A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

--AnimeLady Noriko

…A Dream is a Wish…

I sat alone in the darkness of my bedroom, cloaking myself in my comforter, staring at the illuminated screen of the television, which was playing Yasashii Yoake, the ending theme for .hack/sign.

"Reboot is coming up next," said the announcer as picture of various reboot characters flashed across the screen. "And then at 11:00, Beasties. Bionix…"

I slowly stood, grabbing the remote and clicked the television off. I groped my way, blinded by the sudden darkness, along the dresser, pulling off my glasses. Then flopping back down on my bed I curled up in the warmth of my blankets and slowly drifted off to sleep.

I closed my eyes as the warm wind rushed through my long golden hair; I was slowly entering my dream world. Soon my bare feet touched the soft grass and I stared down at my puppy pajamas and shook my head. Definitely not.

koe- I now looked, satisfied, at my red and white miko apparel. It was very comfortable, and looked pretty cool too. Comfort was always important, especially in my dreams…

Two strong arms came up from behind and pulled me into a tight embrace. I smiled as a few strands of silver hair caressed my cheek. My body seemed to melt away in the warmth of his arms and my heart began to beat faster and faster.

I turned and was soon lost to the world, caught deep within his golden eyes. I buried my head in his chest and took in his scent. I felt as if I would fly if he had not been holding on to me tightly.

"Noriko…" said Inuyasha as I reluctantly broke from his arms. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Uh…" I said as I remembered my little adventure from my last dream. I had, in fact, found myself captured by a demon who transformed my body to that of his dearly departed wife. Believe me, I was extremely lucky to find my way out of the one. "You really don't want to know."

He smiled and held out his hand as I slipped my fingers into his. We walked up the grassy hill and watched the leafy trees blow in the breeze. I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled to myself.

I remembered the first time I had ever met him, well here in my dream world anyway. My two friends Sayoko, Minako, and I were all fighting an evil sorceress, Mahoutsukai. We used our elemental powers, water, fire, and wind, but were overpowered. That was when he came and rescued us.

I remember the first time I had laid eyes on him. Silver hair glinting in the moonlight, wind blowing through his clothing, making his look almost heavenly. He was traveling with a group, Kagome, a miko from the future, Sango, a demon slayer, Miroku, a perverted monk, and Shippo, a kitsune child. I adventured with them most of time but it was very soon that I had fallen head over heals for Inuyasha.

"Where are the others?" I asked looking around.

"They're in the village." He replied. "I was there too until I caught your scent and I came looking for you."

I smiled. He sure had changed a lot. I remembered a little while after I had started traveling with them. He was such a jerk, arrogant and stubborn. But I suppose I helped him out a lot, considering I am the exact opposite. I basically never get mad, and I always try to please everyone, which isn't always a good thing.

We entered the surrounding forest, once called the Forest of Inuyasha, where somewhere deep within laid the tree, which held Inuyasha strong for fifty years. On the other side of this forest laid a village, where we had found ourselves being many times.

We walked down a well-trodden path, covered in fallen leaves from the thousands of surrounding trees, smelling the wafting smell of maple and pine lingering upon the winds soft touch. I slipped some of my hair behind of my ear for the way it was surrounding my head was blinding. Plus I couldn't breath without getting a mouthful of hair.

As soon as we reached the village Inuyasha abruptly let go of my hand. Any affection the he showed me privately was soon forgotten whenever anyone else was around. Sometimes I didn't care for his tough "what are you looking at" attitude but there really was nothing I could do about it.

I stepped through the covered entrance to Kaede's hut and sat down next to Kagome who greeted me as soon as I walked in. She and I had become quite close during our journeys. She, like me, was not from feudal Japan, which was where my dream world had brought me tonight. She, like me, was from the future except I existed in the real world and she, well…didn't.

I sat down, as far as I could from Miroku, who had acquired a very suspicious smile when I walked in. I didn't trust him enough to allow myself to sit next to him. I, instead, picked a seat in between Sango and Kagome and began to chat with them.

Shippo came over and sat in my lap as I helped Kagome study for a big test that was coming up the following week. I pitied her; she never got to study because she was too caught up in finding the shards of the sacred jewel. Today's topic was pre-algebra. You know the "365 + x 425" stuff. Quite exhausting and pointless if you ask me.

I glanced over to Inuyasha who sat away from everyone, leaning on the wall and examining the Tetsusaiga. I never noticed before how much he loved his sword. I mean I suppose it saves all of our lives all of the time. But he was still powerful without it, though not powerful enough to deal with their arch nemesis Naraku.

"Noriko." said Shippo, climbing on to my shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Where do you go all of the time?" he asked, sucking on the lollipop sticking out of his mouth. "I mean when you leave us?"

"Umm…I have other, special adventures that only I, myself can deal with." I said. "I don't want to put your lives in danger."

He smiled and hugged me. "Well I like it when you are here."

I smiled and hugged him back. If I did have a choice I would probably want to stay here forever. I had great friends…and the man of my dreams. What more could a girl ask for? But I suppose I would miss my parents and everything...

Kaede walked in, shock visible on her face as she realized that we were all sitting there. Greeting us all graciously she started a fire in the hearth and started stirring a creamy brown liquid within a pot. She always generously offered to make us supper.

I quietly slipped out of the hut and started walking through the forest. Coming to a stream I stopped and lay down in the grass. The strands towered above me like buildings and I listened to the tranquil whisper of the stream. It made me feel so at peace with the world, and just made me happy to be alive.

I had often come here, as a child, and thought about my life. My dream world was like the best place in the universe, if it even is a place in the universe. This person, the one laying in the grass, is only half of the person as a whole. I really don't have any idea what the real world looks like, smells like, sounds like, feels like, or even tastes like. This person exists only in the mind of the real me, only a reflection of one's personality.

In truth, the life I am living within the dream world could be completely different from the life I am living in the real world. I could be snobby and popular in the real world, while being kind and gentle in my dreams, one is never quite sure. But I enjoyed the life I lived within my dreams, the life I am living now.

"Noriko!" a voice called as Inuyasha joined me in the clearing. He laughed to himself as his gaze caught my body lying in the grass. "What are you doing?"

I giggled. "What does it look like? I am lying in the grass. God Inuyasha, I didn't think you were blind."

He smiled again and pulled me up. I brushed the grass off on my outfit and removed my shoes.

"What are you doing now?" he asked looking at the socks, which I was also removing from my feet.

"I am going into the stream." I said taking a step in and feeling the cool water soak my skin. "Will you join me?"

He took a step and yelled in surprise as the water, which I had cupped in my hands hit him in the face. He looked at me, water dripping off his chin, a look of shock on his face. I giggled and ran away. I knew there was no way I was going to get away with that without becoming equally as wet.

He jumped and landed right in front of me, with an evil looking grin upon his face. He grabbed me around the waist and flung me over his shoulder. I screamed and laughed, I laughed so hard I was crying. He walked along the stream, making sure every so often to dunk my head into the water.

"Okay…I…surrender…" I said between laughs.

"Inuyasha?" said a voice on the lake.

He looked over and saw Miroku and Kagome staring at him from the surrounding land. He dropped me in the water and jumped away. I stood, soaked from head to toe, and sneezed. Kagome rushed out and helped me out of the water.

"What is his problem?" asked Kagome, grasping my arm.

I smiled and sneezed once again. I had to get out of these wet clothes. -koe- I instantly felt the warmth of the sweatshirt and sweat pants that had just appeared on my body. That was better.

"We came to tell you that dinner was ready but…I guess we interrupted something." said Miroku.

I shook my head. "No we were just fooling around. It was my fault; I splashed him with water first. He was just getting me back."

We stepped into Keade's hut and the smell of sake filled my nose, that and boiling vegetables. "Ye dinner is almost finished. Where be Inuyasha?"

"I'll go look for him." I offered.

Stepping out of the hut my footsteps steered me into a remote area of the forest where a large tree stood alone, away from everything. Up at the top, on the upper most branch laid the hanyou in which I was in search of. He always came here.

"Inuyasha!" I called. I watched his head turn in my direction, now at least I knew he was listening. "Supper will be ready any minute now."

He sighed and jumped down, to my side. He glanced at the ground. "I'm sorry about dropping you in the stream."

I smiled and grabbed his arm, pulling him along in the direction of Kaede's village. "No problem."

But when we got back to the village we found that there was a problem. A big problem. The village was in ruins. Women and children fled for their lives as the livestock ran wild among the burning houses. Sango was frantically trying to lift a heavy bored off of Kagome's legs.

"Kagome!" I shrieked running to help.

Inuyasha stayed still, peering through the smoke trying to find the source of all this turmoil. He didn't sense the presence of a demon; it was like nothing was there.

I placed one of my hands on the heavy bored. -koe- It instantly vanished and Kagome was free, though the use of her legs was now extremely limited. Sango whistled for Kirara, who landed and I lifted Kagome on to her back.

"Kirara, take Kagome to Kouga. He'll know what to do." I said as I watched her take off and fly out of sight.

Then, a feeling of foreboding filled my heart as I heard the laughter of someone who had haunted my last dream. I spun around and watched as the demon, Jaaku, who had previously kidnapped me and tried to force me to take the form of his dearly departed wife. I never thought I would have to see him again. But there he was, standing there with a sickening grin upon his face.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Noriko," he said, crossing his arms in front of him and smiling even more broadly.

YAY! A cliffie and it is only my first chapter! Hooray for me! Anyway, I know that Inuyasha is almost completely out of character and he is not paired with Kagome, Kikyo, Sango, or Miroku, or any other Inuyasha pairings you guys like, he is paired with an OC but well…this is my dream…and oh yeah, this is also my story! A few subtitles…when you see koe that means that Noriko has changed something in her dream and I on odd times use Japanese…and if you want to know what they mean just ask me. And yeah I realize that it is extremely long but I just couldn't stop writing. I am having major problems with my computer right now so it might be a while before I update but I promise to try my best Anyway R&R! I want to hear what you guys think.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bishies or other anime characters found in this story (however desperately I would like to own some of them!). As of right now the only character I own is Noriko. Oh and Jaaku.