"-gi . . .Yogi" He could hear a little voice calling out his name. Was it in dream or was it real? He could feel himself being tapped on the head. Was that real too? He suddenly realized it was. He sat up straight to see Nai staring straight back at him with a scared look on his face and tears in his eyes.
"Nai? What's the matter? It's 3 in the morning." Yogi stared at the boy with curiosity.
"Um, well, I sorta kinda had a. . ." The boy stopped in the middle of his sentence looking like he was about to burst out crying. "Actually, it doesn't matter. I'm going to go back to my room." Nai started to walk out into the dark hallway.
"Hey Nai! Wait a sec. Is there something bothering you? Remember I told you that if there was anything that bothered you that you could come and tell me right? Sit down and tell me." The blonde hair boy smiled at the white haired child with warmth that seemed to be transferred to the younger one.
"I had a bad dream and since Gareki has gone to school, I was alone in the room and I felt scared so . . ."
"So you came in to my room?" Yogi finished his sentence for him.
Nai nodded his head looking like he was embarrassed. Nai had been on this ship for a while but he had never come into Yogi's room in the middle of the night. He must be really missing Gareki.
"Ok, so tell me what the dream was about" Yogi smiled.
Once again, the tears seemed to well up in Nai's eyes. Yogi realized that wasn't the road that he should be going down.
"You know what? Never mind! I want you to do something for me." Yogi clasped his hands together and looked at the boy.
Nai looked at Yogi and sniffled. "What is it?"
Yogi patted the bed beside him, ushering him to lie on the bed beside him. Nai hopped up on the bed and lay down beside Yogi.
"Ok, what I want you to do is tell me a story." Nai looked at the older boy with curiosity.
Yogi chuckled. "Come on think of a story. Maybe something cool you used to do with Karoku? I want you to close your eyes too."
Nai looked frightened again, like he didn't want to go to sleep because if he did, the dream might repeat itself and haunt him. Yogi held out his hand asking for Nai's. Nai clasped the older boy's hand and closed his eyes. Yogi smirked.
"Ok, go ahead." Yogi urged.
"Um, well when I was living with Karoku in the forest, we used to go for walks." Nai's breathing had become smoother and the tears weren't visible anymore.
"We used to look at all the flowers and animals there. It was al . . . . always really b-beautiful. . In . . . . the. . .spring. . ."
That was it. Nai's story ended there. His breathing was shallow and he was in a deep sleep. Yogi grinned and was turning over to go back to sleep but his hand wasn't being released from the sleeping boys grasp. Yogi put his head down on the pillow and took a few seconds to smile at the boy who reminded him of his own younger sibling who he left behind when he joined Circus. He closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
"Yogi! Wake up QUICK!" Tsukumo ran into his room and stood beside his bed. Yogi, still half asleep, opened one eye and gave a look as if to say "what?"
"I can't find Nai anywhere! He's not in his bedroom or anywhere on the ship!" she cried.
A wave of fear came over the young man but before he could move, the fear washed away. He chuckled and closed his eye again.
"W-what's so funny?!" Tsukumo yelled.
"Shhhh, you're gonna wake him up." Yogi gestured to the blankets which he then lifted up to show Nai curled up in a ball still clutching Yogi's hand. Tsukumo looked relieved and then laughed. She then backed out of the room and quietly shut the door to allow the two boys to fall back asleep.