I was going to put in the narrator parts like in the anime, but I felt that would take away from the story. Events depicted here might not exactly match what happened in the anime.

That damn dream again. Ryoko rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but she knew it was pointless. She could never get back to sleep after that dream. It made her angry. She didn't know why it did, but it did. She punched the wall and that hurt, which in turn, made her even madder. With an angry sigh, she threw back the covers and tried to clear her head. A few minutes later a sleep befuddled Ryoko shuffled her way to the bathroom to get ready for a day that was probably going to suck.

Her roommate Ringo had to go to school early to finish up a project for class, so Ryoko was walking by herself, which gave her way too much time to think. She liked to think of herself as a woman of action, but in reality, what this really meant was that she preferred to hit something rather than think about it. And right now, she really really wanted to hit something...or someone.

It was his fault. If he hadn't professed his love to her (again and again!), she wouldn't be having these stupid dreams and she wouldn't wake up exhausted and her hand wouldn't hurt because she wouldn't have punched a wall. Yes, t was all Ryoshi's fault!

The scene flashed into her unwilling mind again. It was annoyingly the same dream every time. The details almost never changed. She wakes up in a field (in a field? really?) wearing a dress and a tiara (seriously?). Still reclining amidst the flowers, she is held tenderly by Ryoshi and gazes longingly into her eyes. He says "I love you and I will always take care of you". The next moment he is bending down to kiss her. Her sleeping mind is telling her that she should be pulling away and then punching his lights out for this, but she's not controlling the dream. As a matter-of-fact, until the kiss starts, her mind is watching passively as the scene plays out. It's as if she's a third person in the scene. A bystander. Invisible. Watching. But, once the kiss starts, that third person is gone and she is there in her own body, being kissed. What amazes her every time is that her arms are wrapped around his neck and she is kissing him back! The dream-Ryoko is actually enjoying it!

This is the point where she wakes up. And her day rarely improves from there. Her mood certainly doesn't improve.

"Damn him!" Her own shout startled her and, looking around, she is painfully aware that she has just yelled at no one in particular and all the students were giving her a wide berth and staring as if she were deranged. More deranged than usual, anyway. And maybe, in that moment, she really was. Thankfully, nobody asked her what was bothering her. They were too afraid to even be near her right then, much less talk to her. That was something to be grateful for, at least.

Her face heated up with the embarrassment and she knew it was redder than Ringo's hair. Keeping her head down she walked faster towards school. Face, red. Mood, black. It was going to be a colorful day.

The only way to work out her anger was at the gym, but she couldn't do that until early evening. At least today was Friday. That was something, at least.

Walking down the secret stairs towards the meeting room of the Otogi High School Bank, Ryoshi Morino was lost in his thoughts. He had been having dreams lately too. Dreams that woke him in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with his heart beating wildly.

It was a simple dream. He was chasing Ryoko down the street, telling her that he loved her. But no matter how fast he ran, or how loudly he professed his feelings, she remained out of his reach. She never said a word in this dream, she never moved. She just stood, arms crossed, and scowled. So close and still so far away. He ran and ran. The dream probably only lasted a few minutes, but it seemed as if he was running for hours.

It took him quite a while, but he finally understood what the dream meant. He could confess to her as much as he wanted, but it wouldn't make a difference. She would never be his girlfriend and they would never date. That dream he lived for (not this dream, but the one where he sweeps her off her feet and they live happily ever after) was never going to happen.

He'd had those thoughts since before he ever talked to her. When he was just her shadow, watching her. Unseen and unknown. But then he did finally meet her. Thanks to Ringo's help, he became part of the Otogi Bank that she was a part of. He got the chance to work with her. Through his willingness to act as Ryoko's shield, she finally accepted him as part of their group. She eventually began to trust him to cover her back in a fight.

It gave him hope that some day she would begin to return his feelings. At least a little. That was a hope that he had clung to tenaciously. But months had gone by and nothing else had changed. He made his feelings known to her from time to time, but her reaction was always the same. She scowled at him. Just like in the dream.

If only he could get some sort of sign from her. Some indication that she could someday see him as a man. A man that was worthy to stand beside her in life and not just in battle.

He entered the luxurious meeting room for the bank. Ryoshi always marvelled at how elegant that room was. It seemed to him as if it would not have been out of place in a great mansion. A large room with leather couches and wooden bookshelves, it would have fit perfectly as library for some wealthy aristocrat. No matter how many times he came into that room, he never failed to be impressed by it.

Some of the members had already arrived. President Liszt with his enigmatic smile sat at his desk and nodded at Ryoshi as he came in. Ryoshi could never figure out exactly how the man's mind worked. All he knew was that the President ran the bank well, and he always had a plan for whatever came up. Always a backup plan too. What he really had, though was leadership, and they all turned to him when the chips were down or when something went unexpectedly wrong.

Secretary Alice stood by his side as always with her eyes glued to her hand-held computer. The President's right-hand "man"(and his cousin), she was always ready to supply him with critical data when needed. Though deep down she was a caring person, the first impression of her often led people to believe that compared to her, an iceberg was downright warm and cozy.

In the corner, Otsu the maid had found some dust and was efficiently gathering it up with her broom. Aside from her cleaning duties, Otsu was also the first person who interviewed prospective clients before they were introduced to any of the other members of the bank. She was a one-woman greeting club and client screener.

In another corner of the room was Mojolica, engineer/flake/witch?/oddball of the group. In her long robe and floppy hat, she was stroking a lizard and mumbling quietly to herself. A half-eaten lollipop was stuck to her pointy hat. Everyone else pretended not to notice.

Ringo sat on one of the couches, staring off into space until he came in. She gave him one of her innocent smiles, which somehow gave him the illusion that her short cut, bright red hair was glowing. Not quite on fire, yet smoldering and ready to burst into flame at any moment. Instead of soothing, her smiles tended to make those that knew her very nervous. Her body looked as if she was 10 years old (and she tended to dress as a 10yr old too), but her mind was closer to an adult's. A devious adult at that. She always had some kind of scheme going on and it usually involved one or more of the bank members and it was also probably something that she should keep her nose out of anyway, but that was Ringo. The first hint that some plot was going through her little head was that smile.

Absent were Taro and Otohime (as usual). They were probably in a deserted room somewhere close by with Otohime trying to do indecent things to the handsome Taro while Taro tried desperately to escape. It wasn't that Taro didn't love her, it was just that part of his weakness for women (ALL women, unfortunately) was the fun of the chase. With him doing the chasing, of course. While they were often absent for meetings, when there was a job for the bank that required their assistance, they were always there and ready to do their part.

Also absent, he noticed, was Ryoko. He hadn't talked to her all day. He had seen her in school, of course, since they were in the same class, but she hadn't talked to him. She didn't even look at him. From what he could see of her face, she seemed to be thinking about something. Whatever that something was, it seemed to make her angrier by the minute. He had been afraid to even try to get her attention. Maybe she would be feeling better by now. He sure hoped so.

As he was about to take his chair, the door opened again and Ryoko marched in. Her body was stiff and her face was a thundercloud. As she approached the couch, presumably to sit next to Ringo, Ryoshi's concern for her overrode his fear of her anger and he walked quickly towards her, stopping in front of her and holding her wrists gently as he tried to make eye-contact.

"Are you alright? What's wrong, Ryoko?"

Her eyes had been downcast, but only until his hands touched her. Her head snapped up then to look at him, the anger in her eyes and face almost felt like a slap to him. She yanked her arms from him and stepped back.

Looking back on it, she could remember the scene vividly, but it didn't seem like it was really her acting that way. It couldn't have been.

Deep down, though, she knew. She had snapped. She had taken all her pent up emotions from the day and hurled them into Ryoshi's face at the top of her lungs. All the while, a little voice way in the back of her mind was screaming "nononono! Don't DO this! Please!". Maybe the voice was actually Ringo's and not hers. She wasn't sure. Whether it was her inner voice or it was Ringo's, it had absolutely no effect on her.

"Don't you touch me! Don't you ever touch me!" She was screaming this at the top of her voice, and she couldn't stop herself.

"I don't love you, I will never love you. Do you understand? I don't want to wake up and see your face and I don't want to kiss you! I don't care if I never see you anymore. Do you understand me!?"

This tirade was followed by absolute silence in the room as all eyes widened in shock at what was unfolding before them. It even got the attention of the usually oblivious Majolica. They were used to Ryoko's outbursts, but this one had an amount of frustration and venom that they had never heard before. It was also loud enough to make everyone's ears hurt. The fuming Ryoko sat on the couch next to Ringo and stared at the floor.

The silence was broken by a quiet male voice. A voice that held as much defeat as the screaming voice had held anger.

Everyone caught a glimpse of his teary-eyed face before he bowed his head. His arms hung limply at his sides as he replied in a lifeless voice.

"I understand". He slowly turned and walked out the door, closing it softly.

An oppressive silence filled the room. The shock had rendered everyone speechless. Nobody knew what to say.

The first sound to break the spell was a soft sobbing from a corner of the room. Otsu had fallen to her knees and was crying softly into her hands.

The next voice was the unflappable President, who cleared his throat and spoke as if nothing had just happened.

"Now, to today's business..."

"What? Someone needs to go after Ryoshi and talk to him. We can't just pretend that didn't happen!" This was Ringo, who, while horrified at what she had just witnessed, still managed to think clearly.

"The only person who should take that course of action (he was looking at Ryoko as he said this) does not seem inclined to do so, so I suggest that we carry on with the business at hand. Personal matters can be dealt with later."

Like a stone statue, Ryoko neither moved nor spoke the entire meeting. No one spoke to her, either. And so the meeting carried on, though it was awkward for just about everyone.

Ringo and Ryoko remained silent on the way home from the meeting and through dinner too. Ringo was so shocked, she didn't know what to say and the vacant look in her friend's eyes didn't invite conversation either. Ryoko didn't even go to the gym as was her habit. No word was spoken between them until they had turned out the lights and were laying down in their bunks.

"What have I done?" Ryoko's voice was a mere whisper of despair, but Ringo could hear her clearly.

"Why did you say those things, Ryoko?"

"I don't know. Well, that's not true..." And she proceeded to tell her best friend about the dreams and her reactions to them. Ringo, hearing the anguish and the tears in her voice, thought it over for a few minutes before answering.

"You know how we tease you about being in love with him, right?"

"Yes"

"You know we do that because we all know you really are in love with him, right?"

Silence.

"Look, Ryoko, I understand that you had a traumatic experience with Shiro, and that caused you to deny your own feelings. Ryoshi knows and understands that about you too. Because he knows, he has been as patient as you could ask. More patient than any other person I can think of. He's accepted a lot of abuse from you, hoping that he could eventually show you that he is worthy of your trust and your love. He has certainly proved that to me over and over again. And yet..."

She couldn't finish the sentence. Seconds ticked by on their bedside clock before she could finish in a soft, sad voice. "You hurt him very badly."

"I know." The voice coming from the bottom bunk was shaking with suppressed tears.

Ringo didn't want to hurt her friend more, but she was afraid that Ryoko would wake up in the morning and go about her business as if none of this happened. She had done it before with minor tantrums, but it wasn't going to work this time.

"I don't think you do. You didn't see his pain. You didn't see the tears running down his face. You didn't see the eyes of a person who had just realized that his dream was dust blowing away in the wind. He realized his dream was nothing and it never would be."

The only sound in that apartment for the rest of the night was the sound of Ryoko's soft sobbing.