[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250116/28a4665692318df53ea398824a247a39.png[/img]
[b]Sagamiyama - Stone Household - Lurking Shadows!
Night[/b][/center]

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In the latter half of the day, Darius had gone quiet, focused intensely on the lessons taught by Ouga, and on performing them correctly. Surrounded by energetic youths, he found himself pushing harder than he normally might to keep up. It meant withdrawing a touch, bordering on antisocial compared to his usual demeanor... And, it meant he was absolutely exhausted by the time they finished training for the day and began to filter out towards their homes for the afternoon. Skipping over his usual errands, he had made his way straight home from the sweets shop, and collapsed straight into bed when he got there. He didn't even remember his head hitting the pillow, and he hadn't woken when Aiko returned home and drew the covers up over him. That deep, dark sleep of a body that needed it was a familiar one to him, a welcome comfort after too long with nothing to push him.

It was in the deep hours of the night that the dreams began. A brief disturbance outside, a feeling of [b]dread[/b] that crept into his unconscious mind, made him stir. The quiet blackness of his rest swirled with colors, and resolved into a wide open field. Wildflowers blanketed the ground all around, seeming almost painted over hills and dips in the ground, splashes of color over dark earth that he saw, on closer inspection, was not hilly at all, but rather pockmarked with craters big and small, as if the land had once been sieged. Chuckling at the strangeness of the dream, he stopped to run his hands through the flowers, wondering, with the obtuse logic of any dream, whether he might be able to bring some home to Aiko. Just as he thought of picking a few to try, a cold wind rippled across the field, bringing with it a spine-deep shudder that has him casting his gaze about, feeling as if something watched him, from just out of sight. A sound like chimes caught his ears, quiet and just on the edge of hearing. Again, louder, like bells now, and he could swear he heard a voice within.

[color=bc8dbf][sub]...watched...[/sub][/color]

The wind blew again, cold and sharp, tugging at his hair and clothes, scattering flower petals all around. He turned his back to it, and found himself faced with blinding light, reflections of the sun off of... [b]Something,[/b] something vast and silver and beautifully reflective. The bells came again, so loud they set his teeth on edge, made his ears ache, and this time the voice was unmistakable.

[color=bc8dbf][b]YOU ARE WATCHED. DEFEND YOURSELF. DEFEND THE OTHERS.[/b][/color]

He was sure the ringing would burst his ears. Whatever spoke said more, but he couldn't understand anymore through the noise. Cupping his hands over his ears, he grimaced, turning around again just in time for another blast of wind. It tossed him back, and with the feeling of falling, he awoke from the dream with a gasp, the deafening ringing replaced by the insistent, but far gentler, chime of his soul pager, half buried under his pillow. Sitting upright, he grabbed it hastily, flipping it open to read the message from Ouga, nearly half an hour old by now. With a soft curse, he tucked the pager away, and snatched up his combat pass from where he'd left it on the nightstand, clapping it to his chest. Within moments, he was out of his body and standing ready in his soul form, carefully laying his body back under the covers beside Aiko. With Ouga's warning, and the strange dream still lingering in his mind, he slipped out of the window and into the night. Warily, he stalked around the boundaries of his home, hand resting at the ready on the hilt of his zanpakuto. He couldn't shake the feeling, now, of a watcher somewhere in the dark, head turning constantly, eyes searching every shadow, corner and roof as he began a slow, steady patrol around his home. That path took him out in a gradual spiral, around his neighbors, and their neighbors, until he reached the edge of his neighborhood and began to spiral back inwards. Over and over, sometimes on the ground, sometimes on the rooftops, but always watching and listening. He had the feeling, somewhere deep down, that he was late to the party.