Finished Retrieving What Is Lost...

"Again... I can't remember it."

The white wolf boy had been laying on his bed face-up, staring at the ceiling, while a book about the Warring States period of Japan lay on the desk. Lifting a hand, he wiped a tear under his eyes, giving a sigh and leaving his bed...

Sumi's day started weird, and through the day he couldn't stop thinking about it. What did he dream about that he couldn't remember? It all started happening so suddenly, sometimes he could dream and remember, but those dreams were nonsense... Was this another of them or... He had to investigate, and wandered place after place as a black-eyed white cat, listening to rumors that may lead him to the right direction. All seemed hopeless until there was a hint:

Dreamer's Heaven. It was located in an area he had been actively avoiding, but due to stressing matters and part of the advertising he has heard of about the place offering family friendly services, this had to be the best solution for him. And while at first he arrived as a white cat, he made sure to quickly reveal a usual self and request to talk to specifically a one person:

"Excuse me, I heard Maya can help me with my dream problems. I have a peculiar one."

@Nameless

With a nod, he would take a seat and wait, Sumi was still nervous about this, being an area not meant for children, but given the establishment fame he shouldn't be nervous at all. But what if his forgetting dreams is meant to protect him from something terrifying? Those three minutes felt like ten or maybe more, his mind at unrest.

But once he came to meet Maya, his mind instantly pushed the fears and doubts to the back. "Good day, Maya. I am Sumi no Ookami and I would like help in remembering a dream I keep having. It is very weird, I can usually remember my dreams no matter how weird they get, then one day I started feeling very emotional when waking up from dreams I can't remember. Even cried in my sleep time and time again."

Sumi listened to her, eyeing the brochure with her. Membership was out of question and need for him, the standard service should possibly be the best option, but he simply heard Maya list the services. Lucid dreaming seemed interesting, and perhaps an ideal option? The idea of someone entering his dreams didn't bother him in the slightest, but would that work?

"Pod is out of question since I really need someone to at least see what is causing it... I'll go with the standard service, but I could fall asleep anywhere really.", and so he checked his pockets for his savings. It was barely enough for the standard service, he spent most of it through the month obtaining new art material.

"Well, here goes the last of my savings this month...", he concluded, certainly willing to pay for the services.

Nodding in return, Sumi followed her and received the card, looking at it thoughtfully. First times for anything were scary: First time at a human school, first test, first one-shot manga put in a convention, first nightmare... The atmosphere was comforting at least, that is one thing he had confirmed before even reaching the room, and once there it only confirmed it.

Placing the backpack next to the bed and climbing onto the bed, he laid on his back and looked at the ceiling, as he began to change his form to reveal his real self, pale skin, white clothes, black and red highlights here and there, wolf ears and tail. "Some requests... Heheh, I guess a simple "guide me" should do. Oh, and don't worry, I'm hiding nothing.", why would he need to anyways?

It wouldn't take long for Sumi to fall asleep, his consciousness falling into a deep abyss past a seemingly endless unfurled scroll in which the moment from the "birth" of Sumi up to this point was recorded, but where would he fall? She was going to be there... In the depths there was an aged scroll, which acted as a portal to where his troublesome dream was...


It would start in the fields outside a village, a boy would be seen walking out of the forest and toward the village itself, with a sad and guilty expression. But where was this? And when? from the architecture and setting, it was the Muromachi period of Japan, between years 1333 and 1568. But how could he have such recollection of this period? The mystery would unfurl itself... The boy looked nothing like Sumi, his black hair was short and spiky, eyes yellow like that of a cat, he wore a black kimono with yellow cloud and lightning patterns painted manually, a mitsudomoe embroidered on the back in white with a red outline, and in his hands two cloth pouches, one of which clinking to the sound of coins.

The boy stopped walking, a voice suddenly entering his thoughts. His eyes went black, a sign Sumi was in command of him. "Yes, I can...", for a moment he looked around for her, but realized how unfamiliar with the setting he was witnessing, "Where are we? I recognize this is Japan, but not the period." He tried to follow his gut feeling, or rather where the mysterious memories were leading him to go. There was something to do in the village...

And over there, a few kinds of stares would meet his way: some other children and their parents gave him a mean stare, other were sympathetic and voiced their concern for his mother's well-being, to which he has responded with the unknown boy's voice "S-She's fine. Her head hurts, specially behind her left eye, but mom is fine..."

He didn't know why he said that, but Sumi wasn't going to go against the dream's flow. It all led him to a house with a garden full of fruits and herbs he wasn't very familiar with, and a large sign with the kanji for "pale" and "grass". Knocking gently thrice, a voice from inside responded "It is open, come on in."

Inside was an old man, gently grinding herbs and seeds into a paste. "Is mom's medicine ready, Master Awakusa?", he asked in the same guilty tone as before when talking to another villager. "Hahah, little Norai, still feeling bad about about Ms Shirogane. She is the strong woman Mr Yoma needed all along. Don't worry, she will live, and maybe she will keep her eye too.", the old man spoke, leaving the bowl and mortar on the table and going to a shelf, picking up a gourd filled with a strong-smelling cream, "He chose to pay in full, right?"

The boy strayed his eyes for a moment, and the old man said nothing, except taking only half of the purse's content. "Only half?", Sumi asked in behalf of the boy, causing the old man to rise an eyebrow and pack the medicine for him to better carry it without risking any spill. "Mr Yoma needs it more than me. He can pay me the other half when Ms Shirogane is healed. But it surprises me you questioned me again, third time this month.", as the old Awakusa asked that, the boy once again took control.

"That happened again? I think I'll have dad expel the spirit then. Thank you, Mr Awakusa.", following that the boy gave a bow and left the house, tracking back the path to the forest.