tasted blood in his mouth, and then everything went black.

”If you don’t mind me asking.. What sorts of answers were you trying to seek?” Ayumi asked while preparing to mend Shun’s body some more. Every now and then, for the past day or so, she had been stopping by to do a little more FEARhealing. He had a few fractures in his ribs and some internal injuries, but they were slowly fading away with her help.

Some bits of conversation were passed between them, to help pass some of the time. The Reaper was pretty reserved as usual, but he was sort of warming up to the ghost. She was a nice lady to say in the very least.

”You could say there’s a fairly urgent need to improve myself. I’ve been training for most of my life but I feel like the rate of improvement is too slow... or rather I’m not even sure if I am improving as of late. I feel stagnant. By some whim I was hoping to see if I could find out a way to fix this, but it was a foolish notion... even more so now,” he mumbled.

”I see.. Well, I have to say I know that feeling. Now I don’t really know you too well but it might be safe to say that you’re a tad too hard on yourself. Just because you don’t feel as if you are improving, it doesn’t mean you aren’t,” Ayumi said while thinking before smiling at him, ”It’s just harder to tell things for yourself because you experience it every day. You have to take a step back to see more of the changes.”

Well, Shun supposed she did have a point there. Even so, he had a bit of a hard time believing it.

”Just don’t give up. The fact that you acknowledge needing to grow is also half the battle,” she offered warmly before patting him on the arm, ”Now come on, try walking around. I don’t think you’re ready to leave just yet but you should be more mobile today.”

Taking in a breath, the Reaper nodded before slowly sitting up and getting off the bed. His body still ached, but he was able to stand on his own power. And while his steps were a little unsteady, he was able to walk for the most part. Ayumi had done a pretty good job of healing him over the past few days. That was for sure. Carefully, he moved about, stretching as well. After being stuck on the bed for a few days, it felt kind of good to be up and about a bit. Though, after loosening up his limbs some, he paused and glanced over at the ghost.

”By the way, what exactly brought you to this town?” he asked. He wasn’t sure why, but had a feeling she wasn’t from this place specifically. The question seemed to throw the ghost off guard for the moment as well.

”To be honest, I had a similar reason for coming here as you did. I wanted answers. I woke up about 16 or 17 years ago knowing only my name. I did a little bit of wandering but eventually I wanted to try and find some purpose. I wandered here with that in mind and well.. purpose I found. I started training to become a FEARhealer and it’s still something I’m working towards now,” she replied softly, ”I still have much to learn but as you can see I’m not all that bad.”

”Well then, I suppose it is good that you found your answers,” Shun murmured.

”As did you. You just haven’t really seen them yet,” Ayumi smiled warmly.

----

A few more days passed on by, and Shun was back to full strength. During that time, when he was alone, he took into consideration what Ayumi had to offer in terms of advice. Perhaps she was right. Though, despite not knowing for certain, he did know that he had to press on regardless. And now, it was time to head back home. He hoped that Mitsu wasn’t too worried about him. The Reaper missed her and was eager go go back.

When it was time for him to leave, he bowed to her out of gratefulness.

”Thank you again for healing me.. and for the advice,” he said quietly.

”It’s been a pleasure. Don’t get yourself into too many fights, though I’m sure your mother has told you that.”

”She hasn’t, actually,” he murmured before turning to walk off, making his way back towards the village where the train station was.

Little did he know, he did find an answer in this town after all, though not necessarily the one to the question he had in mind. It was unlikely that he’d ever really realize it, however.

There was no way to describe the relief Mitsu felt when she had looked at her phone and for the first time in weeks saw that it was Shun. She was nervous all over again, nearly shaking as she had answered though her tone was surprisingly smooth though excited.

She waited almost anxiously knowing that Shun was finally on his way home, wondering what he had been up to. She had been so worried, even mopey at times. The excitement she had over his return was nearly boundless as she went to the school gate and waited....and waited. True she had gotten there early, really early. Far too early, but she didn't care. There she waited patiently, her phone in her hands as she excitedly glanced this way and that for any sign of the reaper.

In the time she had waited she thought about how she would greet him. A hug, a smile and a fond hello, any number of things than what actually occurred. The lycan had been far to enthused and at the first sign of the reaper simply decided on pouncing him without warning, her arms and legs wrapping around him as she began to mercilessly cover his face in kisses. Yes, she had missed him.