Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Naoko's pretty characters. Sailor Moon and all of it's affiliates are hereby disclaimed.
He could feel her struggling again. It'd only been the past few nights, but it was obvious that the dreams were getting worse. Not that she'd tell him what they were...
"Rei..." Yuuichirou laid a hand on her shoulder hesitantly, remembering the smack that'd followed it last time. "Come on, please wake up..." In a few short seconds, the raven-haired woman was sitting straight up in bed, cold sweat dripping from her forehead.
"I can't keep this up. It's draining me." She let herself fall back to the pillow and into her lover's arms.
"Maybe if you just told me what you were dreaming--"
"No." Her answer was firm and quick, making Yuuichirou wince, as if she had attacked him again, thinking he was something coming from her dreams to the real world. Rei noticed, and did her best to make it less severe of a response. "I don't think it's that important, that's all. It's definately nothing you should worry about."
"If you say so..." He trailed off and looked at the love of his life for a few minutes, thinking about how much he just wished she'd be perfectly happy. Finally he gave in to how tired he really was, kissed her on the forehead, and rolled over to go back to sleep.
As soon as Rei could tell that Yuuichirou had actually gone back to sleep, she climbed out of bed and made her way out of the room. She'd had enough of these nightmares. What made it even worse was that she could never really remember them, just dark bits and pieces, where she couldn't see anything, anyway. But the fire would help.
She ran into her favorite room for meditation and practically slid across the wooden floorboards towards the fire in an attempt to get to what she needed as soon as possible. Her eyes closed, she whispered a few words and delved into the fire's depths, waiting for the fantastic feeling of being overcome by power to hit her. And finally, it did, except this time was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. The fire started jumping in all directions, practically reaching for her, before a surge of energy escaped it and sent her flying across the room, a loud bang erupting when she finally landed. Yuuichirou snapped to attention as soon as he heard it, and ran as fast as he could toward the room he knew Rei would be in. He ran into the room and looked everywhere in front of him. There was nothing there. Then he heard a strangled whisper from behind him. "I'm here..." Rei didn't have the will nor strength to move herself from her tangled position on the floor. She attempted to lift her head off the ground, but eventually let it drop, and Yuuichirou was there to catch it when she did. He picked her up off the ground and took her back to their bedroom, examining her for any real physical damage. "It's fine, it's fine," Rei insisted.
"Don't tell me it's fine. I HEARD you hit the wall. TELL ME what's going on." A moment of silence passed as he continued wrapping a bandage around a wrist that'd apparently been sprained.
"Nothing's going on, Yuuichirou," Rei finally breathed. It felt like the right answer, even though she knew more now than she ever had. It was just more that she had to keep from him, whether either of them liked it or not. "Things just...didn't work the way they usually do. I..." A lie formulated in her mind as she spoke. "I tried to do a cleansing ceremony, to get rid of the nightmares, and it went wrong somewhere and backfired. Maybe this just isn't something I should be trying, right now."
Yuuichirou, now done with the bandage, stayed kneeled beside her and looked down for a minute or two. "Rei, you... you're 22. You've been doing things like this since you were a child. You expect me to believe that tonight, once out of all the times you've done things like this, you screwed up?"
She couldn't think of anything to tell him, except "I love you, okay?" He took that as the difinitive end of the conversation and moved to get back into bed beside her.
With his arms wrapped protectively around her, he stared at the wall for the remained of the night, wondering if he was losing her. As he did so, Rei stared at the ceiling, wondering if she was losing herself.
*Author's Note: Oi, my first submission. It sucks, if I do say so myself. I had to get the story started somehow, and I really couldn't think of a good way to go at that. I promise that anything I write past this won't be nearly as tedious. If it is, feel free to throw rocks at me. Please R&R, otherwise I won't continue with the story, and I think I've got a pretty good idea going for me.
He could feel her struggling again. It'd only been the past few nights, but it was obvious that the dreams were getting worse. Not that she'd tell him what they were...
"Rei..." Yuuichirou laid a hand on her shoulder hesitantly, remembering the smack that'd followed it last time. "Come on, please wake up..." In a few short seconds, the raven-haired woman was sitting straight up in bed, cold sweat dripping from her forehead.
"I can't keep this up. It's draining me." She let herself fall back to the pillow and into her lover's arms.
"Maybe if you just told me what you were dreaming--"
"No." Her answer was firm and quick, making Yuuichirou wince, as if she had attacked him again, thinking he was something coming from her dreams to the real world. Rei noticed, and did her best to make it less severe of a response. "I don't think it's that important, that's all. It's definately nothing you should worry about."
"If you say so..." He trailed off and looked at the love of his life for a few minutes, thinking about how much he just wished she'd be perfectly happy. Finally he gave in to how tired he really was, kissed her on the forehead, and rolled over to go back to sleep.
As soon as Rei could tell that Yuuichirou had actually gone back to sleep, she climbed out of bed and made her way out of the room. She'd had enough of these nightmares. What made it even worse was that she could never really remember them, just dark bits and pieces, where she couldn't see anything, anyway. But the fire would help.
She ran into her favorite room for meditation and practically slid across the wooden floorboards towards the fire in an attempt to get to what she needed as soon as possible. Her eyes closed, she whispered a few words and delved into the fire's depths, waiting for the fantastic feeling of being overcome by power to hit her. And finally, it did, except this time was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. The fire started jumping in all directions, practically reaching for her, before a surge of energy escaped it and sent her flying across the room, a loud bang erupting when she finally landed. Yuuichirou snapped to attention as soon as he heard it, and ran as fast as he could toward the room he knew Rei would be in. He ran into the room and looked everywhere in front of him. There was nothing there. Then he heard a strangled whisper from behind him. "I'm here..." Rei didn't have the will nor strength to move herself from her tangled position on the floor. She attempted to lift her head off the ground, but eventually let it drop, and Yuuichirou was there to catch it when she did. He picked her up off the ground and took her back to their bedroom, examining her for any real physical damage. "It's fine, it's fine," Rei insisted.
"Don't tell me it's fine. I HEARD you hit the wall. TELL ME what's going on." A moment of silence passed as he continued wrapping a bandage around a wrist that'd apparently been sprained.
"Nothing's going on, Yuuichirou," Rei finally breathed. It felt like the right answer, even though she knew more now than she ever had. It was just more that she had to keep from him, whether either of them liked it or not. "Things just...didn't work the way they usually do. I..." A lie formulated in her mind as she spoke. "I tried to do a cleansing ceremony, to get rid of the nightmares, and it went wrong somewhere and backfired. Maybe this just isn't something I should be trying, right now."
Yuuichirou, now done with the bandage, stayed kneeled beside her and looked down for a minute or two. "Rei, you... you're 22. You've been doing things like this since you were a child. You expect me to believe that tonight, once out of all the times you've done things like this, you screwed up?"
She couldn't think of anything to tell him, except "I love you, okay?" He took that as the difinitive end of the conversation and moved to get back into bed beside her.
With his arms wrapped protectively around her, he stared at the wall for the remained of the night, wondering if he was losing her. As he did so, Rei stared at the ceiling, wondering if she was losing herself.
*Author's Note: Oi, my first submission. It sucks, if I do say so myself. I had to get the story started somehow, and I really couldn't think of a good way to go at that. I promise that anything I write past this won't be nearly as tedious. If it is, feel free to throw rocks at me. Please R&R, otherwise I won't continue with the story, and I think I've got a pretty good idea going for me.