TA: Wow! A NEW story!! This one will be another continuing fic, and like Honor of Suzaku is being written only while I'm at school (I get the feeling I'm gonna have one a year…) This story takes place from the point of view of Kotoku (for those of you who don't know, that'd be Amiboshi's real name) a college student who, with his friends, doesn't really fit into the normal college life. But perhaps there's more to his own life than it seems. After the story starts, everything (in parenthesis) is a part of Kotoku's writing, NOT author insert, no matter how odd it may seem ^_~ Enjoy folks!

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Beginning Once Again

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"GENROU!!!!"

Ah, the war-cry sounded. My head jerked up from the fridge in time to see Genrou run by, hands tight around Houjun's psychology book.

"Genrou, give that back! You KNOW I have an assignment!" Houjun followed our flame haired roommate to the door, his good eye glaring madly at him.

"Aw c'mon Blues Clues. All work and no play makes Houjun a poopy baby."

There was something to be said for Genrou's maturity…and…mine…okay, so I snorted into my cola.

"I am not an infant with diarrhea!" Houjun shot, grabbing for his book.

"You need to loosen up!" I barely saw the book flying my way in time to spill my cola on the ground and grab it before it made contact with my face.

"Koutoku, give it here…" Houjun held out his hand for the book.

"He's gotta agree to come to the bar with us tonight!"

"Not on your life!"

A few hours later, Houjun pouted in the back seat, looking out one window while Genrou's face held a victorious fanged smirk. I, of course, was driving. The bar wasn't too far away from the school grounds, thankfully. It wasn't an actual bar though. We lived in a dry town. Genrou told me that's why he was here. He refused to admit he was an alcoholic, but his parents said otherwise when we talked. Luckily for them it hadn't gotten too bad. They didn't know their son. The first thing that guy learned was "If you want it, it is yours." The bar would serve you beer if you supplied it yourself, and our boy had pure saké with him in the back.

I'll never forget my first impression of Genrou. The moment he stepped into the apartment we'd be sharing with Houjun, with his stuff and his parents, I knew we were in for one heck of a year. Genrou was tall and loud, with flame-red hair, earrings in both ears, and vampiric fangs. His parents reminded me partly of Jack Sprat and his wife. His father was a lanky man, but still dwarfed by his…large…wife. Of course I had to look pretty odd myself, standing there with my twin brother latched onto me sobbing about not wanting me to go. Shunkaku was devastated to find out I got accepted at a different school.

Houjun was pretty opposite of Genrou, for my sanity's sake. He was a senior, for one, while we both were simple freshman. He was also big on studies, especially his major of psychology. Also, thankfully, he refused to touch alcohol. Genrou had dubbed him "Blues Clues" the first day we met, due to his blue hair. Totally natural. We still can't figure out how he got it. He also wasn't one to let others get close to him. We were the only ones who knew, Genrou and I. About his girlfriend, the crash…the fight…They were going to get married after their high school graduation, but she was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver. Things only got worse when he found out it had been his best friend who was the drunk. When he went to visit his friend in the hospital…he found his late girlfriend's brother there. He had just killed his friend, cutting every link he had to his life in a coma, oxygen, heart monitor, everything. Then he attacked Houjun. Lucky for him he managed to get out with his life, but he lost his eye. He went insane, he said, and killed him with his own hands. They didn't arrest him though. They held him in rehab for a few years before declaring him sane enough to attend college. And here we all were now.

"Yo! Koutoku! Wake up!"

I looked up to see I had the turn signal, but not for long. It was going yellow and horns blared behind me. I barely made it through.

"Houjun…" I felt a sweatdrop building on my head. "Get him back in the car…" Genrou's head hung out the window, razzing the people I had left behind at the light. Houjun gladly complied, grabbing the back of his jacket and tugging.

"SHIIIIT HOUJUN!"

I cracked up as I pulled in. Genrou's head had connected with the window as he was pulled into the car and he now had a minor nosebleed.

"We're-"

The nosebleed hadn't done much about his love of beer. Before I could finish, the door was swinging in the breeze, car door and bar door.

"You go on in," Houjun crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'd prefer not to converse with drunks."

It did take a bit of coercing, but I finally got Houjun out of the car. He didn't fall for the horror stories of parking lot rape. Should have figured he'd be smart enough about that, being in his fourth year at the school. Then I told him Genrou was known to start games of strip poker when drunk. I was being dragged inside moments later. Sure enough, Genrou was trying to get a group together for a game.

"Taka!!" A girl was latched onto one of Genrou's recruits.

"Aw c'mon Miaka!" the guy, Taka, slurred. "Ah'm gonna win us some date monay!"

"Yo, dude! Ya fuckin in er not??" Genrou held a deck of cards ready. I shook my head.

"C'mon Hou–"

My older friend's good eye had gone blank. He was staring at the girl, who had surrendered her boyfriend to the other drunk college students. I, too, looked at her, wondering what got Houjun's eye. Suddenly, something shot through me: a sensation of falling…and a girl…THAT girl! She was staring down at me, her mouth moving without words. Houjun and Genrou were beside her…was that Houjun? His hair was the same, but his face…And then I felt cold, and water swirled around me. Things began to go black…

"STRIP!!"

The harsh call shot through my ears, and the vision was gone. I guessed I had missed more than I thought, for Taka was down to his underwear. The girl was actually beaming with anticipation as he groaned and stood up. Looking up, I saw Houjun was back to himself too. He looked down at me and nodded. I smirked. Together, we lifted Genrou by the arms out of his chair and collected his cards.

"Sorry about this." Houjun held our drunk buddy helpless in a headlock as I redistributed clothing and money. The Miaka girl looked slightly disappointed, yet slightly grateful. I flashed a smile her way as Houjun dragged Genrou back outside. I then found out how much time had passed since Houjun and I went out of it. We must have looked like idiots, just standing in the middle of the bar for a whole half hour. At least that's what the clock showed. Unfortunately…it wasn't my car clock.

"My car!!"

Stripped. To. The. Frame. With a courtesy letter! My, how polite thieves are these days! I barely felt Houjun's hand rest on my shoulder as I sobbed. He was kind enough to take my license plate before the campus bus arrived. Somehow, he managed to support me, sobbing to near hysterics, and Genrou, drunk as the gods would permit a man to be while still maintaining consciousness, all the way back to the apartment we all shared. Houjun, as a senior, was allowed to have one, but he always said he needed us. For "mental support, just in case." Apparently we were the only ones in the whole school who could handle someone who was mentally unstable (Houjun's really pretty level-headed. It's surprising to think he could ever go crazy.) Perhaps Genrou and I were the ones in need of mental help. That's us, one big mentally messed up family!

When I came to my senses again, Genrou's snores hit me from his room. Houjun sat on the couch in front of me, looking at his clasped hands. We were silent for a moment, and I wondered if he knew I was back to myself. That's when he spoke.

"Koutoku?"

"Yeah?" His voice was different, as if scared.

"Did…did you see it too?"

I blinked.

"See what?" Now I was beginning to worry. Perhaps he wasn't as stable as I thought….

"Nothing…it's nothing. I have homework to finish."

Not another word was said that night. Not until 2:17 AM exactly. I needed to talk with him then.

"Houjun!" I hissed, pushing him lightly. His hand shot up and whacked me across the face. "Itai!!" My hands shot to my mouth. I wanted to wake up Houjun, not the whole building. "Houjun!!" I hissed again. Finally, five minutes, two puffy cheeks and a grumpy roommate later (And a partridge in a pear tree! Chachacha,) Houjun was awake.

"Whadaya want?" He looked peeved enough to send me back to my couch, but I had to talk.

"I…just had a dream…"

Oh, if looks could kill…

"In the morning!" Houjun growled, pulling his pillow over his head. Sweat built quickly on my face as I scooted as fast as possible out of the room, closing the door behind me. The next morning, I forgot all about it.

As time passed, I was unable to forget the girl from before. After that first night, for a week, the dreams didn't stop. At first, it was the falling dream, the one with the water, over and over and…you get the picture. But then there were others.

I was in a room, a big room, and a statue of a large bird stood in the back of it, behind a burning fire. Genrou was there, and Houjun (And you, and you, all of you! And there were munchkins and witches and Toto was with me!) The girl and guy from the bar (Miaka and Taka) were there too. They were in pain. Three other people I didn't know were there, and they were all in pain, gripping their heads, screaming. I wanted to jump forward, to save my two closest friends, whom only Shunkaku bested, from whatever was splitting their skulls. But as I yelled at my body to, I couldn't. I was the one hurting them! The flute I had grown up loving echoed an unknown song. A phantom song, and I was playing it. My body and mind were screaming "No! Stop! Leave them alone!" But I wouldn't move. I was solid as a stone, playing my music. "No…stop…STOP!!"

A solid smack was laid across my face, bringing me out of the dream. Sweat covered my face, and Houjun and Genrou stood over me, Genrou's hand lowering. My hands were white as I clung to my blankets.

"You were having a bad dream Koutoku no da…" Houjun felt my forehead to make sure it hadn't been from a fever. I couldn't help but smile. Who wouldn't, knowing I was with my friends, whom I was NOT hurting at all, who would always be there for me, who would watch over me as long as I was there, who…No da? I shot an inquiring look towards him, but neither Houjun nor Genrou seemed to have noticed. Genrou took of back for bed while Houjun decided to check again for fever.

"Houjun, I'm fine! It was just a bad dream!" I protested. But of course he still had to make sure. I swore silently to myself that if he could ever get over his old girlfriend, he'd make a good father.

"Alright, alright," he grinning. "Try and sleep no da."

I blinked.

"Houjun?"
This time his grin was a wacky one he's known for.

"Just get used to it no da. I can't help it…" he seemed to struggle for a moment, then laughed, "No da."

As he headed off for his room, I wondered what sort of spell that Miaka girl had cast on us.

Some days later, Genrou went on a fire craze, yelling a weird phrase before lighting something on fire. Houjun's "no da" was already getting monotonous, as were the dreams. The first two had been sealed together by a third one, one of me being chased by Genrou and Taka. Genrou was landed on mysteriously by the Miaka girl and Houjun, whose face was strikingly like that of a fox. The ground fell out from under me and Insert Third Dream Here. Then I would get back to the usual falling dream, and then I would wake up, the remnants of my music echoing in my ears through my mind.

Only a few days after an incident that shall be remembered by everyone as "Genrou and the Couch," I learned a new song. This one induced sleep. A few moments after I awoke from this dream, I found myself sitting on the edge of the couch, looking at my instrument, my precious flute. The powers…the powers I had in my dreams…could it have been possible? Could I use the magic? A clicking sound brought me out of my internal interrogation. Houjun sat at our shared computer, typing his heart out. Poor guy…along with the no da's and his professors complaints about it, he was beginning to have dreams about everything that happened when he was eighteen, with his girlfriend and all. They'd been happening for nearly two weeks, and my poor friend had lost quite a number of pounds since then (not a good thing, seeing he was slim enough to begin with) and I'd swear he hadn't slept in days. He'd told me the other day he just didn't want to see it again.

Even her dreams will be peaceful.

The words of my dream self bounced around in my brain. I found myself raising my flute to my lips. What had the tune been again? The tune flowed into my mind, and a voice in the back of my head seemed to whisper "Concentrate…" Focusing all attention on my flute, the music came. I felt something tug at me and something being drawn out of me into my instrument from my mouth. It was painful, but I couldn't stop. My fingers flew. Chancing a glance up, Houjun had turned his body from his chair to look at me, his eyes…well, eye…was wide and he stood.

"Kou…to…ku…" he was barely able to force out my name before he collapsed to the floor, fast asleep. Finally I was able to pull my flute away from my mouth and I smiled. I had done it.

"Even your dreams will be peaceful, my friend," I whispered. Sure enough, a smile was already curling on his lips. It was nice to see him smile again. I pulled a blanket from our closet and left him where he was. I'd need Nuriko's strength to get him back to his bed. I paused as I draped the blanket over him. Who the heck was "Nuriko"? Before I had much of a chance to ponder, a dull blue glow caught my eye on my right shoulder. Gasping, I grabbed my sleeve and pulled down. Nothing…nothing at all. A feeling deep within me told me I had missed something very important.

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TBC….